Feeding infants with cleft lip, cleft palate or cleft lip and palate

Squeezable feeding bottles may be easier to use than rigid bottles for babies born with clefts of the lip and/or palate. Breastfeeding may provide more favourable growth outcomes than spoon-feeding after cleft surgery.

A Cochrane review included 5 studies with a total of 292 subjects. Comparisons made within the RCTs were squeezable versus rigid feeding bottles (2 studies), breastfeeding versus spoon-feeding (1 study) and maxillary plate versus no plate (2 studies). No statistically significant differences were shown for any of the primary outcomes when comparing bottle types, although squeezable bottles were less likely to require modification. No statistically significant difference was shown for infants fitted with a maxillary plate compared to no plate. A statistically significant difference in weight (kg) at 6 weeks post-surgery was shown in favour of breastfeeding when compared to spoon-feeding (MD 0.47, 95% CI 0.20 to 0.74).

Comment: The quality of evidence is downgraded by imprecise results (limited study size for each comparison) and by limitations in study quality.

Ədəbiyyat

1. Bessell A, Hooper L, Shaw WC, Reilly S, Reid J, Glenny AM. Feeding interventions for growth and development in infants with cleft lip, cleft palate or cleft lip and palate. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2011;(2):CD003315. .