Cleft Lip: Expectant Mothers To Attend Ante-Natal Clinic

The FCT Primary Health Care Development Board (PHCDB) has advised expectant mothers to attend ante-natal clinic so as to reduce the chances of giving birth to babies with cleft lip.

Cleft lip or palate occurs when the structures that form the upper lip or palate fail to fuse together properly when a baby is developing in the womb.

The Executive Secretary of the Agency, Dr Rilwanu Mohammed, gave the advice in an interview with  newsmen in Abuja Tuesday.

Mohammed said that the condition affected children’s ability to feed properly, while some children might have speech impairement.

He said the causes of the condition could be genetic (internal) or environmentally influenced (external)

The executive secretary said that ante-natal clinic was meant to give pregnant mothers medical advice that would help their condition.

Mohammed said that it was also meant to monitor the progress of the pregnancy and to respond to its challenges if any.

He pointed out that pregnant mothers were usually given folic acid as a daily dietary supplement during antenatal care, adding that folic acid might alter the likelihood of having a baby with a cleft lip.

The executive secretary said that folic acid was an essential vitamin found in meat, fresh fruit and vegetables.

He said, “Ensuring that you have a healthy pregnancy will help reduce the risks of your baby developing a cleft.

“The cause of cleft lip and palate is highly preventable because we realise that the cause could be genetical, congenital and also environmental.

“Doctors will usually advice women to attend antenatal so that they can know what to do and what to avoid during pregnancy.

“A lot of pregnant women neglect the importance of antenatal, they go doing things their own ways, which could be very risky for the baby and the mother.’’

Our correspondent quotes a recently punished health journal as saying that the genes a child inherits from his parents can make the child more vulnerable to developing a cleft lip or palate.

The journal also said that a number of environmental risk factors had been identified that might increase a child’s chance of being born with a cleft lip or palate.

According to the journal, maternal smoking, maternal alcohol consumption, maternal obesity, lack of folic acid during pregnancy, and self medication during pregnancy are some of the causes of the condition, which said  medical remedy is only surgery.