Current Practice Patterns and Training Pathways for Feeding Infants with Cleft Palate.

Objective: To examine the current trends and practices across disciplines for feeding infants with cleft palate with or without cleft lip and to describe provider training within this area.

Design: Prospective survey.

Setting: ACPA approved cleft palate teams and healthcare providers in the United States and Canada.

Participants: Interdisciplinary providers that regularly provide feeding services to infants with cleft palate.

Intervention: 50-item survey designed and distributed electronically via the ACPA.

Main Outcome Measures: Information on provider demographics and practice patterns.

Results: 76 respondents included providers in North America that have either currently or previously served on a cleft palate team. The majority of respondents were in speech-language pathology (49%) or nursing (38%) disciplines, worked in an outpatient setting (70%), and received no information (68%) regarding cleft palate feeding in their academic training. While specific practice patterns were relatively consistent across the respondent cohort, provider characteristics were significantly associated with squeezing the Haberman ( = .013) and likelihood of collaboration with other providers when counseling parents/caregivers ( = .039).

Conclusions: While provider characteristics varied, there were similar practice patterns observed across disciplines. Future research is needed explore training related to feeding knowledge as well as practice patterns in locations with a lower patient volume.