When the mother of a newborn dies, someone has to take on the role as the baby's mother. A multi-disciplinary team can be instrumental in choosing someone and preparing that person to act as such. Speech therapy concurrent with the adoption process may contribute to the lactation process and also to the connection between mother and baby. The purpose of this study is to report the speech therapy role in conjunction with the adoption process in a public maternity hospital in the state of Alagoas - Brazil. This is a report of an intervention study with a preterm newborn whose mother died soon after giving birth. The follow-up was performed according to the three stages of the Kangaroo Mother Method and was carried out through interventions aimed at the foster mother/newborn relationship, as well as guidance from the multi-disciplinary team. The preterm newborn referred for this case study was discharged with no sensory or oral motor changes. The child fed from the adoptive mother's breast and was given formula by means of relactation, thus suggesting the importance of speech therapy intervention in this case. The newborn was discharged after determining that the stomatognathic system structures in relation to posture, mobility and conformation were within the normal range, and oral reflexes, strength and pace suitable in non-nutritive suckling were present, making it easy to be breastfed, while concurrently receiving the prescribed adjunct complementary feeding through a naso-gastric catheter. The speech therapist is a critical partner in that process because that person is the professional responsible for developing and improving one of the main functions of the newborn: the ability to suckle.
Breastfeeding; Lactation; Adoption; Speech-Language Therapy; Kangaroo Mother Method