Cleft Lip and/or Palette

[adele]

Too Funny Toni - Yay Liam. Alex has learnt to blow his nose .... sounds daft but I was VErY excited LOL. He also has learnt to climb ( a few weeks ago) but is quite happy not to walk on a regular basis ... just when he feels like showing off to get that applaud .... then (instead of clapping) he does a little dance
As for the travel and then the wait for the 5 min appointment ...... have to admit we haven't waited too much (although we have cleft clinic when we go away next and last time that was a 2 hour wait ... thankgoodness we don't have to do it too often) but we do a 1 hour drive to the airport and then a 2.5 hour flight ..... and of course we ALWAYS get to land just as peak hour traffic into the city starts .....looking forward to it again next week ... NOT. Seriously though - have wondered myself why there are not more people capable of doing at least check ups etc seeing as so many kids are born with some type of cleft??!!

[gabrielslife]

it's so nice to hear that everyone was doing well, specially your babies...

[leesha]

Hi girls!!

Glad to hear everyone is well and great to hear Liam is doing fantastically!! They are so resiliant aren't they???
I contacted Cleft Pals and became a support parent so if anyone needs someone to talk to I am there to lend an ear or some advice!! Especially in my area there isn't very much considering it is such a big town and I have now come across quite a few cleft kids in the past 12 months!!

Can't believe it has been 5 months since Taj's operation already!!!! He is becoming a real little boy now...my baby has gone!!!!

I can't get Taj to drink from any other teat other than his haberman teat which is frustrating cos they are so damn expensive!!! I thought after his lip repair he would just use another teat!! Just wondering if anyone else has had the same problem? I guess it's what he is used to!!

[Nettie]

Leesha - we're still giving Liam his habermann's. Only because we have 8 of them and be buggered if I'm buying new bottles! I don't quite know how to teach him to 'suck' though.. I'm sure he's not really using the 'sippy cups' properly. He just gets the drips...

Oh - and welcome Gabrielslife!!! Have you posted before? I'm a bit forgetful sometimes, so please forgive me if I've forgotten! If you haven't - please tell us your story!

[adele]

HI Guys

Not sure if this helps you but after Alex had his palate op we used the cleftpals squeeze bottle and NUK top. I am not certain but I think the bottle is a qld thing??!!?? so if your branch of cleftpals don't sell them qld definately do. (NUK spout is like a sippy cup spout but there are two sorts - a slow flow with holes and a quicker flow with a slit). I found that after only a few feeds where I squeezed, he just naturally began to suck. The set is about half the price of the Haberman (which we used up until the palate op) - only prob is they melt easily so just sterilize in boiled water. I found them really useful. Alex now uses run of the mill sippy cups (Nuby type is his favourite - also good for learning to suck I found) for water but prefers the quick flow NUK for milk still - guess it is just a comfort thing. Hope this is of some help.

Glad to hear all bubs are doing well. We are off to Brissy tomorrow ... first speech therapy assesment, hearing test and ENT check to see how the grommits are going.

Cheers

Del