Sucking Performance of Babies With Cleft Conditions

[Full-text Article] [PDF Version]
[PubMed Citation] [Related Articles in PubMed]

doi: 10.1597/05-173
The Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Journal: Vol. 44, No. 3, pp. 312–320.

Sucking Performance of Babies With Cleft Conditions

Julie Reid, B.App.Sc., Grad Dip., Ph.D.
Sheena Reilly, B.App.Sc., Ph.D.
Nicky Kilpatrick, B.D.S., Ph.D., F.D.S. R.C.P.S.

Dr. Reid is Senior Speech Pathologist (cleft palate/craniofacial team), Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia. Professor Reilly is Director, Speech Pathology Department, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, and has affiliations with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the School of Human Communication Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Dr. Kilpatrick is Director of Dentistry, Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, and has affiliations with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute and the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Melbourne University, Melbourne, Australia

Submitted August 2006; Accepted September 2006.

Objective: To describe the sucking performance of bottle-fed babies with cleft conditions.
Participants: Forty 2-week-old-babies with cleft lip (CL; n = 8), cleft palate (CP; n = 22), and cleft lip and palate (CLP; n = 10) were examined.
Methods: Suction, compression, and other sucking parameters were measured during bottle-feeding and compared to determine if they varied with cleft condition or feeding ability.
Results: All babies with CL and one with CLP demonstrated suction. Thirteen of 22 babies with CP demonstrated suction but only three maintained regular pressure changes over time. Between-group differences in the amplitude of suction and compression were associated with cleft condition. Cleft lip participants demonstrated the greatest amplitude of suction followed by those with CP and CLP. Cleft lip and CP participants generated similar amplitudes of compression. This was greater than their counterparts with CLP. Good feeders (n = 15) generated high levels of suction, while satisfactory (n = 15) and poor feeders (n = 10) did not generate any during bottle-feeding.
Conclusion: Between-group differences in intra-oral pressures were confirmed when babies were examined by cleft condition. Babies with smaller clefts (i.e., CL or minor soft palate clefts) were more likely to generate normal levels of suction and compression compared to their counterparts with larger clefts. Since good feeders were more likely to have smaller clefts it was not surprising that they demonstrated higher suction pressures than babies with satisfactory or poor feeding ability. Compression values were not significantly different across the feeding ability groups. These data may inform feeding management strategies.

KEY WORDS: cleft condition, infancy, sucking