After a child has had surgery to close a cleft lip and/or palate, his or her parents may be concerned about how to look after him or her properly. During the child’s recovery a clinical nurse specialist (CNS) will be in close contact with the family and will be there to answer any questions or concerns (See ’Pre-operative care and surgery’). In most cases children who have a cleft lip and or palate closure are able to leave hospital and go home after a day or two. Immediately following a lip closure parents may need time to adjust to the new look of their baby’s face and smile and they may realise that they miss the cleft. After a cleft palate has been closed surgically the baby’s cry may sound different – this may be because of the swelling and closing the gap to the nose. However it may also be because the gap in the palate has been closed and therefore will be a permanent change. Some children may display signs of discomfort in the days following surgery and parents are advised to give their child pain relief including ibuprofen and paracetomol. Parents can also be involved in the longer-term healing process, for example some cleft teams advise parents to massage the closure wound on the lip with special cream to reduce the amount of scar tissue.
EMBED CODE Yeah how did that, was that a good feeling or did you, was it strange? Oh so yeah. Yeah sure, yeah. Yeah that’s interesting. OK so did you have any perceptions of the treatment, you know, prior to that? You know, did it fall in line with your expectations, would you say? Sure hmm. So you could sort of, you know, it’s sort of about how visible the kind of abnormality is. And it is, you know, it is kind of visible. But… but I didn’t feel, I don’t know, it was a lot better, it was loads better and he was very happy. So, you know, he didn’t know anything about it, and he still doesn’t really [laughs].
EMBED CODE Oh right. Did you think he was in pain or distress? Yeah sure. But, like I say, I tried as much as I could to just be... well, you know, [laughs] this is the way it is and now we just have to move forward.
EMBED CODE OK. Very brave. Gosh. It’s incredible, isn’t it? Yeah so there’s a high risk of complications I imagine. And what was the aftercare like once you got home? How did you manage? OK yeah. I think it’s... I can’t remember, a few months after you go up and you see everybody again, in [place name] was where we went. And the surgeon checks it, checks that no holes have formed in it, checks that it’s working, “Are you happy? Do you have any questions?” And then it’s... that’s it really you’re passed on.
EMBED CODE Yeah sure. He recognised your voice? And that was comforting? OK so there is a lot of intervention at that point, isn’t there? The cannula, is it? OK so he was able to do that straight away? Yeah after maybe half an hour because he was very hungry. Because we were instructed to not giving him food or water, I don’t remember, but maybe, maybe five at least it was around five hours before the surgery.Yeah. So he was... and after he had the surgery.He must have been very hungry? Yeah he was starving.Yeah. So maybe half an hour after the surgery I put him on the breast and he succeeded to breastfeed a little bit, but it was very, very, very... difficult. But thank God they are recovering very quickly, the babies, just for a few days.Yeah. He became really, really better.So in the way he looked, in the way he behaved or both? Yeah, yeah, yeah just oh I think this first day and this first night were very difficult because it was very painful for him, so he was under painkillers.They were giving him painkillers every few hours because it’s surgery, you know, it’s very painful. But I think we continued to give him painkillers just for another day, one another day, and after that he was fine, he was fine, he managed very, very well. He’s very, very brave in my opinion, because he recovered really well, and we were sent home just after two days after the surgery I think. In rare cases cleft services splint or restrict the movement of the baby’s arms after a cleft lip closure operation to stop the baby from touching the scar or mouth. This can sometimes attract unwarranted attention from members of the public.
EMBED CODE Oh OK. Millie: And [laughs]. Could you explain why they splint the arms? Millie: It’s so that they can’t get at the mouth and so he can’t pull at his glue and things like that. Michael: Stitches. Millie: And his arms were like that, weren’t they? Michael: Yeah you’d have thought he wanted a cuddle all the time. Millie: And people were sort of like, you know, “Oh what’s wrong with his arms?” And I just got fed up one day, didn’t I? Michael: Yeah, you know, because it’s every five minutes, “Oh what’s up with his arms?” Millie: Yeah and I told someone [laughs] I’d broke his arms, didn’t I? Michael: Yeah cos they wouldn’t shut up. Millie: This bloke was like, “What’s wrong with them?” I said, “Oh I broke his arms; he wouldn’t shut up.” And a lot of mums have had that, haven’t they? Somebody, one of the other mums had... in Marks & Spencer’s, a woman coming up saying her son had a bogie on his face, and it wasn’t, it was his glue, because it goes black, doesn’t it? Michael: Yeah. Millie: And they’re like Hitler? [laughs] with all this black glue. So it looks like a black moustache? Michael: Yeah it’s pretty much half of it. So do they use glue instead of stitches, is that what they do? Michael: It’s so they can’t pick the stitches, if he does get hold of them. Oh it covers the stitches? Millie: Yeah, but that’s funny, isn’t it? Michael: It seems to just attract dirt there so it turns black. But as it starts peeling away it turns into like a little square Hitler tache. Millie: But we have people, yeah, we had a lot of people saying, “Oh what’s he done to his arms?” and things like that. And I was like, “He’s had an operation.” They didn’t even notice his mouth, did they? They were more bothered about this tiny baby with his arms out like that; couldn’t get in his pram and things and that was a... that was, that was funny. I think because of the relief of, you know, all his operation, being pent up, and the relief, we just found that funny, didn’t we? Michael: Yeah. Millie: Because he could pull his splints off, couldn’t he? Michael: Yeah he’s sussed that one quick. Millie: Yeah he was really clever: he just used to put his arm and pull his arms out. And the amount of times we found him sat there like with his splints off, chewing his hand, and things like that, didn’t we? Michael: Yeah. Millie: Yeah it was funny after that. After that it was so much relief, wasn’t it? Very soon after a cleft palate closure parents are advised to feed their baby while she or he is still recovering from surgery. The baby is likely to be hungry because they will have been starved for a period before the surgery. Parents will also be asked to make sure that the child drinks a lot of fluid in this period (see ’Feeding a baby born with a cleft’).
EMBED CODE So was it the same surgeon? Yeah. ...So obviously [laughs] with the second operation I just had it in my head, “I know, no matter how long it takes, he’s going to eat again and he’s going to drink again.” So I weren’t so [laughs] panicky.
EMBED CODE OK. You didn’t recognise her? OK that’s interesting yeah. Hmm yeah I hadn’t heard that before. So yeah, OK. So what was that post-op period like? You mentioned that they need to eat yoghurt and stuff. How long is it, because at six months would your baby have been weaned at all? OK so within a couple of weeks? Yeah OK. Yeah that’s nice. That’s a good plan. Yeah [laughs] it was nice and cold on her mouth where it was sore.
EMBED CODE Yeah sure. OK. The second one is the one where they do the palate. web design by |