Hi Nicole and Welcome!!

My son Liam was born 17 April 2009 with a cleft of the hard & soft palate due to PRS. His lip and gum are unaffected and it appears his teeth are unaffected (he's now got 6).

Liam fed via tube for the first 3 days, while we were teaching him to use the habermann. Once he was using the habermann completely (I made sure I did every feed in hospital so that I didn't use the tube but persisted with the bottle) - we removed the tube which was on about day 3. We were allowed to leave the hospital on day 5 after his weight increased.

So we haven't had too many issues and he has had his repair surgery which went very well - so now he's pretty much a normal kid.

I hope we can all be of some assistance to you - and as you can tell, we've all got a different story to tell! Did you know about the cleft before Summer was born? I didn't with Liam and it came as quite a shock. Luckily we have a good friend who has a cleft (lip, gum and palate) who was pretty much a pioneer baby with reconstructive surgery in the 70's... Because of this we weren't completely unfamiliar with the condition and he is a very special 'Uncle' to Liam!

Regarding your current problem of feeding - the squeeze bottle sounds like a good option. Liam learnt to use the habermann through us squeezing it - until he learnt how to do it himself...

All the best of luck and feel free to come in here and rant or unload if you're feeling overwhelmed - 'cause, you know what? We all went there... and will probably know how you feel.