SATURDAY, Nov. 27 (HealthDay News) -- There's little benefit to
parents or baby in learning before birth that a newborn will have a
cleft lip/palate, a new study suggests.
Researchers led by Dr. James Robbins, of the Arkansas Center for
Birth Defects and Prevention, interviewed 235 mothers of children
aged 2 to 7 years with orofacial clefts (cleft lip or cleft lip and
palate). The condition was identified before birth (prenatally) in
46 percent of the children.
The mothers with prenatal knowledge of the condition had more
time to learn and prepare for it. However, contrary to
expectations, they did not report greater satisfaction with
information, support and treatment outcomes than mothers who
learned about their child's condition after birth.
There were also no differences between the two groups in terms
of the number of surgeries, expectations for surgeries,
complications of surgery, or quality of care as rated by the
mothers.
Infants born with orofacial clefts have unique feeding
requirements and the study did find a significant difference in how
the mothers felt about feeding. Those who received a prenatal
diagnosis were more positive about health care providers'
assistance in making it easier for their infants to feed.
According to the March of Dimes, about 6,800 babies are born
with cleft lip or palate in the United States each year.
The study was published in a recent issue of
The Cleft Palate -- Craniofacial Journal.
More information
The March of Dimes has more about
cleft lip and cleft palate.