New research on oral clefts

A recent study by doctors at a New York craniofacial medical centre suggest more focus should be placed not on how children with oral clefts are fed, but rather on what they are fed.

An article published in the current issue of The Cleft Palate–Craniofacial Journal reports on how often patients with oral clefts were fed breast milk. Instead of evaluating how many infants with clefts were feeding at their mother’s breast, the researchers assessed the rates at which these patients were being given breast milk, regardless of delivery method. In addition to ideal nutrient content and composition, breast milk also contains both immune cells and antibodies from the mother, which greatly help the newborn infant defend against pathogens. Due to the variety of medical benefits found in breast milk, the World Health Organization recommends six months of exclusive breast-feeding.

The researchers interviewed the parents of 110 children who were born with an oral cleft and treated at New York University Langone Medical Center. Hoping to discover the amount of breast milk that patients received despite having a cleft palate, they asked about the child’s feeding habits and about counselling related to feeding the child breast milk. Considering patients with a cleft lip only are more successful at breast-feeding, the researchers focused on patients with cleft palates.