My name is Cherie Garig and I am a student in Nursing at the University of
North Dakota. I have been reviewing Lactnet for about 2 months and have
found quite a bit of useful information. Breastfeeding offers so many
advantages that I have even seen in my own breastfed children. My area of
interest at this time focuses on the issue of breastfeeding an adopted
child. In researching this subject, I have found that very little is
written to help the adoptive mother, and makes me wonder if in fact these
mothers realize that they can produce some milk for their
infants.According to Mobbs and Babbage (1971), 'When a mother chooses to
breastfeed her adopted infant, the goal is usually to achieve a mother
/infant relationship that may also have the added benefit of some
nutrition.' ' This is nurturing with the emphasis on NURTURING and not on
'breastfeeding' or nutrition(Avery 1979). Regularly scheduled pumping
along with the ingestion of the medication metoclopramide has been
reported to induce prolactin release by three to eight times the normal
levels within five minutes of a 10 mg dose given either intravenously or
intramuscularly. Oral dosage requires one hour for levels to
increase. The effect persists for 8 hours with a suggested regimen of 10
mg four times daily times one week. This is gradually tapered off as
lactation increases(McNeilly et al 1974). Because the role of prolactin is
the initiation and maintenance of lactation, whereas oxytocin regulates
the milk ejection reflex, it is reasonable to speculate that enhancing
prolactin release would be productive in inducing
lactation(Lawrence,1999).
This information is presented to help inform the adoptive mothers that
breastfeeding an adopted infant, although time consuming and possibly
disappointing, can be achieved. Even if the mother is not completely
successful in providing all of the milk that her baby needs, she may still
be able to provide the closness and perhaps some of the benefits that
breastfeeding offers. If there are any mothers who have attempted to
breastfeed an adopted infant, whether sucessful or not, I would be
interested in your feedback and how your experience went. Cherie Garig, SN
References
Avery,J.L., Induced lactation: A guide for counseling and
management. Denver,1979, Resources in Human Nurturing, International.
Lawrence, R.A., Breastfeeding: A guide for the medical
profession. St. Louis,1999. 637.
McNeilly, P.J., Thorner, M.O., Volans, G., Widner, C.M., Metoclopramide
and prolactin, British Medical JOurnal 2:729, 1974.
Mobbs,G.A., Babbage,N.F., Breastfeeding adopted children. Medical Journal
Australia, 2:437,1971.
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