UCSF

Testing the effectiveness of a breastfeeding device, the Breastfeeder (BF), for infants with cleft palate with or without cleft lip (CLP): A Pilot StudyMarina Shamoun ABSTRACT This single institution, prospective, interventional, cross-sectional study aimed to explore the efficiency of a new device, the Breastfeeder (BF). The BF allows direct breastfeeding for infants with cleft palate. Infants with cleft palate with or without cleft lip (CLP) are not able to thrive by breastfeeding directly at their mother’s breast. They lack the necessary intraoral negative pressure from the air leak through the cleft to their nose. To feed infants with CLP, special techniques, bottles, and nipples are required. Hence, direct breastfeeding is not a feasible option, and mothers are obligated to pump and feed the breast milk to their infants with special bottles/nipples. This is even more challenging in developing countries with low income and minimum to no access to pumps, clean water, and formula. In this study, mothers of infants with CLP who are interested in breastfeeding their newborns were recruited. We evaluated the Breastfeeder (BF) during a five-minute breastfeeding session and compared it to pumping on the other breast for another 5-minute session. Specific measurements were taken before, throughout, and after the feeding and pumping sessions to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of this device. The mother's feedback from the survey was also obtained at the end of the study. Results of this study were quite variable confirming the complicated nature of the process of breastfeeding an infant with a CLP. No statistical significance was drawn due to the small number of participants. Despite the lack of definitive outcomes, this pilot study has contributed valuable insights to the effectiveness and limitations of BF.