[LMA1959]

hi All:

Just wondering if anyone has successfully breastfed her adopted baby. I am in the process of waiting for my referral (actually my homestudy is going to the ministry this week) from the Dominican republic. I have been recommended for a baby under 1 year old, and truly hope I can get my milk up to breastfeed, even if it is only supplemental to a bottle. The adoption breastfeeding sites are helpful, but just wondering if anyone here has done it.

I am taking fenugreek, fennel and blessed thistle, and double pumping with a "medela instyle". So far just very full breasts, but then I have only been at it a week and only about 2x per day b/c of work.

[ManyTimesBlessed]

I have read that once a child is more than a few weeks old that it is hard to get them to breastfeed if they are not familiar with it. But, maybe there is a way around that. I hope you get some replies! Good luck.

[LMA1959]

actually, there is!! You can use the lact-aid (goes around you neck and tube comes out at your nipple) and it feels more like a bottle.

also, once a baby gets your scent associated with feeding, they are more likely to take the breast. I know of one woman on a site that started at 9 months!

[ggman]

I have not done it but was SOOOO hoping to do it with out soon to be adopted Haitian child... HOWEVER, he's older than we anticipated (will probably be 2 at arrival) so we are not going to... that broke my heart!

ANyhow, I think it's great that you are attempting this and I wish you much luck-- I have heard that it's difficult, but like you I was wanting the opportunity to attempt it for the bonding, etc. (And any breast milk would be an added bonus as I do believe it is the perfect baby food.)

There are a lot of different protocols for doing it, but if you aren't planning on using domperidome, you should probably ffind a way to pump more often (when I started pumping I was doing it 8X/day for about 15-20 min... day two I had a few drops of pre-milk, and week two I had just a few dribbles of actual white milk... I was also taking fenugreek and blessed thistle...) I stopped after two weeks because we got the birthdate on our little guy and realized that it just wasn't going to be feasible for us to do with a 2 year old.

I would be happy to send you the rest of my blessed thistle and fenugreek as I had just started taking them and have almost a full bottle of each. (I can understand if you feel weird using someone else's opened herbs, but PM me if you'd like me to mail them... I hate for things to go to waste!)

Again, GOOD LUCK!

-Gwenn

[DreamingAzure]

There are some GREAT websites out there You can do it I'm hoping to breastfeed as well, but I'm still quite a ways off from my adoption so I'm waiting a bit before I get started

Keep us updated, there is a forum for Adoptive Breastfeeding...at least there USE to be...I think it is still there....LOL

Best Wishes!

[LMA1959]

Thanks for the replies and ggman, I did PM you, too


Btw, I work in Haiti a few times a year- are you adopting from Haiti sight unseen, or are you familiar with the country and its amazing people. Ask me anything! lol

Dreamingazure- it takes most women a few months to get up an adequate supply, so you could start anytime. Good luck!

Blessings!!

[cerca]

I have no experience with breast-feeding an adoptive child and I hope that it all works out the way you want. I just wanted to throw out this perspective in the hopes it will save people some heart-ach. I was not able to breast-feed my biological children due to a medical problem that was not discovered until my third child. I spend months...no years feeling like a lost out on something and that it was my fault that I could not "tough-it out" only to find out it was not possible. I was able to bond with all three of my bio kids and have had a great experience so far with my youngest (who we just visited and will hopefully come home soon ). If this works for you that will be wonderful and enjoy it...but if it doesn't please don't waste precious time with your children feeling bad.

[pookiebear]

I read an article about a woman who adopted a son from Russia who did this.

www.adoptionbreastfeeding.com
www.lalecheleague.org
www.fourfriends.com/abrw

There are other links on this topic on KMOM's website
www.plus-size-pregnancy.org this site is geared towards plus-size women that are pregnant or that want to adopt but the info is useful for all.