[LifeofReilly]

Hello -- I am new to this site, new to blogging and hope to be a new mom soon! (Bare with me if the questions to follow have been asked.)

I hope to adopt a new born in the next 5 months. Has anyone had any experienced breastfeeding an adopted newborn? I guess when I did a little research on it, I was surprised that there are some women that have been successful.

So - Has anyone tried it? Was it successful? Was formula required to supplement? Did you learn about or experience anything that made it different from breastfeeding a child that you've given birth too? Anything else I should keep in mind?

Thanks a bunch,

Beth

[Juliana13]

Omigosh! This ended up being a book!!! Sorry - but hopefully it is helpful info...

I am SOOOO pro-breastfeeding, and know that it CAN work for adoptive mothers, but there are a few things you may want to consider. Maybe you already have, and my info won't help - I couldn't tell from your thread if you were asking for thoughts and info about it, or just how to be successful at it. Anyway here are my thoughts (including why I decided NOT to do it).

This is my general understanding of the progression of breast milk: For the first short while, you produce colostrum. Not really "milk" per se, but it is the really good stuff that will help boost your child's immune system. Then for several months, you produce what many call "hind" milk. Good fatty stuff that is great nutrition for babies. The best you can get - better than any formula. Then you milk changes again, and you produce what is known as "maintenance" milk. Still good stuff, and sufficient nutrition for babies less than a year, and those older, too, if supplemented by more diet choices.

That short lesson explained - If you haven't been pregnant and therefore haven't gone through all the hormonal seasons and changes that brings, you will not go through all the stages of breast milk progression. If you are successful in producing milk (and many women can be, it just takes work) you will simply produce "maintenance" milk. You will probably not produce enough - most women don't - and so will have to supplement.

Some adoptive mothers feel guilty for not breastfeeding, because they are not giving their babies "the best." When in reality, the only milk they would produce would be "maintenance" milk, which is comparable to formula. Sorry - I did all this research when I was "attacked" by several members of the La Leche league for not choosing to breastfeed my adopted baby.

Granted, I am a nurse, and DO strongly believe that breastfeeding is best - and if I could make colostrum or even "hind" milk, I would have done it - struggles and all. But since nutritionally it is no better than formula, I then had to weigh the pros and cons of the EMOTIONAL benefit, to me and to my child.

The truth is, most women are partially successful (meaning they have to supplement - some more than others), while some DO produce enough, and some just can't get it to work well at all. (Then again, some bio moms have trouble breastfeeding, and some - like my sister - can't get it to work well at all...)

I have an adoptive mom friend who did it. She believed that the best bonding could only be done if she breastfed. And since she believed that, I think it is good that she did. My thoughts were, "What if I get all ready for this baby, my milk comes in, and then the birthmother changes her mind? Wouldn't THAT suck?" Something to consider. And I actually loved NOT breastfeeding. I loved being able to look into their eyes while I fed them. No one can tell me we weren't bonding. I love that my daughter always put her hand on my face as I fed her. Couldn't have done that if I had breastfed.

Anyway my friend, along with many other women, was successful. She loved it. If you want to do it because you want to give the best nutritionally, it is not necessary, but great, nonetheless. (And WAY cheaper than formula!) If you want to do it for the bonding experience, or just because you want to, then go for it! It CAN work. You will probably have to supplement, but they have great little contraptions nowadays that make it so you can supplement with a tiny tube down to your nipple, so the baby doesn't know the difference from when you are breastfeeding. If you just want to have that experience, then do it. You can be successful. Talk to your doctor about supplements that may help stimulate production, and get a breast pump. If you are serious about making it work, and are confident in the placement (or willing to take the risk) then you want to start pumping and encouraging production two (some say three) months before the baby is born. It takes a while for it your body to figure out what you are asking it to do, and then a while longer for it to get going well enough for your baby to be able to be successful.

