The Pierre Robin baby that I worked with was referred to me
because he had overall feeding problems. Getting weight on this baby was a
real issue.  I taught the mother to finger-feed with a periodontal syringe
and immediately the baby was able to feed well.  This baby had the classic
horse shoed cleft involving the posterior hard and and very anterior soft
palate.  The finger not only "sealed" the cleft but brought the tongue down
and foward.  I have always felt that this baby was relieved of more serious
"tongue" problems as a result of the finger-feeding.  After a couple of
weeks working on the baby's tongue and suck,  mother put baby to breast in
a prone to her supine (enface) position.  We actually heard some
swallowing.  The mother was highly motived and had a wonderful milk supply.
 The mother chose to just continue finger-feeding as she had been so
frightened with the early weight loss.  I encouraged her to put baby to
breast at least once a day so he would remain in practice and "go like the
wind" after his surgery at 6 months.

Joanne Burke Snyder, MA, CLE, IBCLC
Latch-On Services,  A Private Practice in Indianola, Iowa