Hearing Loss

Did you know that most babies with a cleft palate struggle with hearing loss? The hole in the palate allows fluid to ebb and flow in and out of the ear, causing them to hear muffled sounds. That’s something I didn’t know could happen because of a cleft. It’s so interesting how a cleft diagnosis can affect so much—who would have thought it could lead to hearing loss? I’m sure somebody knew that, but I sure didn’t.  

Peanut will have tubes placed in his ears at four months to help clear the fluid and, hopefully, improve his hearing. It’s strange to think that he may not have truly heard me talk, or that all the times we’ve been loud to help him adjust to sounds could have been for nothing. But at the same time, he could be hearing us—he could be responding to our voices, not just our movements and expressions. There’s just no real way to know. It’s mind-blowing.  

This realization has really changed the way I look at our interactions. Every little coo, every turn of his head, every smile—are they reactions to our voices or just to the movement and energy around him? It makes me emotional to think he may have spent these first few months in a world of muffled sounds, but it also makes me incredibly hopeful that once he gets his tubes, a whole new world will open up for him. I can’t wait for the day he hears us clearly for the first time.  

This journey with Peanut keeps teaching me new things—about clefts, about parenting, and about patience. There’s so much I don’t know, and sometimes that’s overwhelming, but I’m learning to take it one step at a time. If nothing else, this experience is reminding me to appreciate the little moments, because one day soon, everything will change again. 

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