My friend got her baby with no warning, but began immediately to get her system "up and running." It took a while (maybe a month and a half - but she had a baby sucking pretty regularly), and she supplemented with the "tube" system from the beginning, so her son didn't know the difference when she finally made enough to be "solo". She loved every minute of it. It was very important to her, and I think well worth the effort if it is important to you.

Whew. That was long post. Sorry if it was way more than you wanted to read! LOL! Good luck!

[OnTheJourney]

My cousin had great success with breastfeeding. I think she was matched for about 4 or 5 weeks and she took supplements and pumped. When her ds came home as a newborn, she was off flying right away! She only supplemanted with formula for those first few days, then it was all her. She loved breastfeeding so much, she continued until her ds was well over a year! He has always been a good eater, always gained well and very healthy.
It has crossed my mind several times. I didn't try with my first, but as we plan for #2, I wonder if I might....
Good Luck to you!

[KarynB]

Hi Beth,

I have successfully b/fed our adopted son who came home at 5 months. He is now 14 months and still nursing 3-4 times a day. I love it. It was worth EVERY second of preparation I had to do. I don't feel it is the ONLY way to bond (but neither is baby-wearing, co-bathing etc) but it sure is an amazing way to bond. I am the only person who can nurse him, he needs me for this, and this is what attachment is all about. Not to mention the pure pleasure at being able to comfort my baby through anything (teething, spills, grief, airplane rides)- it really is the magic bullet.

Now - for your questions - and feel free to PM me too....

For the first few months I did need to supplement with formula given through the device the other poster mentioned, it's called a Lact-Aid (google it for more info). However, he hated the tube thing in his mouth so I stopped using it, and amazingly enough began to produce all of his needs - it helped that he was starting solids at this time. So we have not had to supplement for awhile now. There is a woman I know of who succesfully adoptive b/fed TRIPLETS without supplementation - so it is TOTALLY possible.

The only thing that is different about abreastfeeding and bio b/feeding (although also the same) is getting your new baby to latch - but there is lots of help out there for that. Our son (at 5 months) latched immediately - he knew what to do. Babies are born to breastfeed!

And sorry Julianna, I have to respectfully disagree with you on the only thing I am producing is "maintenance milk" - adoptive moms don't produce colostrum, that is true, but the rest of the milk is the same as bio moms - I too have done TONS of research on this. And there is certainly strong evidence to show that breastmilk is nutritionally better than formula in every way.

Anyways, I would be more than happy to help you out and point you towards some invaluable resources if you decide it is right for you and your baby...

Good luck
Karyn

[Juliana13]

Beth – there are a few websites that are great for this topic – They address how to be successful, and even have communities set up for support and idea-swapping among other adoptive breast-feeding moms. I don’t know if it will let me post them, but you can PM me or Google “Induced Lactation” or “adoptive breastfeeding” to get good info, too. The Adoptive Breastfeeding Resource Website is great, and my friend frequents it.

While our research found a slight difference, Karyn is right in that there is no commercial formula that can equal breast milk. That is true, hands down. No one can argue that fact. I didn’t mean to imply that breast milk wasn’t better, just not the medical MUST like it used to be. The reason I guess I get a little stuck there is that I work with adoptive moms who feel so guilty that they didn’t breastfeed, and bio moms who tried and failed. I hate how judged they feel (and sometimes are), and that they feel like their baby will be less healthy, less smart, etc. It is such a huge issue for them. Formula is good stuff, too, and much better than is used to be. But breast milk IS best.

(As a side note, I knew I was the only bottle-fed child in my family, and found it curious that I am the only one WITHOUT allergies, and the only one who thought school was a breeze. Everyone else struggled. Completely lucky coincidence, I am sure, but it helps those moms who honestly can’t breastfeed to feel a little better. But can you imagine my shock when I found out recently that my mom bottle fed me POWDERED MILK??!! Not powdered formula – food-storage grade powdered skim milk!!! - I guess that used to be the norm - Just think what I COULD have been?) 

