Adoptive parents often want to know if there is anything they can do to induce lactation and nurse their new baby. To help you on your parenting journey, here is a look at what you can do to activate lactation and start producing breast milk for your child. Since breast milk is recommended as the best food for babies, many families who plan to adopt are interested in whether they will have this option with their new addition.
The answer is: Yes. Breastfeeding an adopted baby through induced lactation is possible, but it takes plenty of planning, introspection, and support. Some adoptive moms will be able to build a full milk supply, and others may not make enough to completely sustain their baby without supplementation.
Remember: any amount of breast milk is of great value to a baby. The focus of adoptive breastfeeding and induced lactation should be the relationship and bond it helps mother and baby build. Work with a Lactation Professional. Reach out to your doctor, midwife, or a lactation consultant if you plan on inducing lactation. They can help you build a personalized plan based on your goals, connect you to resources, and provide important expert guidance.
For some women, your healthcare provider may discuss the option of taking hormones that imitate the hormone levels of pregnancy. These medications are stopped after a short while, tricking the body into sensing that a baby has been born and thus producing breast milk.
To encourage continued nipple and breast stimulation, you might use a supplemental feeding aid that delivers donor breast milk or formula through a device that attaches to your breast. Supplemental feedings can also be given with a bottle. To protect your milk supply, pump each time your baby receives a bottle-feeding. To learn more about induced lactation and how to increase your chances of establishing breastfeeding, contact a lactation consultant at a local hospital or clinic.
Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products. Advertising revenue supports our not-for-profit mission. Any use of this site constitutes your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy linked below. A single copy of these materials may be reprinted for noncommercial personal use only. This site complies with the HONcode standard for trustworthy health information: verify here. This content does not have an English version.
This content does not have an Arabic version. See more conditions. Request Appointment. Healthy Lifestyle Infant and toddler health. Products and services.
Free E-newsletter Subscribe to Housecall Our general interest e-newsletter keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics. Sign up now. I'm adopting a newborn, and I'd like to breastfeed the baby when I bring him home.
Can I produce breast milk if I haven't been pregnant? Answer From Melissa A. All this will do is diminish any lasting bond that might be formed for these adoptive parents and the children they have been given permission to raise as theirs. Thank you, Anonymous IF. It feels good to receive support, and to find someone whom I agree with whole heartedly and feel kinship.
We in the alternative-family-making family receive much criticism and hate for who we are and what we do. The worst is to know that our children, once they are old enough to google, will encounter these biases about their families and their origins.
The belief that non-genetically connected parent-child dyads are inferior, morally wrong or just a lie as is presented in this article , answers to the definition of a hate-ideology.
Hate and bullying should be opposed, whether they come from a place of hurt or from any other place, whether they are able to bring horrific results or just wish to be mean spirited. Basically, we fundamentally disagree. I also see that there are people who are rude and dismissive to people with IF.
Been told that Darwin says I am an evolutionary mistake more than once weird but true…people must think it makes them sound smart. Thing is, none of those people affect my family or my ability to be a parent. We did what thousands have done before and signed up with an agency, did the home study, did the book, waited, were granted temporary custody of an infant, went before a judge and became a legally-tied up family.
We were judged and vetted and assessed and and and and. There is no fundamental right to parenthood. Adoptive parenting is not like biological parenting, and there are extra hoops for good reason. Our families are built differently and operate differently in some ways, but we are equally valid as families. Such comparisons undermine the risk to life and limb, not to mention employment and other bias, that people who are gay or non-gender-conforming or queer or trans experience.
I get that people are rude, and I get that people use inflammatory language, but this gives them no power over me.
I believe there are people who hate adoption. Hate speech is rooted in systems that reinforce it. Yes, adoptive families get some obnoxious incidents and challenges when compared to biological families. We sometimes have to prove ourselves as families. So socially, yes, we adoptive families face certain challenges.
Not life threatening ones for the most part, though some transracial adoptive families have run into it out of racism and true hate speech. Not angry birth parents or people who hate adoption. I also want to challenge you on your implication that birth parents have rights post TPR. The law sees me and my spouse as the parents of my child.
The post placement agreement we freely signed. No coercion; this was what we chose to do to enter into parenthood. OK…and if the judge agrees with them? If the judge agrees with us, they have exhausted their recourse.
There is one case in NE where the child was returned because the state has no mechanism for recognizing open adoption. Yeah, it sucks all around for that family, but it is hardly a death knell for the validity of adoption and the rights of adoptive parents.
She had rights over her fetus for 9 months and her child until she signed the TPR and until the revocation period ended. We have full parental custody of our child until she turns A lifetime to consider how to do this parenting right vs.
Even in an open adoption the APs drive the interactions and control the visits and access and decisions. We all know that there are cases where agencies do not do adequate counseling to expectant parents considering adoption. I do know there are weaknesses in the counseling provided to prospective adoptive parents too.
Personally I think most of that comes from people treating adoption like a for-profit business instead of a social service rather than from raging anti-adoption individuals or groups. We can learn from people who dislike adoption. We can also stop listening if they annoy us. They can shout, and we can choose to listen or not. Anon AP We are going to have to agree to disagree. I do not have the time nor the energy to withstand not only the biased views of anti-adoption hate groups, but also adoptive parents who make excuses for them and their views for whatever reason.
I believe that respect in any kind of adoption has to be a two way street, and I stand by my belief that the views expressed in this article are the antithesis of respect for those who have or who will build their families through adoption. Becoming a parent through adoption is nothing to be ashamed of or to apologize for to anyone. Adoptive parents gain certain rights and privileges through adopting their children, and one of those is to parent their children in a way that works for them.
If that way includes breastfeeding, so be it. Birthparents should not seek to interfere with these rightful processes in any way. There is so much pressure to do it. No judgements. Here is a blog I wrote on that subject. The Cult of Breastfeeding. What I think is nonsense is the idea that adoptive parents cannot mirror their children. My son is Black and White. He smiled the way I do. He acts just like his adoptive father.
So do not tell me that adoptive parents and children cannot mirror one another, because that is pure and utter nonsense. It depends on the baby. I would give that advice to any new mom. I think we know enough from the nature vs. She is still providing the amazing benefits of breastmilk for her child and I am able to create attachment and bonding with my son or daughter. It is a team effort that would require much love and support from all sides of the Triad!
September 30, 37 comments.
0コメント