A complicated question - gestational surrogacy

[ColoradoHELLP]

I will try to condense this as much as possible - as such, I will have to leave out some details and get down to the nitty gritty. :-)

I carried my daughter and she had to be delivered early to save both of our lives. Our 32 weeker is quickly nearing 15 months of age, and she is still breastfeeding 5-6 times a day. She is eating some solids but has some sensory issues that we are actively trying to work through. We believe in CLW.

We have the most gracious, awesome, incredible, sweet, selfless friend anyone could ask for. She has offered to carry a child for us and we are about three weeks out from the transfer date. If everything goes well (crossing fingers!), we will have a new baby in December.

Both my family and this friend have a strong belief in breastfeeding. She is going to pump for the first several weeks, and this milk will be offered to our baby at my breast via SNS.

So the pressing question......................

Everyone says that breastmilk is supply and demand, right? So if I keep on breastfeeding my toddler and pumping regularly if her nursing demands go down, will I be able to FULLY breastfeed the new baby when it arrives? If all of the sudden the demand on my body goes waaaaay up, will I be able to keep up?

I have already consulted LLL and several other LCs. No one can tell me, because our situation is one that is incredibly rare.

Thoughts?


(Please keep in mind that I did not have to induce lactation for the child that we already have, and my supply has been relatively steady since her birth.)

[ewe+lamb]

Wow what a generous friend - what a gift!!

OK from experience - well I don't know, but thinking about this sensibly, nursing a toddler and nursing a newborn is completely different - the supply is different, what I would imagine is that when your new baby starts to suckle at the breast with the SNS, with the hormone transfer etc your breastmilk and supply will adapt to suit the newborn, it may take a while, but I would imagine through nursing your toddler and the baby things should move along fairly easily - unless, of course, there are complications, keep nursing your toddler and pumping, as you mentioned you will be doing - but start earily rather than later seeing as you also mentioned the demand on your body, and personally I reckon you'll be able to nurse your newborn.

[HappyTomato]

I would order some domperidone to have on hand in case you need it. It takes 2-3 weeks to get it so having it before hand is best. Historically speaking, people used to have "wet nurses" and my great-grandmother had to have her sisters nurse her babies for her due to low supply (she had some kind of breast disease that later caused a double mastectomy). So I think you have a really good chance at this working out. What a wonderful gift your friend is giving you!!! GL!!!