Cleft Lip and Palate

Babies with cleft lips and/or palates have their own unique ways of sucking from a bottle. They may require special bottles or nipples and some extra patience.

“Palate” is another name for the roof of your mouth. The palate is both the roof of your mouth and the floor of your nose. The palate has two parts: the front, or hard palate, and the back, or soft palate. The hard palate is made of bone and the soft palate is made of muscle.

A cleft lip is a birth defect that results when tissues of the lip and bone of the upper jaw fail to fuse during early development of the fetus. This failure occurs during the 4th and 6th week of gestation. The condition varies from a small notch in the red part of the lip (Fig. 2) to a wide gap in the lip and gum line extending into the nostril of the nose (Fig. 3). A cleft lip may occur on the left side, the right side, or both sides (Fig. 4).

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We know you may want to dig for more information, so we gathered these easy-to-digest materials and resources from pediatric organizations in Minnesota and beyond.

The ear, nose and throat (ENT) and facial plastic surgery team at Children’s Minnesota is internationally recognized for their leadership in developing and providing pediatric treatments. And Children’s is the only hospital in the state of Minnesota offering 24/7 access to pediatric ENT specialists. That’s reassuring for families who need an ENT doc for their child after regular office hours.

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