Does anyone know if an adoptive mother has the legal right to provide breast
milk or breastfeed her baby in the hospital before the adoption is final?
Is provision of breast milk to the adopted baby allowed merely because the
birth mother gives permission?

We have a case of open adoption in our NICU.  The birth mother is providing
colostrum/milk "for a while" and the adoptive mother is working towards
induced lactation.  The staff views the baby's receipt of milk from the
adoptive mother as donor milk or somehow against our policy, except I know
of no such policy.
My initial response was that the birth mother decides the medical treatment
for her baby and thus may give us permission to feed milk from the adoptive
mother. Does the birth mother then need to give written authorization to be
included in the hospital record?  Does the physician need to write an order
for the milk to be used?
Does anyone know of a hospital policy, legal ruling that would apply here?

Cathy Carnaby, RNC, IBCLC
Omaha, Nebraska

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