Objective: This paper describes the responses of 100 parents of children born with cleft lip and/or palate in South East Wales to a postal questionnaire survey of their experiences of the services available to help with the feeding of their children in the immediate postnatal period.
Results & conclusions: Prior to birth, the majority of mothers intended to breast feed their child; after birth, the majority of infants were bottle fed. The majority of mothers felt that they had been a part of the decision to change methods. Advice on feeding was obtained from a variety of sources, both in hospital and on discharge. Mothers of cleft children who were first born in the family were less critical of the support offered in hospital than were mothers whose cleft child was a second or subsequent child. Isolated clefts of the palate were associated with a high proportion of feeding via nasogastric tube both on discharge from hospital and at home. The major criticism of the service offered to parents and their children was the poor quality of advice on feeding their children, both in hospital and on discharge. A variety of mechanisms for service improvement are suggested.