Hi Ola,
It is a myth (though one much repeated) that women who have not recently
been pregnant are unlikely to produce enough milk to breastfeed their baby
without supplementattion. This is not backed by research! but it
disempowers women and becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. At least part of
the reason for this myth is based on a purist definition of full milk supply
being baby receiving no other foods except breastmilk. This is meaningless
in cases of older babies (ie a child adopted at 6 months could never be
fully breastfed) and also does not consider the main issue for mothers being
the desire to not supplement milk than anything else. Rather it is realistic
to tell mothers that eventually they will be able to dispense with
supplementation and that their milk supply and their child's needs will
match up, it make be straight away, after 2 weeks, 2 months or a year but it
will happen. They just need to breastfeed for long enough. There is no way
of telling how good a particular woman will be at making milk. She can give
herself her best chance by maximising the breastfeeding
Research indicates that women in developing countries are much better at
milk production in cases of adoptive breastfeeding than those in the West.
Women are advised to become aware of cultural beliefs that may impede
breastfeeding, especially beliefs surrounding physical separation of mother
and child. I think that statements that minimise the importance of milk just
for adoptive mothers patronising and unhelpful, the milk is just as
important to her child as to any child, if she can't make enough for her
baby, being given the opportunity to grieve that and not have the source of
disappointment/grief minimised is important.
.
Lawrence
> offers, "when a mother chooses to nurse her adopted infant, the goal is
> usually to achieve a mother-infant relationship that may have the benefit
> of some nutrition (1999, pg. 635)."
Contrast the quotes below 1, 2 and 3 from people who have worked in the West
and 4 and 5 from those who have worked in developing countries
1 "It is possible to breastfeed an adopted baby. Though it is unlikely you
will be able to stimulate your supply enough to fully breastfeed"
2 "Mothers who have breastfed their adopted babies all agree that it seemed
the natural thing to do. However, only in rare cases can an adopted baby be
fully breastfed without supplementation"
3 "If (the mother) really wants to try (adoptive nursing) she should be
told how difficult it will probably be"
4 "Mothers and health workers should be encouraged to attempt relactation
and gain a full appreciation of the simplicity and ease with which this
process can be accomplished" (this from someone who worked in Vietnamese
orphanages and women were paid to relactated and made enough milk to
breastfeed 2 babies)
5 "In my experience.(inducing lactation) worked well in all cases in which
the adoptive mother was motivated and received the necessary support from
her family"
Focus on drugs can be counterproductive in that women will sometimes trust
the drug to do it's work rather than breastfeed, breastfeed, breastfeed
which is the most important thing (or pump pump pump if her child is not yet
breastfeeding). The most important thing she can do is keep her child close
physical contact and promote frequent breastfeeding. That said, in
particular for older adopted babies or children with nasty histories (eg
maternal drug abuse) I've really come to understand that the big impact of
breastfeeding is not in the milk but in the breastfeeding itself but
everything that a mother might do to promote breastfeeding will help her
child.
I understand that the induction of
> lactation is brought about in a variety of ways, including nipple
> stimulation, pump suction, and galactogogues, most notably metoclopramide,
> domperidone, sulpiride, chlorpromazine, HGH, TRH, oxytocin [nasal spray],
> and the herb fenugreek (Gabay, 2002). The degree to which each of these
> methods works appears limited and highly variable from case to case.
Many of the mothers I have been in contact with that are also bio mothers
and have breastfeeding as part of their mothering philosophy. For some it is
something they always thought they would do before finding that infertility
was an issue. For others they know someone that has breastfed, some happen
upon it by accident. For some with a history of infertility, women feel it
will help them overcome being let down by their body. For many giving their
baby their milk is very important as are the bonding aspects. Probably the
reasons are as many and varied as the women themselves and rarely a single
motivation.
Success is measured in very different ways. Sometimes it is in the amount of
milk pumped or decreasing supplementation. Sometimes just getting their
baby/child breastfeeding. Providing comfort to their child at the breast is
also important, esp for mothers of older children and there may be no milk
production involved at all. Some mothers are not able to breastfeed their
child at all but give them their milk anyway and feel success in what they
have achieved. The main thing is that women who attempt to breastfeed an
adopted child (whether successful or not) are glad that they tried. If you
want a really good summary of the research in this area the WHO has
published a booklet (a few years old now but I am not aware of significant
research in this area that has been published in that time) that you can
download
http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-health/New_Publications/NUTRITION/Relact
ation_EN.html
> My questions to this listserv are how often you have encountered/encounter
> adoptive mothers wishing to breastfeed, what their motives tend to be,
what
> course of action is typically taken to assist these mothers, and to what
> degree success is achieved. Any knowledge or thoughts that could be
> extended to me would be greatly appreciated.
> Thank You,
> Ola Beaman
>
Karleen Gribble
Australia
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