Welcome to Cleft Links! This area of the website features a collection of over 600 cleft-related articles. This page lists a brief overview of each subject area. It may not list all the areas covered. Be sure to check the link. If you have a question you'd like answered, consider joining Cleft Talk and get your questions answered by people and professionals who have traveled the road before you.
Includes a hearty section for NEW Parents (Congratulations!!!). You'll find information on caring for your cleft-affected newborn, basics on doctors, what to tell siblings, taking pictures, dealing with your emotions, stress reduction, starting your own support groups and more.This section also includes references and resources for both newborn and older children.
Breastfeeding vs. bottle feeding, bottle feeding tips, after surgery feeding, liquid diet recipes, overcoming oral defensiveness, photos of various feeding bottles.
History of Clefts, Facts about Clefts, and Medical Terms explained, (Such as: Kinds of Clefts, Fistulas, Obturators, Latham Pin Device, Hemangioma, Keloid Scarring, Rhinoplasty, Periostoplasty, Nasopharyngoscopy)
A large collection of articles, poems and positive thoughts
Check here for your medical questions! Information on Doctors, What happens at a Team Visit, Anesthesia, Before Surgery Tips, What to Expect at the first surgery, After Care Tips, Info on Lip Repair, Palate Repair, Other Parents Hospital Tales, Nose Repair, Bone Graft, Jaw Advancement, On Effects On Other Kids In Your Family, Wholistic Approaches
Topics included are: Self-Esteem Issues, Make-up, Teasing, Day Care, School, talking to teachers, talking to students, Advocating for your child, Teenage issues, Adoption, Wide Smiles Writers Guidelines, Friends of Wide Smiles, Bottle Share Program, Getting rid of Headaches
Getting them to pay for the care you want, dealing with HMO's, fighting the big guys, Insurance Story & Letter - one parent's story of how they got insurance to pay for doctors they wanted to use, Insurance and Adoption, and links to Military related insurance issues.
Baby bottle tooth decay and weaning, neonatal teeth, missing teeth, teeth in the middle of the palate, orthodontia in children with clefts, jaw expansion by orthodontia before bone graft, getting rid of headaches
Your Child's Hearing: Ear Aches/Infections, Ear Tubes, Hearing Exams
Getting Evaluated, Early Speech Stimulation Exercise, Guide to Normal Speech Development, How to get Speech Therapy, Speech/Oral Exercises
Syndrome vs. Sequence, Sticklers Overview, Feeding (plus) Advice for Newborn.
Kallman, Heart Murmurs, Endocrine Disorders, Van Der Woude, Optiz G, Fused Or Missing Fingers or Toes, Amniotic Banding, Chromosome 11, VCFS, Crouzons
Understanding Genetics, No Genetic Link, Smoking, Vitamin A, Folic Acid, CVS testing, Gulf War Link, Fetal Cleft Repair, and more.
Explaining email symbols and abbreviations, Finding Software, Using IRC - Chats, Free Email, Cleft-Talk Commands