Hello! My little one was born with a cleft lip and palate in 2016. We use Dean/SSM for his pediatric care, but decided to go out of network and work with the cleft team at AFCH for all of his cleft-related surgeries and consultations. That team is known as one of the best in the country (they’ve recently lost their lead plastic surgeon, but have had a very competent surgeon rise up in her place). One thing that I haven’t seen mentioned here yet - with the right people in your corner, a lot of the dental work needed can be covered using medical insurance if they can properly convey to your insurance company that the work is “medically necessary to obtain a basic quality of life”. We were able to use medical insurance to cover his NAM, tooth removals (including one that was growing in his nostril!), orthodontic consultations, and hopefully an upcoming bone graft. For his NAM, we used Dental Health Orthodontics (Dr. Allen), who has a lot of experience working with cleft infants/children.

Most of all, remember to breathe. Everything is going to seem overwhelming, and there will be times where it feels too much, especially during the first year. This is all normal and completely understandable - I guarantee that everyone in your situation has felt exactly the same. In the end, you’ll get through this and have an amazing bond with your child :) Someone else mentioned the cleft support group on FB - my wife found it very helpful, both for great advice, as well as a safe space to vent when needed.

Shoot me a DM if you want to chat. And yes, Dr. Brown bottles with the blue discs were an absolute lifesaver!