Adoptive Moms and Nursing

Adoptive Moms Still Can Be Breastfeeding Moms

Like many mothers, Darillyn Starr chose to breastfeed her children – all six of them. But unlike most mothers, Starr's body wasn't spurred into milk production following the birth of her children. Instead, she induced lactation when she adopted her children.

Adoptive breastfeeding isn't a topic normally covered by pregnancy and parenting magazines. But it provides an incredible opportunity for new mothers to bond with their infants.

"The one component that has to happen with adoptive nursing is a baby being suckled at the breast, whether he is getting some breast milk, or just formula [via a supplementary nursing system]," Starr says.

Starr first heard of adoptive breastfeeding in 1989, shortly before she adopted her first child. "There was very little information available at the time," she says. "I did not get too far with my first son, but what we did do was much better than nothing." In the beginning, she says, she chose not to tell people she was breastfeeding, and she only nursed in front of her husband. "I was afraid that people would think that I was nuts, or that I would have to admit to inadequacy by telling them I didn't have any milk."

In retrospect, Starr says, she now believes she was producing a small amount of milk even with her first child.

"Almost all women will make some milk," says Judith Gelman, a long-time La Leche League Leader and Board Certified Lactation Consultant who adopted and breastfed her own three children. She cautions, however, that "it is unusual for a woman who has never been pregnant to produce enough milk to breastfeed exclusively. Induced lactation is triggered by nipple stimulation and the resulting rise in prolactin [the hormone that stimulates milk production]," she says. But the presence of the hormone itself isn't enough to cause the ductile tissue to multiply, as happens in pregnancy. So women who induce lactation have fewer ducts – and may produce less milk – than women who go through pregnancy and childbirth.

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