I'm here! Yes I do have a cleft palate baby - she'll be 2 in July. Here is the thread with all my ups and downs
http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sho...t=cleft+palate
It was a long road but she made it and is here with me today.
I guess the 1st thing is how severe is her cleft? Tia's is in her soft pallat. I bottle fed her for almost 3 months before she ate food. It was up and down and very hard to get her to gain weight. Did you vet say where the cleft is and how severe?
I bought several different bottles and nipples and rotated them until I had the best way to feed. Sometime I had to even use a syringe. Whatever would work at each feeding. I fed her every hour 24/7.
I raised her on a home made recipe that has more calories per cc than regular formula. No specific amount - just as much as she would take each feeding.
1 cup full fat yogart
1 tablespoon real mayo
1 egg yoke
1 teaspoon karo syrup
1 can evaporated milk or goats milk
Room tempurature. As she got older I played with the recipe and added in more of certain ingrediants and added nutrical as well.
I just did what I could - didn't follow any rules - just tried to get her to gain. She was half the size of everyone else. Mom diapered her and took care of her, I just fed her. Once she was older I had to seperate her cuz the others were too big and were too rough.
Main thing is make sure not to feed to fast. You don't want it coming out her nose.
How is she now and whats her status? Are you feeding her? I found pre-mie nipples worked the best.