My name is Cassie Dockter. I am a nursing student from the University of North Dakota. I have been doing some reading and research on breastfeeding babies with cleft palate and have become interested in how this challenge has been approached by health professionals.
The benefits of breastfeeding have been proven and demonstrated many times over. However, it is often hard to establish in an infant with cleft palate. A case report by Crossman (1998) describes a mother's experience of breastfeeding her baby with a cleft palate. The feedings consisted of a small amount of hand expression directly into the baby's mouth followed by a full amount of expressed milk through a squeeze bottle. At five days old the baby was fitted with the first of three dental plates. The mother felt this significantly helped the feedings. In another article, Glass and Wolf (1999) elude that obturators are somewhat controversial with regard to feeding. It appears that the controversy lies within the device's effectiveness in providing suction. Regardless, they state that the solid surface does help baby compress the nipple. In my research I also found mention of orthodontic teats, which have a broad base that can span the cleft (Carlisle, 1998). Has anyone used so
mething like this? The Lactnet archives have provided some helpful discussion on the topic of dental plate use and breastfeeding. Are there any additional experiences with obturators/dental plates in this situation--success or otherwise?

Cassie Dockter
UND Nursing Student


Carlisle, D. (1998). Feeding babies with cleft lip and palate. Nursing Times, 94, 59-60.

Crossman, K. (1998). Breastfeeding a baby with cleft palate: A case report. Journal of Human Lactation, 14, 47-50.

Glass, R.P., & Wolf, L.S. (1999). Feeding management of infants with cleft lip and palate and micrognathia. Infants and Young Children, 12, 70-81.

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