One important advantage to breastfeeding adoptive babies that I didn’t mention (I don’t know why I didn’t think of it last time, and I apologize) is that even though you don’t produce the first milk that a bio mom will, you DO continue to pass on little bits of antibodies to your child. I remember my doctor telling me that my son might get sick more frequently while he is little than a bio child would – not because he is less healthy, but because the antibodies he received from his bio mom are for HER environment, and we would likely have different germs, different colds, etc. If you breastfeed and adopted child, you would be adding to his immune system. Not as good as colostrum, but still a little boost.

[Scarlet Moon 13]

Originally Posted by LifeofReilly

Hello -- I am new to this site, new to blogging and hope to be a new mom soon! (Bare with me if the questions to follow have been asked.)




I hope to adopt a new born in the next 5 months. Has anyone had any experienced breastfeeding an adopted newborn? I guess when I did a little research on it, I was surprised that there are some women that have been successful.

So - Has anyone tried it? Was it successful? Was formula required to supplement? Did you learn about or experience anything that made it different from breastfeeding a child that you've given birth too? Anything else I should keep in mind?

Thanks a bunch,

Beth

AfrIndie Mum: adoptive breastfeeding tutorial
adoptive breastfeeding tutorial
i'm doing it again. the adoptive breastfeeding thing. so i thought i'd walk you all through the process and give you a little insight into my pill popping world of late.

first off, to breastfeed an adopted baby (or baby born via surrogate) you've got to prepare well in advance. i should have started sooner, but i think i'm still fine. basically, you can find information on the different ways to prepare to breastfeed on a website called ask lenore, as well as on a website called the adoptive breastfeeding resource website. both are great places in terms of the information they provide, but both have their own feel to them. the abrw has moderators that tend to lean toward the natural way of inducing lactation and ask lenore is a little more balanced, in my biased opinion. both have message boards that are a great place to get your questions answered, but the abrw recently started charging a fee for the use of their boards, and the ask lenore boards are free of charge. both also have multiple boards dealing with things like infertility, surrogacy, natural and medicated methods of inducing lactation and a host of other topics. these sites are both good places to begin your research. and research you must! but i'll get into that a little more in-depth later.

to induce lactation last time i used the Newman-Goldfarb protocols for Induced Lactation: The Guide for Maximizing Milk Supply. i used the accelerated protocol to prepare for z, but this time around i'm using the regular protocol, since i have the time. in other words - i go the completely medicated route. i just don't have the persistence to stick with the natural route. so to do this, here's what i have to do:

take a birth control pill, either yasmin or microgestin continuously for six months. this prevents me from having a period and makes my breasts prepare in a similar fashion to what happens during pregnancy. they basically get at least a cup size larger and become painful. what fun, right?
the same day i start the birth control pill (i'm taking the yasmin) i begin taking 10 mg. of a drug called domperidone four times a day, twenty minutes before i eat. domperidone is a stomach medication that is not fda approved. but it's been well-researched in the breastfeeding community. and the reason it's not approved is because there are other stomach medications out there that the fda feels do what domperidone would do and it is therefore unnecessary to approve dom. anyhow - it's all bureaucracy. to obtain domperidone, one must semi-illegally import it through a company called global drug, or get a prescription from your physician (like i did this time) and obtain it through one of the few compounding pharmacies in the u.s. so it's legal, just not approved - get me? and domperidone has the amazing side effect of telling your pituitary gland to lactate. cool stuff, huh?
a week after beginning things, i must up my dosage of domperidone to 10 mg. four times a day.
i continue with everything for six months.
once the six months is up (for me, it will be august 7th) i stop the yasmin, continue on the domperidone and should have a period of massive proportions. it's like what happens in a pregnant woman when the placenta is expelled. again, fun, huh?
i also start in with the breast pumping. this stimulates my milk to come in, as if i had a baby breastfeeding at this time. i've purchased, for a smoking good deal, a used hospital-grade medela lactina breastpump. don't worry - this one is actually approved for multiple users - and is the exact model that my local lactation clinic uses. it's hefty duty. and lovely, don't you think? you wanna know how many times i have to pump a day? every three hours and once between the hours of 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m., as my prolactin levels will be highest at that point in the day. yes, that means that i will be strapped to the blue monster at 8am, 11am, 2pm, 5pm, 8pm, 11pm, 2am, and then i get a break until i wake up again to pump at 8am.
good news, though! this means that i will begin getting breastmilk that can be stored in my freezer for up to 12 months. so if nothing else, i will have a massive stock pile built up for coffee when you come visit me!
and i must continue the domperidone throughout breastfeeding.
i can also take herbs like blessed thistle and fenugreek (which makes me smell like curry, yum!) three times a day and eat oatmeal once a day to also help increase my milk supply.
so - guess what the maximum amount of pills i will have to take per day will be? just guess. you'll never guess. ok. i must, at one point in this process, take twenty pills a day. my god. at this point, my gag reflex gets a little heightened, as i try to down six pills at once.

