Hi Lisa,
I'm not an LC but because of my research interest in this area I am
contacted by quite a few local women about adoptive breastfeeding as well as
women who live outside of Australia. Being in Australia, where we don't
really have newborn adoption, women are usually considering initiating
breastfeeding with a child who is "older"...usually somewhere between 6
months and 2.5 years or so. I've given up trying to guess who is going to be
persistent and who is not. Relactating or inducing lactation with a pump is
not physically difficult but it is tedious and time consuming. However,
assisting your child to feel safe enough to be able to breastfeed can be
very difficult and take a lot of time, usually months, often more than a
year.
As to success in making milk...There is not a lot of work in this area but a
few years ago I conducted a review (Gribble K: The influence of context on
the success of adoptive breastfeeding: developing countries and the west.
Breastfeed Rev 2004, 12:5-13. ) You would not be surprised to find that
relactation/induced lactation is most successful in situations where women
are provided with support and encouragement and where it is culturally
normal to keep babies close and breastfeed frequently.
You might also be interested in the non-nutritional aspects of adoptive
breastfeeding discussed at
http://www.internationalbreastfeedingjournal.com/content/1/1/5

Karleen Gribble
Australia


 I went to a couple of site, including the ILCA and mainly saw
> testimonials.  I could not find any statistics.  I was curious how many
> people you might see, as consultants, who are women trying or
> breastfeeding their adoptive children.  I also saw that there was really
> not a lot of need for medical intervention with medication, but that it
> was sometime necessary.  What type of success rates are you seeing?  I
> know women who have had their own children and who become frustrated
> when first attempting to breastfeed.  I was curious if psychologically
> it made it more difficult to continue without the biological connection
> - that maybe they would give up sooner or easier if they weren't
> successful right away.  Lastly, I was curious about the age of the
> women.  I am a more "mature" woman and my husband and I have discussed
> adoption in the past.  I would imagine that I do have patience on my
> side, but are there differences in success rates due to age?
>

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