When I tell people that my daughter Josephine was born with a cleft palate, many of them respond by saying something along the lines of, “Wow, really??? You can’t even tell!” This is because, when people hear the word “cleft,” they automatically think of cleft lip. But a cleft palate is something totally different (though the two often occur together). Don’t feel bad if you’ve made the same mistake. It’s totally understandable! I don’t think many people even know what a cleft palate is. So I wanted to write this post to break it down for you! Cleft Lip A cleft lip is a gap in the upper lip. According…
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10 Ways To Support A NICU Parent
Some links may be affiliate links. I may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these. Having a baby in the NICU is one of the most difficult experiences a parent can go through. It’s so important to support these parents in appropriate and helpful ways. I’m sure most of you know already that my daughter Josephine was born with a rare birth defect called Pierre Robin Sequence. As a result of her condition, she had a lot of difficulty breathing and feeding for the first few weeks of her life, so she spent that time in the NICU. My husband and I…
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Cleft Palate Repair Recovery Tips
Some links may be affiliate links. I may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these. Before Josie’s palate repair surgery, I was bracing myself for a few miserable, sleepless weeks of recovery. But luckily, Josie bounced back in no time. Palate repair recovery was definitely still a difficult and exhausting process, but it wasn’t as terrible as I had expected, and it was so worth it in the end. A lot of people have questions about recovery and what to expect, so I wanted to detail the steps I took to ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible. Hopefully it will…
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Cleft Palate Sippy Cup Transition: How To Ditch The Bottle Before Palate Repair
Some links may be affiliate links. I may get paid if you buy something or take an action after clicking one of these. For a baby with a cleft palate, one of the most important steps in preparing for palate repair surgery is eliminating the bottle and transitioning to a sippy cup! Josie had to be able to drink all of her liquids from a cup (no bottle!) by the time surgery came around. This is because drinking from the bottle nipple could potentially damage the surgery site (the roof of her mouth). Since she left the NICU, Josie had been drinking her milk from the Dr. Brown’s specialty feeding…
