This is a common birth defect seen in about 1 of 600 births. Here, there is a discontinuity in the upper lip and or of the palate, in various combinations. There can be an isolated cleft lip or lips plus the upper jaw, or lips, teeth and the palate as a whole.
Though emotionally very traumatic to the parents, with proper and timely intervention by well-trained plastic surgeons, these deformities can be corrected with minimal residual disabilities.
Usually a cleft lip child is operated after 3 months of age, when he has attained weight of at least 6 kgs and cleft palate before they start speech (after 10 months of age and 10 kg weight). Both these surgeries may be done in a single stage also if desired. It is important to continue as normal feeds as possible to these children and take the compulsory immunisations as prescribed by your paeditric doctor.
Children with cleft palate may have to undergo speech therapy sometimes to help them attain normal speech. These children are highly prone to nose and ear problems and have to be attended to at the appropriate time. Further corrective surgeries for the facial skeleton and nasal deformity and procedures for dental correction and speech irregularity may often be required during their further growth phases.