On Wed, 3 Jan 1996, katherine a. dettwyler wrote:

> On the subject of cleft palate, I was corresponding with someone the other
> day and she mentioned that one of her children had a "sub mucosal cleft of
> the hard palate" meaning that it wasn't apparent when you just looked at it,
> as the soft tissue was intact, but under that soft tissue was a bony cleft,
> which prevented the baby from nursing well at the beginning.  She did
> overcome the bf problems.

Katherine,

I read your post with interest because I have additional information
relating to this! I am unusual in that I have a split uvula; it looks
"forked". I thought that this was the norm for uvulas until just a few
years ago. My first three children have single intact uvulas, but #4 has
my split uvula, and he also had problems with falling off of the breast
easily (poor suction), which I now see contributed to a decreased milk
supply in the second half year of life and a borderline FTT diagnosis as
he dropped two percentiles on the growth chart around 9 mos. A few years
ago I took Anatomy, and when we examined each other's oral cavitities, the
teacher, an MD, noted my split uvula and commented about it. She mentioned
that in medical school she was taught to look for a *submucosal cleft of
the soft palate tissues*, something that is not often apparent, whenever a
split uvula is noted.

As a side note: the top of my palate has a bony protruberance, a "bump"
that I also thought was normal until I began doing palate exams on babies,
and I have tiny holes in the top front of my hard palate that connect up to
the nasal cavities. They cause no problems but are a nuisance, especially
when I am trying to suck up a particularly thick shake (they squeal!). I
was breastfed for 6 mos, until I "bit" my mom, and she apparently had no
supply problems during that time. I would also add that both my mom and I
were big milk producers, and in regards to my experience with my son, I
think that he was able to kick back and coast on my generous supply until
later on.

This topic always fascinates me!

-Lisa

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Lisa Marasco, BA, LLLL, IBCLC
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