Translating: what it is, how it is made and some care

Translating is a technique that involves putting the baby to the breast to nurse the mother's own milk previously withdrawn through a tube that is placed near the nipple. This technique is widely used in cases of preterm infants who are not strong enough to suckle breast milk or who have to stay in hospital incubators.

In addition, translactation can be done to stimulate the production of breast milk, which usually takes about 2 weeks.

The translation and the relactation are similar techniques, however, the difference is that the translactation uses only breast milk and the relactation uses artificial milk. Understand what relacting is and how to do it.

How to translate

Translating can be done at home, by hand with a bottle, for example, or by means of a translational kit that is available at some pharmacies and baby products stores.

Manual translation

Manual translation should be done following the advice of the pediatrician:

• The woman should withdraw the milk by hand or with the aid of hand or electric appliances and store it in a bottle, syringe or cup. Then one tip of the nasogastric tube number 4 or 5 (according to the pediatrician's advice) should be placed in the container in which the milk was stored and the other end of the probe close to the nipple, being attached with crepe tape. With this done, the baby can already be placed near the breast to suck through the tube.

Babies are not usually resistant to translactation and after a few weeks it is already possible to breastfeed them and it is not recommended to give the baby a bottle during the process.

Translating with kit

The translational kit can be found at pharmacies or baby product stores and consists of manual withdrawal of milk, or with the aid of hand or electric appliances, which should be stored in the container provided by the kit. If necessary, you should still attach the kit probe to the breast and place the babies to nurse through the probe.

Caring for Translacation

Whatever the method of translation chosen, the mother should have some care, such as:

• Place the container with milk higher than the breast, so the milk flows better;
• Boil translational material 15 minutes before use;
• Wash the material with soap and water after use;
• Replace probe every 2 to 3 weeks of use.

In addition, the mother can withdraw the milk and keep it to give the baby later, however, should be aware of the place and the time of conservation of milk. Learn how to properly maintain breast milk.