A new 'gravity-flow' nipple for feeding infants with congenital cleft palate.

Infants with congenital cleft palate are generally unable to suck a regular nipple because the free flow of air through the cleft via the nose immediately decompresses the negative pressure of sucking. For many years, infants with cleft palate have usually been fed by depositing formula directly into the pharynx with a short rubber tube attached to the end of a bulb syringe, or with a medicine dropper, or with some makeshift modification of a nipple. A nipple has been designed which when attached to a squeezable plastic bottle (Figure) uses the same "gravity-flow" principle as the bulb syringe method, yet is more aesthetically appealing, is more readily accepted by the mother, and is so similar in appearance to the usual nipple and bottle that the feeding technique is easily understood and mastered.