in order to be able to logistically pump as much as i'll need it, i need to buy one of these. or maybe i'll try making my own. and then i can sit online and blog six times a day for fifteen to twenty minutes a day.

once the baby is home, he will do most of the work of the breast pump (thank god) and i'll be able to significantly reduce my pumping time. and all that saved-up frozen milk? well - if you won't accept it in your coffee or tea - someone will have to use it. so i guess it will be the baby. and the way we'll use it is with one of these handy dandy thingys. i put the milk in the bag, strap the tube to my breast, and plop my breast in the baby's mouth. and ta da! we have milk from the bag, milk from me, and the baby stimulating my milk supply to increase.

with these protocols, it is expected that i'll be able to produce most of my child's milk needs. the rest will come through the lact-aid from my frozen milk and if necessary, i'll supplement with an organic formula. i know that sounds doubtful, but my friend certainly did it. she was like a one-woman dairy farm on the regular protocol. last time, i managed to pump quite a bit of milk, but because of multiple factors, z and i had to give up the breastfeeding just a few short months after we began. this time, those factors won't get in our way, and i hope to breastfeed my son as long as he **** well pleases. but no, he will not be allowed to as for my 'nu nus' or 'ta tas' or 'nuk nuks' or even 'bubbies'. they are breasts. when he wants to nurse, he'll have to ask to nurse. or breastfeed. or maybe he'll wean early. who knows.

now - how many of you are asking, 'why on earth is she doing this?'

Posted on 22 February 2006 | Permalink

[KarynB]

Hey guys,

Just wanted to say that Blessed Thistle has very mild milk making properties, and is mostly used in the protocol to settle a queasy stomach from the fenugreek and dom. if you take the fenugreek with food it is not much pof a problem - so i cut out the Blessed Thistle almost right away, and it had no effect on my supply. It saved me tons of cash and taking 9 extra herbs a day - worth it to me!!!!

Also - hang in there with the pumping - it is SUCH a pain in the butt but once baby comes you won't have to pump much (I only pump now if we miss a feeding for some reason or another). I also did not do the night time pump, as much as it makes sense, I just could not bring myslef to get up in the middle of the night to pump!!!! Kudos to those of you who do, however...

Juliana - you are right about the pressure some can feel to b/feed and I agree with you - it certainly is not the only way to feed a baby. I have a bio dd and only b/fed here about 6 weeks - although I always regretted that decision - even more so now that I know what a successful b/feeding relationship can look like. I gave up too soon - and I think that is fairly common with moms - especially first time moms. Then some get the pressure to NOT b/feed for whatever reason and bottle feeding becomes the answer. I just feel sad for both mom and babe in those cases.

Karyn