Ben was born with a cleft lip and Palate, The clefts were first found at our 20 week scan during pregnancy. I was given various tests and scans to determine the extent of the cleft and whether there were any other associated problems. Prior to the birth we were given an appointment to meet the cleft palate team based at Bristol's Frenchay hospital. This was very helpful as they told us what to expect in the way of treatment. I also logged onto the CLAPA web site which proved to be a valuable source of information.
Ben was born with a very wide bilateral clft lip and palate and was immediately given a large NUK teat to feed with. We had no problems with feeding he took to his bottle straight away although he did have a tendency to get colic.
Ben had his first operation to repair his lip at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol at the age of 4 months. The operation was a success but he looked very different, looking back it is hard to imagine what he looked like before. The scar has now almost completely disappeared and other than a flat nostril on one side which can be corrected later, you would never know that he was born with a cleft.
The palate was repaired when Ben was 10 months old. The recovery period for this took sightly longer as he had quite a lot of pain in his mouth and therefore was reluctant to eat or drink. After about a week he was feeding happily on his bottles and his solid food no longer came down his nose which was a big problem before the op.