Can I Breastfeed My Adopted Baby

The answer is a resounding, yes; you can breastfeed an adopted baby. How, you ask? Well, the how is a little technical but the article will get to that in a minute. Basically, a woman...

The answer is a resounding, yes; you can breastfeed an adopted baby. How, you ask? Well, the how is a little technical but the article will get to that in a minute. Basically, a woman who desires to breastfeed an adopted can stimulate her breasts to produce milk, and she can produce a significant amount of milk, just not quite the same as if she had been pregnant and delivered the baby she is nursing.

When trying to breastfeed an adopted baby you have two tasks to accomplish, the first being to persuade the baby that breastfeeding from your breast is a good idea and secondly that you need to be able to produce breast milk so that the baby has something to get out of your breast.

When it comes to the 2nd objective, to produce milk don’t try to pressure yourself into thinking you have to produce enough milk to satisfy the baby’s nutritional needs. There is so much more to why a woman breastfeeds than just the quantity of milk she produces during the effort. Breastfeeding has many benefits to the baby including the bonding opportunity, and the comfort breastfeeding brings.

Some basic facts you should know about the ability of an adopted mom producing breast milk:

You need to accept the fact that you may not produce the amount of milk you want to through your efforts to breastfeed.

You will need to invest in a good breast pump. A breast pump will never replace the efficiency that a sucking baby achieves at the breast so your efforts at extracting milk using a pump will always take 2nd place to what a baby can do. The purpose of pumping must be to get the breast to make physical changes necessary for the ability to produce milk to occur. In addition to pumping if you are lucky enough to know 6 to 7 months in advance of the birth of the baby that you will be getting the baby you can ask your doctor to prescribe a combination of oestrogen and progesterone plus domperidone that will simulate pregnancy (as much as possible), and this may allow you to produce more milk.

How to encourage your adopted baby to suckle your breast:

The earlier you start to breastfeed after the birth of the baby, the better it will be. If the baby is started on artificial nipples the flow from a bottle will be faster and easier for the baby to achieve than it will be when sucking on your breast so the baby will prefer the bottle to the breast if given the opportunity to know the difference.

Contacting the nursery nurses and/or lactation consultant at the hospital the baby will be born at can also help to make sure the baby isn’t given any artificial nipples when it is made known that you are the adoptive mother and you intend to nurse the baby. They should be willing to assist you in your efforts to breastfeed.

You may weight the risks and benefits of having the biological (birth) mom breastfeed for the first few days so that the baby will receive the special “first milk” or colostrum and not any artificial nipples and than on day 3 or 4 after birth you can take over the breastfeeding. This is an obvious benefit to the baby because of the colostrum and all the antibodies the baby will be receiving from the colostrum that will protect the baby from infections and illnesses as well as allow the baby to be put to breast immediately and not have artificial nipples. Risky, because of the possible emotional attachment that may occur as the birth mom breastfeeds the baby she just gave birth to.

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