Caregiver Experiences of Feeding Instruction for Infants Born with Cleft Lip and/or Palate

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to learn what feeding education was provided to caregivers of infants with cleft lip and/or palate and how they view the feeding experience. Method: Participants (n=5) were recruited from two Facebook support groups, Cleft Lip and Palate Support Group :*) and Cleft Mom Support. The data were collected using Qualtrics™ software. The questionnaire consisted of eight demographic questions and seven topic-specific questions. The demographic questions included the exclusion and inclusion criteria. The participants of this study were required to be an English-speaking parent or a caregiver of a child under one year of age with nonsyndromic cleft lip and/or palate. While six participants qualified, only five continued on to complete the topic-specific questions. Results: Eighty percent of participants reported receiving feeding education from a speech-language pathologist, and all reported being provided follow-up care in regard to feeding. Sixty percent of participants mentioned the use of specific bottles in regard to the feeding education they were provided. Sixty percent of participants described using Facebook support groups to acquire additional feeding information. Conclusion: This study confirms the importance of speech-language pathologists’ role in cranio-facial teams as providers of feeding therapy to infants born with cleft lip and/or palate, particularly as related to bottle training due to the large percentage of parents who listed it as a part of the feeding education provided by speech-language pathologists