NUK Cleft Lip Teat

Feeding newborns with a cleft lip or palate almost always presents its own problems: these babies find it very difficult, sometimes even impossible, to create the right type of vacuum to be able to suck. This means that even breastfeeding, or bottle feeding with commercially available teats, is very difficult or often not possible at all. For these children, NUK has developed special teats which are based on the specific anatomical structure of the upper jaw of babies with clefts in their lip or palate. The NUK Cleft Lip Teat was developed as a sucking aid for unilateral (one-sided) clefts with an inserted palatal plate but it can also be used, in exceptional cases, for bilateral (two-sided) clefts with an inserted palatal plate. Its shape and function have been adapted to the NUK Teat and it does not look like a prosthetic device. By covering the outer cleft, the mouth cavity can be closed completely, enabling an intraoral vacuum to be created.