chances of being born with cleft palate?

[SarahMc]

i was just wondering does anyone know the chances of babies being born with a cleft palate where one of its parents was born with one? its just my boyfriend/father of my baby was born with a cleft palate and im worried our baby might be born with one,

[{sarah}]

I am pretty sure that it is likely more than that Emma. I know that one of the girls in my MG had one & her son (Zac) had one also. The chances now if she has other kids is something like 40% likely that will have one also.

Zac was born last February and all the operations were done in October for it to be corrected. You never would have know the difference (he only had palate & not the hair lip same as his mum) except he had to have special bottles.

[kazz30]

Someone correct me if I am wrong but I think an u/s can pick up if bubs has a cleft palate. As for the chance of bubs having one if one parent has I am nt sure. Maybe ask you DR if he/she can tell you?!

[rikki]

a friend of mine had a bub with a cleft lip and palate. it was hereditary (gf on the maternal side had one). it was def picked up on us, in fact at the 20 week scan. this allowed the parents time to research the condition and be prepared, and to tell their friends when they were ready.... and ask for no visitors to hospital as feeding was an issue they had to conquer etc. her little boy is now four, and apart from speech therapy you would not know the difference. he is gorgeous and you can hardly see any scar.

[tianar]

my cousin was in same boat as u , her partner was born with cleft palate. she had u/s at 18 weeks and technician was 100% certain baby didnt have one. I think they gave her 4d u/s though, so in ur case its probably worth forking out extra money to give yourself peace of mind.

[Pandora]

according to the better health vic website:

A parent who was born with a cleft has a two per cent chance of passing on the defect to their child.

Maybe the chance of subsequent children having the same condition increases if the first child does?

They do check for it at the morph scan/us and most of the bigger hospitals would probably offer genetic counselling if you were interested, or you could contact cleftpals in your state, as they'd have accurate info on the chances of inheriting it etc.

A friend of mine has 2 boys who inheritied this condition, both are perfectly fine, very popular with their peers etc, and she breastfed both of them for 6 months!

[Cee_Cee99]

I'm not sure of the stat's but my friend was told her baby girl had a cleft palate from the ultra sound and spent the next 20 weeks said / upset but preparing herself - the baby turned out fine, in fact she is now a very beautiful 13 year old with all the boys chasing her!

[SarahMc]

thank you all for the help. got an antenatel appointment on thursday so i will speak to the midwife then. thanx again