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- Cleft Lip and/or Cleft Palate
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Infants with a cleft lip with a normal intact palate usually breastfeed very well.
Holding the infant when breastfeeding with the cleft placed toward the top of the breast may help with feeding.
Infants with cleft palate have more difficulty breastfeeding because the cleft in the palate makes it
very difficult to get the suction and the compression needed for successful breastfeeding.
The larger the cleft, the more difficult breastfeeding can be.
Some mothers can use hand expression while breastfeeding and squirt the milk into the back of the
infant's mouth with the infant providing little suction.
Other mothers have pumped and fed expressed breast milk to their infant.
Infants with a cleft palate who are breastfeeding require close monitoring of their growth and
should be seen by a clinician experienced with breastfeeding problems.
The physician members of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine have developed evidence based
recommendations
Guidelines for Breastfeeding Infants with Cleft Lip, Cleft Palate, or Cleft Lip and Palate
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- Down's Syndrome
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Infants with Down's Syndrome often have a poor suck and hypotonia.
They may have difficulty stimulating the maternal breast enough in
order to get the milk supply up. Consequently, they may need some
supplemental feedings in a physiologic manner. The mothers may need
to use an electric pump to empty and stimulate their breasts which
will then increase their milk supply while their baby is learning to
breastfeed. These babies need close monitoring of their weight gain.
The physician members of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine have developed
evidence based recommendations for
Breastfeeding the Hypotonic Infant
which focuses on breastfeeding infants with Down's Syndrome.
- Congenital heart disease
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Infants with congenital heart disease who are able to suck from a
bottle should be able to suck from the breast.
- Other congenital problems
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Infants with other problems need to be addressed on an individual basis.
Health care personnel who are skilled at helping mothers with
breastfeeding should be involved with the physician caring for these infants.
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