A Photo of a Baby With a Beautiful Cleft Lip Goes Viral, and Her Parents Reveal the Remarkable Story

Science has shown that approximately 1 in every 2,000 people is born with a rare genetic condition. This fact brings to light the incredible diversity and complexity of human biology. Through the story below, we can see that support from our loved ones is a pretty important thing. Courtney and Gavin, parents with a special daughter, shared their inspiring journey about having a baby with a cleft lip with many people on their social networks in order to help other families.

The angel baby

Courtney and Gavin Gardner recently welcomed their daughter, Sutton, who was born with a cleft lip. The mother expressed concern for her second child’s health and spent the entire night after Sutton was born, wondering and praying that everything would be okay. In the 20th week of her pregnancy, the doctor did an ultrasound revealing that the baby had a cleft lip and palate. When Gardner received the news, she immediately started crying.

“The last part they did was the ultrasound of her face, and that’s when the ultrasonographer said, ’Oh, she does have a cleft lip.’ I remember being completely blindsided and shocked by that because it wasn’t even on my radar of a possibility that could happen,” said Courtney.

Cleft lips and palates are very rare conditions that affect 1 in every 1,600 babies, and it happens when a baby’s lips or mouth do not develop normally during pregnancy. It can be caused by different factors, like food or medicine that the mother consumes, or it could be a genetic predisposition.

Sutton became viral overnight.

After the Gardners welcomed their first son, they regretted not having a maternity photoshoot with him. When Courtney became pregnant again, she knew she wanted to capture every moment of her newborn daughter.

Photographer Shannon Morton took the photos, which the parents later shared on social media. One of the pictures of their daughter Sutton quickly gained traction and, within hours, had gathered 10,000 likes. Over the next few days, the likes increased to an impressive 750,000.

Courtney said that all the feedback about her daughter was kind, encouraging, and thoughtful, and most people were saying how beautiful she was. The post inspired a lot of folks to share their stories and photos. The Gardners were motivated to create their own Facebook page, My Cleft Cutie, in order to help other parents dealing with similar diagnoses.

“My little princess was born with a bilateral cleft. Thankfully, her palate was intact. Me and dad assure her every day that she is the most beautiful girl in the world and her personality is amazing,” commented a mother on the Facebook post.

The journey was rough, but in the end, luck was on their side.

The parents were worried about their daughter’s health, but they were very thankful for the hospital that helped them through this journey. Sutton’s cleft palate made bottle feeding challenging, so she spent the first 18 days of her life in the newborn critical care unit.

The Gardner’s daughter is expected to undergo her first surgery in March and at least one more surgery after she turns 1. Then, she will receive speech therapy.

“Even though things are scary, and they may seem dark in that initial fresh period of diagnosis, it’s actually a beautiful thing that is 100% able to be treated and managed,” said Courtney. Sutton seems like a stubborn baby to her parents, but they can tell that she will be social because she loves attention and when Sutton is around her brother, she wiggles with joy and happiness.

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