If your child has been born with a cleft lip and palate then you should be expecting to have surgery done within the first year of their life. The cleft lip is repaired between 4 and 6 months and the palate is repaired from 9 to 16 months. The surgery itself is routine and we are not going to sugarcoat it, it is going to be nail biting and nerve wracking until they are safely back in the hospital. When your child is scheduled to have the cleft lip surgery, you will have to take them for pre-surgical testing. This is done in preparation of surgery to make sure that your child is healthy enough for surgery. It is basically taking the baby’s temperature and doing some blood tests to make sure nothing else is going on.

After the Surgery

Then in a few days your child will be having surgery. The surgery itself lasts on a few hours and at the end your child will have a beautiful new smile. Now you don’t have to use those special feeders anymore. You can start using regular baby bottles and nipples. While your baby is in the hospital they will have these splint like arm restraints. These are supposed to stop the baby from putting their hands near their stitches. The lip will be red, swollen and sore for a few weeks. The doctor will prescribe some pain relievers and some antibiotics to help the healing process along.

Your baby is not going to like the arm restraints on. You may have to leave them there for about 2 weeks. The doctor will recommend that you do not place anything in the baby’s mouth until the lip heals a bit. You will have to use a syringe to feed them. When my son Aidan had his surgery at 4 months old. It was unbearable to me his crying over the arm restraints. I called my doctor and I asked him how can be take away some of the frustration my child was feeling. There was no other way so I removed the arm restraints but I had to watch him like a hawk. He was not allowed to put anything in his mouth in fear that it would affect the beautiful job that his surgeon did.

Cleft Palate Surgery

Cleft Palate surgery is done anywhere from 9 months to 16 months. All children are different so the age of the surgery will differ. This time your baby will in the hospital for a few days. Since the roof of the mouth has been open for so long it is going to feel strange for the baby. Once you take your baby home they will again in the arm restraints and this time it will be a bit harder because they are older and will have started doing more with their hands.

You will not be able to bottle-feed them until about 4 weeks after surgery. It will take some time to start healing the palate. You will then get the antibiotics and pain reliever. You can spoon feed but you have to be careful not to touch the roof of the mouth. Your baby’s doctor will give you very specific instructions of how to care for the cleft palate after surgery. If you have any questions, now is the time to ask. Every child is different in the amount of time it takes to heal.

After all is said and done, it is important to remember that helping your baby heal is the most important thing. Follow the instructions given to you by the doctor. If you feel compelled to remove the arm splints then ask your doctor first. My son’s doctor was good enough to allow me to do so but I had to watch him 24 hours a day. But it was all worth it, because now my son can eat normal foods and he has the most beautiful smile. Our doctor did a wonderful and the best part is that my son won’t remember it.