What to expect after surgery:
o Your baby will have skin glue on the lip. This is kind of like super glue and will wear off after 7-10 days.
o Your baby will have special adhesive strips (steri strips) across the upper lip. These stay on for about 1 week. If the edges start to peel up, you can trim the edges with some scissors. It is OK if they all fall off before your follow up appointment.
o Swelling is expected during the first week. It usually gets worse for 2-3 days before it starts to get better.
o Elbow restrains (No No’s) need to be on your baby’s arms unless you are holding them. The lip is numb and it’s easy for your baby to reach up and pull on the lip and sutures and accidentally cause harm. The No no’s need to be worn for 2 weeks after surgery.
o No pacifiers for 3 weeks.
o You will have a follow up appointment about 1 week after surgery.
o Your baby will have a nostril former (small silicone tube) inside the nostrils to help support the cartilage during the healing phase. We remove this after about 2-3 months. It always gets snotty and dirty, so just try to do your best to keep it clean.
Diet:
o First week: Specialty bottles like Dr. Brown or Haberman or Syringe feeding until your 1 week follow up. It’s important to make it easy for your baby so they don’t have to suck hard to get the formula as this puts strain on the lip repair.
o After 1st week: If everything is healing well, you can usually resume normal feeding.
Wound Care:
o The skin glue helps protect the area.
o Try to keep the site as clean as possible. You can clean it with a q-tip soaked in water.
o Don’t soak the site. Water can run over the area and you can pat it dry.
o At your follow up appointment we will help clean the area with a mixture of peroxide and water and show you how to do it.
o After 3 weeks, if everything is healing well, you can use Vitamin E oil and cream and massage the area gently to help soften the scar.
Antibiotics:
o Antibiotics MUST be taken as prescribed. Typically, the course of antibiotics is for 3 days. If your baby develops a rash or other side effect, stop the antibiotic and contact our office.
Bleeding:
o Some oozing of blood is expected after surgery. A small amount makes a lot of saliva look pink/red.
o Sometimes there is some bleeding inside the nose, too.
o The oozing may persist for up to 24 hours. Avoid any strenuous activity as this may worsen bleeding.
o If there is persistent bright red bleeding, then please contact our office.
Pain Management:
o We put long-acting numbing medicine in the lip that lasts 5-6 hours.
o Some discomfort is expected after surgery. The goal is to minimize the discomfort so that it is tolerable. It is unrealistic to expect zero pain after surgery, but we will work with you to minimize the discomfort as much as possible.
o Usually, your baby will only need over the counter children’s Tylenol.
o On occasion a stronger pain medication is prescribed for a couple days.
o Never exceed the maximum daily dose that is described in the over-the-counter instructions.
Swelling:
o Swelling is normal after surgery. It is normal for swelling to increase for the first 2-3 days after surgery and then reach its peak and start to lessen.
o Sometimes there is bruising that can take days to weeks to resolve.
Sutures:
o Sutures placed at the surgical site will dissolve/resorb on their own after about 7-14 days. Some stitches need to be removed in the clinic if they aren’t dissolving quickly enough.
o It’s ok if your baby accidentally swallows them as they will simply dissolve in the stomach.