Congenital defects of the maxillofacial region include cleft lip and cleft palate. Malnutrition is among the biggest obstacles faced by people with cleft lip and palate. Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of implementing cleft lip and cleft palate guidance protocol on mothers' feeding practices. Method: A quasi- experimental design was used. The study was conducted in the pediatric surgical department and pediatric surgical outpatient clinic at Mansoura University Children's Hospital affiliated to Mansoura University. A purposive sample of 27 infants with cleft lip and cleft palate and their mothers who were admitted through 2 months during the period from the beginning of March to the end of April, 2022. Two tools were used; first tool: A structured interview questionnaire (Characteristics of mothers, characteristics of infants, Infants’ Feeding criteria as reported by mothers, mothers’ knowledge about cleft lip & cleft palate); second tool: an observational checklist for mothers' feeding practice. Results: Eighty-one percent of mothers lack adequate knowledge of pre-feeding protocol compared to only about one-fifth of them after feeding, and seventy percent of mothers lack proficiency in pre-artificial feeding protocol compared to only twenty percent of them after feeding guidance—a statistically significant difference. Conclusion and Recommendations: This study concluded that implementation of the cleft lip and cleft palate guidance protocol had a positive effect on mothers’ feeding practices. Further research should be conducted to help mothers overcome feeding problems in infants with cleft lip and palate
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