Sometimes, a cleft happens as part of, or because of, another condition or syndrome. This page explains how this happens and what these conditions and syndromes are.
Sometimes, a cleft happens as part of another condition or syndrome. A ‘syndrome’ is when a group of different symptoms occur together.
Most of the time, a cleft happens by itself with no other linked health conditions. This is sometimes called ‘non-syndromic’ or ‘asyndromic’ cleft, meaning it is not linked to a syndrome.
If a cleft is ‘syndromic‘, this means it is linked to a syndrome or health condition.
If your baby is born with a cleft, your Cleft Team will look out for signs of the more common health conditions linked to cleft and will tell you if they believe your child may be affected. You might also be offered genetic testing.
Cleft lip and cleft palate are listed as symptoms of over 400 various conditions and syndromes, some of which are extremely rare. This means the cleft itself is caused by that condition or syndrome.
Most of these syndromes and conditions affect people to different degrees. Some people do not even realise they have issues other than their cleft.
Some conditions which involve a cleft, such as Pierre Robin Sequence, can make early months a struggle but often do not impact a child’s life very much as they grow older.
Other rare syndromes, such as Edwards Syndrome or Patau’s Syndrome, are much more serious, but these are routinely tested for during pregnancy.
The more common syndromes and conditions linked to cleft are listed below.
The chances of any of these conditions will be different for each set of parents. As with a cleft lip and palate, sometimes there will be a clear genetic link and sometimes it will happen as a one-off in families.
If you have concerns or questions, talk to your Cleft Team (or ask for a referral if you have not yet been put in touch with them) as they will be able to give you specialist information and advice.
Pierre Robin Sequence (PRS) is a condition where babies are born with a cleft palate and a small lower jaw which can cause breathing and feeding difficulties in early life. This page explains how it happens, how it’s treated, and what support is available.
Van der Woude Syndrome is a rare genetic condition which features ‘lower lip pits’ combined with a cleft lip (with or without cleft palate), or cleft palate alone.
DiGeorge Syndrome is a condition which happens when a small piece of genetic material is missing (or ‘deleted’) from chromosome 22. It has a wide range of symptoms, including cleft palate.
Information about rare kinds of cleft which affect more than the upper lip and palate.
Cleft palate is a characteristic of some types of dwarfism. Little People UK provides support to people with dwarfism and their families.
