Breastfeeding after Surrogacy or Adoption? Yes, it is possible!
Welcome Carnival of Breastfeeding readers!
A few weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised to receive a note from a friend who wanted to share her story of inducing lactation for her daughter. Given this month’s carnival theme of birth and breastfeeding, my friend’s experience as a nursing mom who has never given birth is a beautiful example of the diversity of what a successful breastfeeding relationship can look like. She’s now starting the process of inducing lactation for her second baby who is due in December. I’m very happy to share this story, especially as it highlights breastfeeding as an option for moms regardless of birth experience.
I learned about inducing lactation from my sister’s surrogate. At first I thought it was meds from injections, and I hate needles and was having quite enough of them with IVF and acupuncture to stimulate egg production. Then I read more about it on a surrogacy website, and thought - I could do that! At first it was about the benefits for the baby. I thought maybe it would be weird for me, but so worth it for baby. And then I started loving the idea of the bonding, and doing something that “normal” moms do, that maybe my body could feed at least, even if it couldn’t grow her.
My husband was worried about it at first, if it didn’t work and my body failed me again, would I be depressed instead of just happy that we had a baby? I did the Newman-Goldfarb protocol (http://www.asklenore.info/breastfeeding/induced_lactation/protocols4print.html)starting domperidone at the start of the 2nd trimester, and I got milk drops the very first time I pumped! I had almost 200oz. saved up before she was born, and continued nursing until she was seven months old, only stopping because we were doing another IVF cycle to try for baby #2. I got milk from two donors and some moms on MilkShare. Luckily our first IVF try worked, so I was only off meds for 4 months, and right away there was milk again.
I start pumping in less than three weeks. Not looking forward to the exhausting schedule, and not sure how that’s going to work with a busy toddler, but excited about getting milk stored up, and it means we’re getting in the home stretch before the birth!
I loved nursing and spread the word about being able to breastfeed for adoptions or surrogacies whenever I can.
