Hypothetical question about nursing an adopted baby

[lexbeach]

My Dp is most likely going to be carrying our next child (I gave birth to our now 13-month-old twins). We are planning to start ttc in September, so if all goes well, Luke and Jasper will be 2.3-3 when their little brother/sister arrives. We are hoping that I will be able to nurse the baby. Dp would be doing a lot of the nursing (especially in the beginning), but I will be the one staying home with the baby while she is at work.

My questions are these:

1. Assuming that Luke and Jasper are still nursing, would my body be able to make enough milk to have some for the baby too? Would it be possible to increase my supply in preparation by pumping?

2. Would it be okay to give my milk to the baby even though it would be the kind of milk designed for a two or three-year-old? (i.e. the fat content would not be the same as Dp's milk). When a baby is not in contact with her/his birth mom, adoptive nursing makes sense to me because ANY breastmilk is better than formula. But I'm wondering, since we'd have the option of bottle feeding EBM while Dp's at work, if that would be better for the baby than my milk.

This is all quite hypothetical since Dp is not at all pregnant, but I'd love to hear your responses!

Thanks!

Lex

[jeca]

I think that it would be possible to increase your supply but I really don't know about the other questuon I just wanted to give my support and say I think it's an awesome idea!

[Raven]

Hello...

I have heard of bringing on a milk supply to feed an adopted baby (when the adoptive parent isnt already lactating) so I am sure it would work even tho its a different situation. Try speaking to someone from La Leche League. http://www.lalecheleague.org/ you can contact someone off this site.

[shelbean91]

Re: Hypothetical question about nursing an adopted baby

Originally posted by lexbeach

1. Assuming that Luke and Jasper are still nursing, would my body be able to make enough milk to have some for the baby too? Would it be possible to increase my supply in preparation by pumping?

If they are still nursing- you shouldn't have a problem getting your milk supply to increase to also nurse the baby. If you were to add a pumping session or two- your milk will increase. It would be similar to tandem nursing.

2. Would it be okay to give my milk to the baby even though it would be the kind of milk designed for a two or three-year-old? (i.e. the fat content would not be the same as Dp's milk). When a baby is not in contact with her/his birth mom, adoptive nursing makes sense to me because ANY breastmilk is better than formula. But I'm wondering, since we'd have the option of bottle feeding EBM while Dp's at work, if that would be better for the baby than my milk.

I would think it fine to give your baby the milk. I've heard the body will adjust milk to the youngest, but I don't know if that still works if you've not gone through the pregnancy. Even if it doesn't change, your milk is still better than formula.


I think it's so cool that would even be a possibility. I would have loved for DH to be able to nurse the kids every now and then.

[eilonwy]

I don't think it would be a problem to increase your supply, but I think that if your dp doesn't have any problems pumping then it would probably be in everyone's best interest for her to do so. I mean, her milk would be "baby" milk as opposed to "toddler" milk, and you wouldn't want to do anything to interfere with her supply at all, right? I think it'd work out really well for you guys if you nursed the NewBaby on a more limited schedule, so dp didn't have to work quite so hard at pumping to maintain a supply. Did that make any sense?

Oh, and I have to agree I *totally* wish that my husband could nurse EliBean.. especially now! :LOL I'd have probably only taken advantage of it twice a week before I got pregnant, but oh, the relief! :LOL

[lexbeach]

Re: Re: Hypothetical question about nursing an adopted baby

Originally posted by shelbean91
I would have loved for DH to be able to nurse the kids every now and then.

I completely agree! It will be so neat to go from having one nursing mom and two nursing babies to having two nursing moms and one nursing baby! Of course, Luke and Jasper may very well still be nursing. . . but two moms nursing three babies is still less work than one mom nursing two babies. . . Or ONE mom nursing THREE babies (as would be the case if I carried the next babe)!

As is, Dp does nurse our boys for comfort, mostly in the middle of the night. And sometimes when she gets home from work they ask her to nurse, I think as a way to reconnect. We are assuming that once she actually has MILK, they will want to nurse from her much more often (though she might not be too keen on that idea with a newborn nursling).

Dp is a teacher, and is at school from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. She does not get any breaks really. She would probably work out being able to take one pumping break a day, but more than that most likely would not happen. I've never pumped myself so I don't know if one pumping in seven hours would be adequate. Perhaps if I nursed the baby for whatever Dp couldn't supply then the baby would still be getting mostly baby milk, and just a couple ounces of toddler milk.

We've got LLL tomorrow so I will ask then too.

Thanks!

Lex

[ldsapmom]

I have a very close friend who is in a partnership. She had the first baby and her partner is going to have the next. She plans on nursing both of them, although not exclusively nursing the newbie.

Your milk is tailor-made, but I would think the real danger would be in not enabling your dp's milk supply to fully become established. So as long as she is given the time (a good six weeks, I would guess) to have her body build up her supply, I think intermittant nursing from you later would be fine (or once you dp goes back to work).

My friend is actually i Certified Lactation Educator and she will be sitting for the IBLCLC exam in July. I am trying to get her to write a protocol or article to submit to something like "And Baby," but she feels better writing about it after she has actually lived it, and who knows when that will be.

[Ravin]

If the twins are willing to help "boost" her supply, it shouldn't be a problem for you to do some of the nursing for the babe, I would think.

She'll probably need to pump at least once during her workday, at least in the early months, to keep from getting engorged.