Selecting Your Baby’s Cleft Care Team
One of the first and most important decisions you will make is the selection of the team of professionals who will help you manage your child’s cleft care. Most cleft palate teams and craniofacial teams (both commonly referred to as cleft teams) include professionals from the following fields:
- Dentistry (oral-maxillofacial surgery, orthodontics, pediatric dentistry, prosthodontics)
- Medicine (genetics, nursing, otolaryngology (ENT–ear, nose and throat), pediatrics, plastic surgery, neurosurgery, pulmonology)
- Allied Health Care Professionals (psychiatry, psychology, social work, nursing,
audiology, speech-language pathology)
You can search for an ACPA Approved Cleft Team in your area or ask your local physician or other healthcare provider.
Recommended Questions for the Team
- Which specialists are on the team?
- What are the qualifications of the individual members of the team?
- What kind of experience does the team have?
- How does the team communicate with each other? With patients and families?
- Who will be the team contact person after our baby is born or following surgeries?
- Does the team prefer a particular modified cleft palate bottle to another?
- Who can assist with feeding if needed at the birth hospital? During the first year of life?
