[BFMUN]

Hello to you all,

I am an adoptive mother who is breastfeeding and a student in a masters of nursing program. I am working on a project about prospective adoptive parents knowledge of breastfeeding (BF) the adoptive infant/child. Now I know this is probably the last thing as waiting adoptive parents you are thinking about, but you are exactly the parents that I need to reach. In my project I am trying to understand if prospective adoptive parents are aware that they can breastfeed their adoptive infant/child. And whether they know where to turn to for help, and whether their health care providers is knowledeable and/or supportive of breastfeeding adoptive children.

For myself I have alot of professional knowledge about BF because of the work I do and was aware that adoptive mothers could potentially nurse their children. But I still had to source out how this was done, what protocols I needed to follow, and to find people (both professionally and personally) to support my decision to BF my son, all within days of becoming aware that I was going to become an adoptive mom (I didn't have alot of time to prepare to BF).
I am interested in learning about your experiences. Were you aware of the possibility? How you came to learn about the possibility of breastfeeding the adoptive child and also about where you turned to support you in your decision to BF. Was your doctor or health professional knowledgeable about adoptive BF, were they supportive?
Any thoughts on this is greatly appreciated and I think will benefit other prospective adoptive parents.
BFMUN