Grace's feeding milestone

Huge day for Grace! Today we had an appt. with Grace’s pediatrician to see about starting the process of getting her G-tube removed, things went like we hoped and her pediatrician will be sending a letter of recommendation to the general surgeon to get the Gtube removed!  

Many children born with Cleft ARE able to use a bottle for feeding, or some form of a specialty bottle but there are also several cases where the children are unable to form a suction because of the severity of their cleft.  Grace’s cleft was too severe for her to ever form a suctions so, after A LOT of trial and error, she used an NG tube and then a G-tube as her primary source for nutrition for her first year of life. The news of her needing a Gtube felt really scary and permanent, but I am here to report, I am SO HAPPY she had it! It allowed her to get the nutrition to grow and develop and eventually have her cleft palate repair surgery, which then allowed her to form a suction and use the Dr. Browns special needs bottle. Grace is now almost 18 months old, she no longer uses her specialty bottles and hasn’t used her Gtube for 6 mos+ 

If you’re new to the cleft journey, there are so many bottles to try out. Your cleft team will know best but some great brands were Medela, Dr. Browns & Pigeon. You won’t know what your baby needs until they are here! And if a bottle doesn’t work out, an NG tube or Gtube are options as well. Just like any baby, fed is best!