Assessment of Nutrition and Feeding Interventions in Turkish Infants with Cleft Lip and/or Palate

The present study aimed to highlight the feeding challenges of infants with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) that caregivers encounter and analyze the alternative interventions they perform based on their experiences in the preoperative period.

Parents of 200 infants with CLP were asked to complete our questionnaire. The prenatal feeding preparations, preoperative processes, and feeding challenges and modifications to overcome these difficulties were evaluated.

One-third of the caregivers stated that they had received feeding education prenatally. Sixty-five percent of the parents stated that they were not successful in breastfeeding. Infants with isolated cleft lip had minor feeding difficulties, whereas the ones with cleft palate had some major challenges such as aspiration, choking, and inadequate growth. Parents also reported that 59.5% of the infants with cleft had stayed in the intensive care units following birth. Moreover, 42% of the infants were initially fed by nasogastric or orogastric tube. Out of the 166 infants with cleft palate, 31.9% used palatal obturators.

We have reviewed the various feeding difficulties of the infants with clefts and highlighted the results of the interventions performed to overcome these difficulties for better nutrition and growth.

In the light of our findings, further studies should be conducted and additional educational programs should be implemented for both healthcare providers and parents to increase families' awareness regarding cleft feeding, prevent unnecessary and improper feeding interventions in infants with clefts, and alleviate the burden of feeding difficulties for both parents and infants.