I just wanted to explain a bit more about what I was talking about, when I spoke of the bio mom's milk being preferable to the non-bio mom's milk, in a situation where a one of a lesbian couple gives birth, and the non-bio mom also wishes to breastfeed.

In general, I have no qualms about the adequacy of the milk of a mom who induces lactation for an adopted baby.  We don't have a lot of research about it, but we do have tons of individual situations (including my personal experience) which have demonstrated that babies thrive on this milk.  Among the most dramatic examples of this are where babies who have been several months old, with long-standing health problems, have found permanent relief from those problems, with the addition of even a few ounces of breast milk from the adoptive mother, per day.  Some examples of the problems that have been cured are ear infections and severe constipation with rectal fissures.  One baby, who was born with bladder extrophy, would scream in pain with every poopy diaper, because it would severely burn the extensive amount of mucosal tissue that was exposed.  When she started getting some breast milk from her adoptive mother, along with the same formula she'd had before, in the Lact-Aid, it made a huge difference.  Her mother decided to wean her at about 11 months old and the problem returned.  So, her mother went back to nursing, the problem improved, and she continued to nurse until she was three years old.  

Anyway, back to the situation with lesbian couples, when I spoke of the bio mom's milk being preferable, one of the main things I was basing that on was that, in many cases, a large induced supply would contain traces of medications, and the adoptive mom may also have subjected her own body to adverse effects, both identified and as yet unidentified, of extensive drug therapy.  We still don't see that many adoptive moms with large milk supplies, with no medications or artificial hormones, and the chances would be even less in a case where the nursing time with one baby would be shared between two women.  I believe in choosing the best of the options that are available.  If the choice is between formula and breast milk that may have a trace of a chemical where there is evidence of safety to both mother and baby (domperidone only, IMO), there is no question which is the best selection.  However, if there is a source of milk with no chemical in it, that also does not involve subjecting the mother to possible adverse effects, I think the prudent thing is to make use of that.  Nearly every non-bio mom who spends a significant amount of time nursing the baby will produce some amount of her own breast milk, with nothing but the suckling to stimulate it.  So, I think the best choice, where bio mom's milk is available, is for the baby to receive that along with the non-bio mom's non-medically induced milk, served at the breast, of course!   

Aloha,
Darillyn


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