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Babies spend much of their time feeding. To feed well, they need to position their lips and tongue around the nipple or artificial teat and create both suction and compression during sucking. When a baby is born with a cleft palate or combined cleft lip and palate sucking is more difficult. However, there are a number of ways to help these babies feed well.
Bottle-feeding
If your baby feeds well from a standard teat or bottle purchased from a supermarket or pharmacy there is no need to use the equipment described below.
A number of special teats and bottles are available for babies who cannot generate suction and/or compression during feeding. Whilst they come in different shapes and sizes they have several features in common.
A number of special teats and bottles are available for babies who cannot generate suction and/or compression during feeding. Whilst they come in different shapes and sizes they have several features in common.
The bottle (or in the case of the scoop feeder, the teat) can be squeezed whilst the baby is sucking. This pushes milk into the baby’s mouth and compensates for lack of suction.
The teat often has a one-way valve which keeps it full of milk. This is helpful for babies who can compress the teat but can’t generate suction. It is also thought to minimise wind.
The teat often has a ‘cross-cut’ rather than a hole in the end. This stops milk dripping into the baby’s mouth when they have stopped for a rest during feeding.
Where to get teats and bottles
You can purchase specialist feeding bottles from clapa at:
Cleft lip and/or palate feeding 1 — About feeding your baby
Cleft lip and/or palate feeding 2 — Bottles and teats
Cleft lip and/or palate feeding 3 — Helpful bottle feeding techniques
Cleft lip and/or palate feeding 2 — Bottles and teats
Cleft lip and/or palate feeding 3 — Helpful bottle feeding techniques
Factsheets
For more information