Sue, I have nursed six adopted babies of my own and done what I could to support many others.  I would be happy to be contacted by your client!  

First of all, I suggest that she go to www.lact-aid.com and order the deluxe kit.  In the time before the baby is born, she can research and consider things like using herbs, taking domperidone and pumping, etc., but if she has the Lact-Aid, she can just start when the baby gets there, with or without physical preparation in advance.  Women who just start nursing on demand with the Lact-Aid, without advance preparation, usually start producing drops of milk anywhere from a few days to a couple weeks later.  Most will need to provide some amount of supplement, while the baby is still on nothing but milk and formula, but I emphasize the immunological benefits of even a few ounces of breast milk a day.  I've seen the addition of a few ounces of breast milk a day to a baby's diet make a tremendous difference in his/her health.  Most get to the point where the milk they are producing is sufficient, once the baby is taking some solids and other liquids.  

It is also very important to learn about breastfeeding, in general.  My experience with my first baby, born in 1983, was limited by the fact that I had no idea that positioning made a difference.  I held him as for bottle feeding, and not facing directly in to the breast, like I should have.  My mother-in-law had nursed her kids for a while and she didn't even know that positioning mattered!  I tell moms that they need the same basic info that bio moms do, with the issues unique to breastfeeding an adopted baby in addition to that. Positioning and proper latch are at the top of the list.

She will probably hear about the protocol that combines birth control pills with domperidone, followed by pumping.  I haven't seen that it is helpful unless the mom can be on it for at the very least two months before the baby arrives, but better four or more.  If she is interested in taking domperidone, she can go ahead and get some and then start pumping, if she wants to do that.  She can pump without domperidone, but she needs to know that it isn't common to be able to pump more than drops in advance without taking domperidone, especially for women who have never given birth to a baby.  The ounces come after the pump is replaced by a baby at the breast.  I was recently contacted by an adoptive mother who had been bottle feeding, sometimes skin to skin, and discovered that she could express drops of milk, just from the effects of that closeness with the baby.  I think that is an illustration of why so many moms don't see much from pumping, but produce ounces from their babies' suckling.  

There are so many things that say that adoptive moms HAVE to pump and use medications, that I try to balance it by assuring moms that, if they just start feeding and nurturing the baby at their breast, using the Lact-Aid, they will have the same relationship with the baby as if they had a great milk supply, and in most cases produce enough milk to be beneficial for the baby's health.  Sometimes, the benefit of nurturing at the breast gets forgotten, when people start trying to see how much milk they can pump.  Pumping is fine, before the baby is there, but there should not be too much focus on it.  I believe that adopted babies have even more to gain from nurturing at the breast than babies who stay with the same mom who gave birth to them.  Nurturing an adopted baby at the breast assures the baby that, even though the mom he knows can't be there, she has made sure that he has another mom he can count on to love and take care of him.  

You can go ahead and give her my email address: [log in to unmask]  

Darillyn
 		 	   		  
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