According to (CDC, 2014) around one in each 33 babies is born with a birth defect. It was newly projected that each year 2, 651 babies in the U.S are born with a cleft palate and 4,437 babies are born with a cleft lip with or without a cleft palate. Cleft lip is more known than cleft palate. Though having a baby born with cleft lip and palate can be heart breaking it can be improved. Cleft lip and cleft palate are undeveloped splits in the upper lip, the roof of the mouth or both. It happens when growing facial structures in an unborn does not close completely. Cleft is among the most common birth defects. Both these birth defects are usually called "orofacial clefts" orofacial clefts happen during early pregnancy (CDC, 2013).
The lip of a baby starts to form between the fourth and seventh week of pregnancy. A baby is born with a cleft lip if the tissue that makes up the lip doesn't completely come together before the child is born.
This effects the split in the upper lip. It could be small or it can be large which goes through the lip to the nose. Cleft lip can occur in either side or the middle which is uncommon. Children who have cleft lip can also be born with cleft palate. The roof of the mouth is known as the "palate" the palate starts to form between the sixth and the ninth week during pregnancy. Same as the lip, a cleft palate can form if the tissue that makes up the roof of the mouth don't come together correctly. On some babies the front and back of their palate is cleft, others only part of the palate is open (CDC, 2013).
As stated by (Seikel, King, Drumright,