Cleft Lip, Cleft Palate

A cleft lip is a birth defect that occurs in approximately 1 in 800 live births. Cleft lips are more common in babies of Asian, Latino or Native American descent.

During fetal development, the right and left sides of the lip and palate normally grow together. A cleft lip occurs when a baby is born with a separation in the upper lip, which can extend upwards into the child's nose. A cleft palate occurs when there is a separation in the roof of the mouth, or palate.

A child can have both a cleft lip and a cleft palate. A child that is born with a cleft lip or palate is at an increased risk of chronic ear infections, hearing loss and abnormal speech. Treatment for a cleft lip/palate will include surgery. Most doctors recommend doing the surgery when the child is around 10 weeks old.

An ultrasound or MRI can diagnose the condition prenatally or a doctor will confirm the diagnosis at birth.

Comments: Cleft-Lip,-Cleft-Palate

Comments 1 to 24 of about 24.
1

RobinG - 34 days ago.
(((hugs))) I dont know anyone in my own family but I have cared for a little boy for 2 years that has Velocardiofacial Syndrome (there is a forum here on it) his mom said the syndrome is relatively new in like the last 10-15 years I think. zac has a cleft palette and other concerns and was thought to not survive and he is 5 and doing amazing well!! He gets early intervention and it has done wonders. Sadly I know trisomy 18 is a devastating thing and prayers it isnt that ~ but if it is VCFS and that is what has caused the cleft there is hope ~ (((hugs)))

janice55 - 34 days ago.
hi i was just wondering is there anyone on here that got a very bad diagnosis when they discovered their baby may have a cleft lip and palate....im 18 weeks pregnant and doctors discovered at my 16 scan that baby has severe cleft lip and palate and that chromosonal problems (trisomy 13 or 18) maybe the cause. i had an amniosenthesis done and still waiting the results...even if this comes back clear i need 2 get a MRI scan on the babys brain to rule out other syndromes as doctors also think baby has Holoprosencephaly which is devasting news...im praying that my baby only has cleft problems as this doesnt seem such a problem to us compared to these other disorders....so just wondering did anyone go through something similar and their baby was just fine apart from cleft problems?? im really worried about my poor baby so any advice appreciated xxx

jenmomma - 150 days ago.
My first child (age 4 1/2 now) was born with a cleft of the soft palate only. It wasn't diagnosed until after delivery. She only required special bottles as treatment until she turned 1 and they did the surgical repair. Repair was perfect. She took about 8 months of speech therapy around age 3 and now has perfect speech (better than most 4 year olds!). She had reccurrent ear infections until about age 1 when they put in tubes during her cleft surgery. Since then, no issues and hearing seems to be fine. We did a level 2 ultrasound during my 2nd pregnancy (and will do the same for my current/3rd pregnancy). No issues with my son. They said a soft palate cleft might be hard to spot on ultrasound, but they looked anyway. Overall, for us it was a relatively minor defect and we felt blessed that it was her only issue and we didn't have any of the cosmetic or structural issues to deal with. Also found out when she was 8 months old that I had breast cancer, so we looked at her cleft as a blessing in disguise as my surgeon said I probably wouldn't have felt the lump in my breast if we'd been breastfeeding. Everything happens for a reason, right!

BellaRaysMommy - 215 days ago.
My son had a cleft lip and palate, he is now 15 and is great. He does have a scare where the lip was repaired but they continue to work on this to make it better. And next month he has his final nose reconstruction, he is so excited about this one. He has done wonderful with his speech, never having to have a theripist or anything. I have two other children both girls, neither were effected with this problem and I am currently pregnant with my 4th a boy and they confirmed he was not effected either. My son was so excited to hear his brother was not going to have the same problem. Having this defect has it own list of issues, but all in all it is not so bad?

debbiec - 228 days ago.
My son was born on 12-6-08 with an incomplete bilateral cleft lip and a complete cleft palate. Before he was born we were so worried and didnt know really what to expect but as soon as our little man came out he was beautiful and perfect in our eyes. When he was almost 3 months he had his first suregery to repair the lip, his nose, and to put some eartubes in; it was a very sucessful surgery (has a minimal scar) and he is now almost fully recovered (still has some swelling). His next surgery, to repair the palate, will be in about 7 months and that one is the hard one.

surprisemom - 246 days ago.
My best friend has a 2 and a half year old boy with a cleft lip and palate and the cleft lip was clearly visible in ultrasound pictures later in her pregnancy. I think it was at the ultrasound to determine the baby's sex that it was first suspected and then confirmed at later ones, but am not sure. He has had two surgeries since then but it really looks just fine now and his speech and hearing are good too.

karenbg - 246 days ago.
I am told by my doctor that an ultrasound can detect cleft lip but not cleft palate...has anyone had cleft palate diagnosed prenatally?

