Mission stories Spotlights Impact Stories. Cleft lip and cleft palate. E-mail to a friend Please fill in all fields. Please enter a valid e-mail address. Thank you! Your e-mail was sent. Save to my dashboard Sign in or Sign up to save this page. Saving Just a moment, please. You've saved this page It's been added to your dashboard. In This Topic. What are cleft lip and cleft palate?
These things may increase your chances of having a baby with cleft lip or palate:. Family history of cleft lip and cleft palate. Family history is health conditions and treatments that you, your partner and everyone in your families. Cleft lip and cleft palate are more common in families who are Asian, Hispanic and Native American.
If you have a family history of cleft lip or palate, tell your health care provider and a genetic counselor. Smoking or drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Women who binge drink during the first weeks of pregnancy are more likely to have a baby with a cleft lip or cleft palate than other women. Binge drinking is when you drink four or more drinks in 2 to 3 hours. Not getting enough nutrients , like folic acid , before and during pregnancy.
Folic acid is a vitamin that every cell in your body needs for healthy growth and development. If you take folic acid before pregnancy and during early pregnancy, it can help protect your baby from cleft lip and palate and birth defects of the brain and spine called neural tube defects.
Having diabetes before pregnancy. Diabetes is a condition in which your body has too much sugar called glucose in the blood. Diabetes before pregnancy is also called preexisting diabetes or type 1 or type 2 diabetes. Taking certain medicines during pregnancy. Epilepsy is a seizure disorder that affects how the nerve cells in your brain work. A seizure is when the whole body or parts of the body move without control.
Being obese during pregnancy. A cleft lip could be as small as a tiny notch in the upper lip. It could also be as large as a split or hole that goes up into the nose. But it also could be a large separation in the roof of the mouth. Children who have clefts often have other health issues. They can have trouble eating and talking. They may also have hearing problems, problems with their ears, or problems with their teeth.
Cleft lip and cleft palate are defects that occur early in pregnancy. The lips form first, followed by the mouth and palate.
Cleft lip and cleft palate can occur by themselves. They also can be part of another condition or syndrome. No one knows exactly what causes clefts. There are certain things that could increase your risk of having a baby with a cleft.
These include:. Sometimes your doctor can see it on a routine ultrasound. This is an imaging test done throughout your pregnancy. The exact cause of these birth defects is unknown. So, you cannot prevent or avoid them. But there are steps you can take to lower your risk of having a baby with a birth defect. The treatment for cleft lip and cleft palate depends on a few key factors. So, treatment is recommended to start as early as possible. Most babies who have a cleft lip, cleft palate, or both will need some type of surgery.
Surgery to repair a cleft lip is usually done before the baby is 1 year old. A cleft palate is usually repaired before the baby is 18 months old.
Some children will need more surgeries as they grow. Clefts can create other health issues, such as speech and dental problems. You should work with your doctor to form a team of experts to treat your baby. The group will contain doctors and nurses from many related areas.
It could include an oral surgeon, speech therapist, pediatric dentist, audiologist, and nutritionist, among many others. You also can search for special cleft teams and centers throughout the United States. Over time, most children need added treatment to manage their related issues. This is another reason to have a cleft team that you know well and are happy with.
The opening in the lip can be a small slit or it can be a large opening that goes through the lip into the nose.
A cleft lip can be on one or both sides of the lip or in the middle of the lip, which occurs very rarely. Children with a cleft lip also can have a cleft palate. The roof of the mouth palate is formed between the sixth and ninth weeks of pregnancy. A cleft palate happens if the tissue that makes up the roof of the mouth does not join together completely during pregnancy.
For some babies, both the front and back parts of the palate are open. For other babies, only part of the palate is open. Children with a cleft lip with or without a cleft palate or a cleft palate alone often have problems with feeding and speaking clearly and can have ear infections. They also might have hearing problems and problems with their teeth. Joshua was born with cleft lip and palate. Read his story as well as other stories from families affected by cleft lip and palate.
The causes of orofacial clefts among most infants are unknown. Some children have a cleft lip or cleft palate because of changes in their genes. Cleft lip and cleft palate are thought to be caused by a combination of genes and other factors, such as things the mother comes in contact with in her environment, or what the mother eats or drinks, or certain medications she uses during pregnancy.
Like the many families of children with birth defects, CDC wants to find out what causes them. Understanding the factors that are more common among babies with a birth defect will help us learn more about the causes.
Recently, CDC reported on important findings from research studies about some factors that increase the chance of having a baby with an orofacial cleft:.
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