1 in 700 babies in the UK are born with some type of cleft, that figure is quite high, yet when I was pregnant in 2011, I had never heard, seen or known a child with a cleft lip or palate.
There has been slightly more awareness over the last few years but still more is needed.
There are many causes of clefts, genetic, a problem during the first few weeks of pregnancy and also folic acid plays it's part. Always, always take your folic acid ladies!! StarGirls was due to a genetic syndrome that she has, but we didn't find that out until just before her first birthday.
Cleft awareness is needed, more pregnant women need to know about it definitely! First finding out about something you haven't heard of before at a pregnancy scan makes it more terrifying, then hearing a doctor say an abortion can be done if you want it makes it worse!
The more that people know it isn't a big deal, the better.
There are amazing cleft teams all over the world doing cleft operations every single day, so more needs to be done to raise awareness. We're doing our bit to help as much as we can.
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