The cast members (mostly pregnant girls) of “16 & Pregnant” had a reunion July 1st, and as a result we’ve learned a bit more about Courtney, Scott, and their son Dayton.
What is Courtney up to these days?
Other than staying very busy taking care of Dayton, Courtney has graduated from high school and is currently enrolled in cosmetology school.
How is Scott doing as a father?
Despite saying he’d always love their son when he heard he’d likely be born with a cleft like Courtney’s, Scott stumbled at first as a father. During the filming of a scene in May for a “Life After Labor” special, he told Courtney it wasn’t very “manly” to be holding a baby.
Eventually, though, Scott stepped up and has become a better father to Dayton. “Scott’s a good daddy and is getting much better,” Courtney has said. “Him and Dayton have a great relationship now! It just took him a while to come around! […H]owever he still doesn’t change the diapers, but I don’t mind that.”
How is Dayton’s cleft palate?
MTV’s littlest star, who just turned six months old, is doing fine, but he faces surgery in August to fix his cleft palate.
Courtney has said she is happy to be able to share her story about dealing with Dayton’s birth defect.
“I love when people can relate…!” she says. “It’s a common thing and I think people should know about clefts and other birth defects!”
When she and Scott saw Dayton’s cleft for the first time, she said, “It’s so minor!’” “We thought it was going to be worse but it’s so tiny thank God!”
Talking to Scott about her cleft lip struggles.
Nonetheless, Courtney worries that her son will be bullied, “I’m scared he will be teased but I know it’ll only make him stronger!”
Are Courtney and Scott still not having sex?
The couple tussled over Courtney’s decision to stay abstinent during the “16 & Pregnant” series. Courtney took to her Facebook page to answer fans’ questions about her episode since abstinence really got fans on Twitter and Facebook talking.
She defended her reluctance to “do the deed” with her live-in boyfriend Scott, while she was pregnant and even afterwards.
“We are still going strong!” she told a fan even though they sleep in separate bedrooms in their apartment. They will be getting married next month, according to Courtney.
“Sex is a very important thing to me… that’s why I’m waiting till I marry Scott,” Courtney said. “It’s very hard to not give in, and I understand that it’s even harder for him, and I always tell him how good he is doing and thank him.”
Genetic factors in cleft lip and cleft palate.
It’s not a shock that Courtney had a cleft child. While it suggests a genetic predisposition towards clefts exists in her family, our knowledge about such factors is still patchy.
WIKIi says, “Many clefts run in families, even though in some cases there does not seem to be an identifiable syndrome [a collection of defects] present, possibly because of the current incomplete genetic understanding of midfacial development. A number of genes are involved including cleft lip and palate transmembrane protein 1 and GAD1, one of the glutamate decarboxylases.”
We do know that isolated clefts—as opposed to hereditary ones—can come from vitamin deficiencies as well as long term exposure to toxins or short term exposure during the formation of the face (around 5-6 weeks in utereo).
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