The impact of antenatal diagnosis on the effectiveness and timing of counselling for cleft lip and palate

Birth of a cleft child is emotionally distressing to the parents. The opportunity for forewarning the parents is now possible with antenatal ultrasound diagnosis of the cleft. This has opened up a new chapter of antenatal counselling. We present a retrospective postal study of 124 primary cleft lip and/or palate repairs operated over the last 5 years. In our study, 30% were diagnosed antenatally and received antenatal counselling. The rest received postnatal counselling. Of those who had an antenatal diagnosis 85% felt that the diagnosis prepared them psychologically for the birth of the cleft child. A total of 92% (n = 23) of parents who had antenatal as well as postnatal counselling, as compared with 71% (n = 46) of those counselled only postnatally, said the information given to them by the counselling cleft team was detailed and satisfactory. The majority of those who felt counselling was confusing had only postnatal counselling. Of those who had antenatal diagnosis 92% said that they had never contemplated termination of pregnancy. Only one parent had actually terminated her pregnancy due solely to the antenatal diagnosis of a bilateral cleft lip and palate. Our study has highlighted the importance of antenatal diagnosis of cleft and the importance of antenatal counselling for the delivery of a cleft child to be a positive experience.