The Crazy NAM

Since Evan was born, we have been going to OHSU Dorenbecker almost every Monday to see an orthodontist, Dr. Judah Garfinkle. This is actually the same orthodontist who taught/presented at one of Tony's classes right before we found out that Evan had a cleft lip/palate. He was gracious enough to meet with us before Evan was even born. When Dr. Garfinkle pulled out his powerpoint slides and showed us how kids benefited from using the NAM,. Tony and I knew that this would be that path we would take with Evan. Although, the NAM has brought the cleft together, it didn't just happen w/o some bumps in the road. Little did we know how rocky this taping/NAM journey would be. I could go into all the details.. but I'll spare you. 


NAM stands for nasoalveolar molding. It is made of a hard, clear acrylic and lined with a thin layer of denture material. So, it is like a denture plate for babies, no teeth. What holds the NAM in place is tape. Tape on your baby's face

Once you have gone through NAM, you will ALWAYS look at tape differently. Your child gets used to the NAM eventually.. When all the rough spots are smoothed out.. But the actual taping is very hard. Your child's arms are waving frantically around and his head is moving side to side... And it is extremely hard to get the tape on precisely.

During this journey, I've learned several tips.
1. Papoose or swaddle your kid.
2. Try to do it as a team with your spouse. One person to hold the baby's head still while the other does all the taping.
3. Buy dynacleft or use a huge steri strip for cross taping as extra support. This seems to help pull everything together. Makes the progress faster.
4. Use vaseline or aquaphor on the nasal stent. It will help to prevent any sores.
5. Use fixodent! helps with pulling everything together as well..
6. Hand restraints. Use them! I hear "Snuggle Wraps" are the best.. But haven't tried them yet. Once your kid gets old enough to touch their face, they are going to want to itch/scratch and pull at the NAM. Which will make the skin irritation worse. In our case, our kid would pull off the tape and serious seepage would happen. To the point where we would have to take a few days break from taping. Which.. you don't want to do as it will prolong the process.

Another tip.. But I'm not sure if it's feasible.. is to meet w/ the orthodontist right away if baby is not adjusting to the NAM. There could be a sore and the NAM needs to be adjusted.. Also it helps to see if you're doing a good job taping... So you're not going days with your baby in pain or doing inaccurate job w/ taping/tension.

I will try to do a tutorial sometime and post it up!

Our surgery is scheduled for 8/7/12. Although, I don't feel that we were the best NAM patients.. I can tell you, we definitely tried our best.. As a dear friend from church told/reminded me as I fretted over the outcome of the surgery/NAM, "God is the ultimate Healer". It is not the plastic surgeon.. it is not me and how successful I am at taping.. Evan's healing is truly in the Lord's hands.

First day with the NAM