My dd was born with a cleft palate

Clair, did the doctors close up the hole fully in one operation? Can you (or your mum) remember when you were little and ate food, did you sneeze a lot as some food went up the hole? Also, were you allowed to go under water when swimming?? Yes, she is a very brave litttle girl who has taken everything in her stride. She amazes me everyday :-)

Hi Clair Thank you for thinking about us. Her op went brilliantly. We can not fault Al Wasl hospital in any way. They were great. We went in the day before for tests and general observation. DD was great and took it all in her stride. I actually think she was excited as it was something new and different surroundings and she was getting all this extra attention from the nurses!! She went to surgery on the Thurs morn at about 730am. It was heart wrenching leaving her but i was so strong and brave for her. i didnt want to let her see me upset. We got her back at 12. That was the longest 4 and a half hours of my life. I have never been away from her for that long before. We went up to surgery twice to check on her and the staff were great going to check and giving us updates. When we got her back, thats when i broke down. Seeing her like she was with the tube up her nose and hooked up to the monitors, it was heart breaking. She was also coming round from the anaesthetic so was a bit uncomfortable and usually where i can settle her, she wasnt interested the poor thing. The surgeon said that the tube could come out once she had 2 bottle feeds. As always, she was a little star and took 2 feeds before bed so they took it out. We were discahrged the day after. She had to have her arms bandaged straight so that she couldnt put her fingers or anything in her mouth. She didnt like this very much. We persevered with it for a couple of days and then let her take them off during the day and we didnt take our eyes off her. She was on painkillers and anti inflammatorys for 5 days. We went for our post op check last month and the surgeon was very happy with how it went. She has to have another op next year to close up the remainder of the hole as it was so big but im trying not to think abouyt that just yet. Thanks so much for thinking about us and to evryone who has wished us well :-)

Thanks all for your messages and support. I was wary to having the op for her out here but nobody has said anyhting bad about al wasl and the dr was very reassuring when we went to see him. Luckily she doesn't have the full cleft with lip so hopefully she will only need the 2 ops. Im just dreading the op. I hate having to take her for her injections and this is going to be soooo much worse :-(

Hi all Does anyone have any information on cleft palates? My dd was born last August and with a full soft cleft palate and a third into her hard palate. She is having her first op in March to correct her soft palate and then she will need to have another op between 18 months and 3 years to correct her hard palate. She is having the op at Al Wasl. I have only recently got my head around it and have been able to talk about it as i got very upset when talking about it when she was first born. She is thriving and the only thing different we have to do is sit her up slightly when we feed her. I am beginning to get very nervous/emotional about the op and cant even get my head around when they will take her and put her to sleep to do the op. Does anyone know of anyone who has had this op over here beofre and any experiences to share? tia