Hello, my name is Rachel Kresel. I am attending the University of North Dakota and in my junior semester of nursing school. I joined this listserv in hopes of becoming more educated in the breastfeeding area. Throughout clinical and OB class it has been stressed that breastfeeding should be encouraged if there are no contraindications for the mother or infant. Since being a part of Lactnet, I have read some posts concerning babies born with cleft palates and breastfeeding. I thought that this seemed like an interesting topic to research more in depth, as it can make breastfeeding especially difficult. According to Johansson and Ringsberg (2004) parents of infants born with cleft palate reported low quality of advice on feeding. Infants with a cleft palate have a difficult time with producing an effective oral suction when attaching to the nipple. Sadler (2005) stated that the type of cleft palate the infant has, rather than the way the baby is fed is more significant. Infants with isolated clefts that involve both the soft and hard palate have been found to have the most difficulties when feeding. The mothers should still be encouraged to pump their milk with the use of a breast pump or through manual extraction, if the infant is unable to attach to the nipple effectively and be fed with a specialized bottle. Glass and Wolf (1999) stress the importance of feeding the infant breast milk through pumping or breast-feeding in protecting the infant from middle ear infections, which are common problems for infants with cleft lip/palates. Le Lache Legue International (1999) found that by placing the thumb or forefinger to fill the space in the lip can help the baby form a complete seal. Feeding the infant in an upright position is the best position for infants to be in while feeding, as it helps prevent the milk from leaking into the infant's nose which may cause it to choke. I was able to find some information that will be useful; however I still have a few questions that maybe could be answered by someone who has had experience in the area. I am wondering if anyone has experience in the kinds of nipples that have worked the best for infants to latch on to. And are there any other ways of feeding the infant that seemed to work well? Glass, R.B. & Wolf, L.S. (1999). Feeding management of infants with cleft lip and palate and Micrognathia. Infants & Young Children: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Special Care Practices, 12 (1), 70-82. Johansson, B. & Ringsberg, K.C. (2004). Parents' experiences of having a child with cleaft lip and palate. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 47 (2), 165-73. La Leche League International (1999). Breast-feeding the baby with special healthcare needs: Cleft lip or palate and cystic fibrosis. Exceptional Parent, 29 (11), 52-54. Sadler, C. (2005). Palatable truth. Nursing Standard, 19 (43), 24-26. *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html