2ndtimeblessed - 265 days ago.
I am a 36 weeks with a bilateral cleft lip baby boy. Although it was not a good news I concur with daniellel there are more complicated conditions. No mom wants a news of this kind but we are very happy and nursery ready expecting our new prince. I confess, lately I am very anxious, but ready to meet my new love!!

jenniferwilkerson09 - 295 days ago.
hi iam jennifer i had a son that was born with cleft lip and palate and iam due in july for my 4 th child and iam worried about that is it in the genes are is it something that happens before birth and my son was bron with the extra cromson 15 and doctors wont give me any infromation about what happend to himwhat can i do to prevent it again for this child worried mother that for any information

daniellel - 317 days ago.
my doctor told me My baby may have a cleft lip and possibly palate. :( needles to say that was a downer. But I'm trying to think positive, because honestly it could be 100 times worse. My baby is still growing and is very healthy. 20 weeks now! Half way there!

mamabritt - 430 days ago.
Iam new to this site but Iam really worried that my baby may be born with cleft lip or cleft pallet or maybe even both :(....The father to my baby was born with simple cleft lip and cleft pallet, you cant really tell that he had it now. But i do wonder if it is a genetic trait or not cause i have been told it is and that it aint

catbertie - 445 days ago.
My now 2.5 year old was born with a simple cleft lip and avelolar cleft in her gum line. She was adopted and we received her at 13 months old - no surgery. She had her lip repair at 16 months and has no speech problems and is talking in full sentences. I know that cleft can be very scary, but with today's surgery, it's really not a big deal anymore.

babymamma88 - 448 days ago.
I was born with a cleft lip and palate and feared that my baby might be born with it too because I heard it was genetic. But after speaking to my brother today who is an MD I found out that clefts being hereditary is only a theory and that its not true. He says the congenital birth defects have no real way of being inherited and if it happens to the child of someone who has it then its pure coincidence. So we'll see... my gyno sent me to have a 3d focused sono to see if my baby girl will be born with a cleft. Something inside me tells me she wont be... but itll be fun to have a 3d either way :)

auhwie31 - 448 days ago.
Hi Im Geraldine and new here. Im 26 weeks pregnant and thru numerous u/s we found out that our only baby girl (we have 2 boys) has a cleft lip and possibly cleft tooth & palate (we will find out when she is born). We were heartbroken. My husband's niece had a bilateral cleft lip and had gone thru various surgeries she is 24 now. and has no other defect. I am so scared that my baby's hearing would be impaired or her speech. Does anyone here had this situation with any of their children or close relatives? I am still in shock but thru God's help, have accepted it. Please pray for Rhea Grace (my baby girl). Hugs, Auhwie

luckywhite - 479 days ago.
yeah they can tell on the 19 weeks defect scans if its cleft.. ive to get this baby triple checked cause i have a split uvula (the dangly bit at the back of your mouth) mine is forked like a snake and its the start of a cleft palate, harry's got the exact same fork in his.. so he was ok.

jmx - 479 days ago.
my fellas sister was born with a cleft palate and i no theres a chance on my baby having it but the scans said everything ok but im still that bit worried can they tell on ultrasound?

Mara123 - 479 days ago.
is a cleft lip/palate genetic or does it just happen?

sweetgamom - 496 days ago.
How many weeks can the doc tell if your baby has Cleft-Lip,-Cleft-Palate? My husbands mother has it and I just wanted to know what the chances of my kids getting it??

marriedmommytobe - 515 days ago.
i just found out yesterday at my ulrtasound that im having a baby boy!! my hubby had cleft lip and palate when he was born and we didnt know if our baby would have it and so the dr checked and he doesnt, but does that mean that our next baby could have it or we could have passed it to our baby boy and when he has kids could his have this?? i dont know too much about it.

RobinG - 547 days ago.
I care for a little boy who has Velo Cardio Facial Syndrome ~ one of the characteristics is a cleft lip or palate ~ His mom said it was only finally named in the medical field about 10 or so years ago but I found info on it from 1978 so is fairly new in some areas I guess but also effects his heart lungs etc. He's had heart surgery already ~ He has the cleft palate and gets therapy for it and many other things he needs ~ we use sign to communicate since his speech was greatly effected. His therapists are wonderful and he has done SO well. He is almost 4. He is starting to get more words out and I'm so proud of him and happy for his family ~ I thoughts I'd share a link on it since this is what I read on this link " Cleft palate is the fourth most common birth defect affecting approximately one of every 700 live births. VCFS occurs in approximately 5 to 8 percent of children born with a cleft palate. It is estimated that over 130,000 individuals in the United States have this syndrome.

http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/voice/velocario.htm

JParker12379 - 550 days ago.
My oldest son Jason was born with cleft lip & palate. My FIL had cleft lip, my husbands cousin had cleft palate. My daughter had the nueral markings for the gene but did not have cleft lip or palate. I imagine that since she knowingly carries the gene the chances of her having a cleft lip/palate baby are increased. Our nephew also showed the nueral marking for the gene, but no signs of cleft lip/palate. I will find out if this baby has cl/cp or the gene for it at 18 weeks. The statistics from my gentic couseling show 1 in 400 babies in the world have either cl/cp hard or soft tissue.

Melanie07 - 571 days ago.
My mom was born with cleft lip. She had five of us. My youngest brother was born with cleft lip. The rest of us didn't have it. I am not sure of the %. Our was 1 in 5. I did find out that taking Claritin during the first 12 weeks increases the chance. I made sure to not take it even longer. I finally had to take it over halfway through my pregnancy to be able to breath. All my brother's and sister have babies without cleft lip. There is a chance but not a great chance. I would just let your doc know. They were able to tell on the class 2 ultrasound if there were any problems. If your baby is born with it, they can fix it pretty good now. You can't even tell my brother had it.

seven - 575 days ago.
My friend has family history (her brother) of this condition and her baby came out with no issues at all. Healthy baby boy. They told her that there is a 50% chance he will have it and 50% chance he won't. Just notify your doctor about it so they can check for it.

michelle1986 - 584 days ago.
I was born with a Cleft-Palate,an I talk normally but i have hearing loss an bad ear infections that don't really go away my question is is this something i will pass on to my child when we conceive one ?what is the % of this happining? im so scared.