A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of getting to know Susannah Schaefer (President & CEO of Smile Train), the work she has done with Smile Train, what Smile Train as a global charity is aiming for and a couple of stories of cleft patients she has met during her time with the charity.

As much as we are on our own journey here, my family and I support our cleft community in the developing world and are keen to learn more about how we can help.  You can see more of what Smile Train do by visiting the website: www.smiletrain.org (/uk) and following their Instagram (@smiletrain/@smiletrainuk).

I would love to hear your feedback about this episode!

On this episode, I spoke with Cecelia from @cleftglow.  A cleft affected Mother of three, who's first born son was also born with a cleft lip and palate.  We talk about her travels, how she met her husband, what it was like growing up and how she empowers her son to be confident in his own skin.  Cecelia's energy and how she views the cleft condition is so encouraging.  I really hope you love this chat! 

A mother of two, originally from the Philippines and founder of Huro Kids, Audrey tells me her Cleft journey with her son, Roman.  We talk about ignoring health professional's calls, about the first person she thought of at diagnosis and giving back to the Cleft community with Huro Kids.

Found out more about Huro Kids via the website & Audrey's Instagram. 

On this episode, I spoke with Iva Ballou from @realsophisticatedjoy, a cleft affected confidence coach who talks about her experience of bullying, the pivotal moment that helped changed her mindset and how her faith has been a constant through her journey.  I hope you enjoy! 

Iva's website:  www.realsophisticatedjoy.com

Alyssa is a gorgeous Mum to two wonderful boys, Jack & Jett.  She is our 2 in 1400 Mum, as both boys were born with clefts - although with varying severities and completely different outcomes.  This was such an interesting chat, including Mother's intuition to days that she didn't expect to happen. 

TRIGGER WARNING:  Please listen at your discretion - Medical complications & difficult situations discussed during this episode. 

You can follow Alyssa on Instagram: @alyssammessick.

I had the opportunity to speak to Matilda to talk about her life after being born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate.  She went from being a 'hating the world' kind of girl to a successful hairdresser and make up artist.  Her attitude is one to learn from.

I had the pleasure of chatting this week with Julia who is based in the USA!  We spoke about her concerns of telling family about her son's cleft diagnosis, the ups and downs of her pregnancy and finding surgeons in LA!

I had wonderful evening chatting with this gorgeous husband and wife duo in Ireland about their situation.  James was born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate and they are currently pregnant with their second baby who has also been diagnosed with a cleft.

We talk about their outlook on the cleft condition, Adam Bighill, signs and burgers!  Unfortunately, reception was a little off so please bear with the audio, not to mention my lack of editing knowledge and a quick Irish accent!

I would love to hear what you thought about this episode, please let me know!

If you want to know more about Don't Get Lippy, please visit my website or follow our journey on Instagram!

In this episode I talk to Felicity, Mama to Zac, who talks about his cleft diagnosis at 20 weeks, the anticipation around feeding and how she found telling her family about their news.

Please bear with the reception on this podcast! From the UK to Jersey we had a bit of trouble throughout the chat but I hope it doesn't pull away from the important story!

This podcast is based around the Cleft Lip and Palate condition, for more information on Don't Get Lippy, please visit the website or find us on Instagram!

Feeding Will was a massive learning curve for us.  The level of stress is not something I would like to revisit but I think it's important to reflect on that time.  

I decided to sit down and just talk through some of the bits I remember from those early days.  On second listen, this chat seemed quite negative and that's because it was so stressful for us. I feel like it is important to acknowledge that there are SO many successful feeding stories out there and this was just our journey.

I hope my perspective on this subject help others to feel that they are not alone if they are having issues and also helps others and medical professionals understand what things can be like for feeding a baby with a cleft.

Some of these things I haven't thought about since those early days and I couldn't help but get teary at the end!

I hope you enjoy.

Jen
@dontgetlippyuk