Face-to-Face Interaction Between Infants with Orofacial Clefts and Their Mother

Compared mother-infant face-to-face (en face) interaction among3-month-old infants with cleft lip and palate (CLP), infantswith isolated cleft palate (CP), or nonimpaired infants (NI).The Monadic Phase system (Tronick, Als, & Brazelton, 1980)was used to describe patterns of laboratory en face interactionin 116 mother-infant dyads. Diagnostic group comparisons ofpercentages of monadic phases and infant-mother monadic phasesequences revealed more similarities than differences. However,CP group mothers appeared less involved in en face interactionthan mothers in the CLP group. Low maternal involvement in thecombined cleft groups was predicted by concurrent measures ofinfant characteristics including infant negative reactivity,whereas low maternal involvement in the comparison group waspredicted by maternal characteristics including low psychologicaldistress. There was little evidence to suggest that anomalousfacial appearance is a significant factor influencing the qualityof early mother-infant interaction. Assessing other characteristicsof the infant and the broader social context is also important.