>Babies who have cleft lips without a cleft palate often breastfeed well
>with just the breast tissue filling the cleft, or the mother's finger
>over it.

I've always wondered about this.  If the mom uses her finger to complete the
lip-on-breast seal, there are bound to be gaps - gaps that don't exist when
a soft, moist lip lies against a soft breast.  In my one experience with a
cleft
lip, breast filled the cleft just fine and the mother did nothing out of the
ordinary at all.  When a finger is used, do the gaps around the finger not
matter?  Is she sealing the upper part of the cleft itself rather than
helping
create the lip-on-breast seal?

Diane Wiessinger, MS, IBCLC  Ithaca, NY
www.wiessinger.baka.com

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