Approach non-pregnant mom about breastfeeding?

[CMcC]

So, I have a lesbian couple expecting their first baby. The expecting mother smokes and doesn't like the idea of breastfeeding. Would it be wrong for me to bring up breastfeeding to the other mother in hopes this baby will get some booby milk somewhere?

And if so, the other mother's milk won't be AS nutritous as the pregnant mothers milk... right? She'll have to supplement if she does all the breastfeeding?

[courtenay_e]

Yes, if she can bring in a supply, it would certainly be beneficial for the baby to get her breastmilk! ESPECIALLY IF ONE OF THE MOTHERS SMOKES!!! I would suggest you talk to a local La Leche League leader (there is info about inducing lactation in the Breastfeeding Answer Book), and to go to asklenore.com for a GREAT protocol. And, no, it's my understanding that her breastmilk would be JUST FINE, as long as she produces enough. And, asklenore suggests that the inducing mother just start on the protocol asap, and then starts pumping and saving up every single drop, so that if she has to supplement, she can acutally supplement with her own FROZEN milk, rather than formula. If the expectant mother would be willing to, the BAB talks about a study that was done where the birth mothers had AIDS, and fed the babies their own milk, until the adoptive mothers could bring in a full supply, which all but ONE did, simply by putting the baby to the breast ten times a day. If the now pregnant mother was willing to nurse the baby just until the second mother could bring in a supply, it might work very well. Since they live together, this shouldn't be an issue, especially if the non-expectant mother had already been doing the asklenore protocol for some time before the birth...it would be within the realm of reason to believe that she could bring in a full supply.

[DoomaYula]

I have read of adoptive moms who use Domperidone, along with lots of pumping and putting baby to breast, and build up a supply within a few months. My bff's aunt did this with all of her adopted kids.

I : Domperidone.

[courtenay_e]

Yeah, that's part of the asklenore protocol. It's actually pretty awesome. Having the article from the BAB and the info from asklenore on hand when you approach her could be helpful. You could approach it in such a way that she could be bonding with the baby, too, as the expectant mom is doing with the baby in utero. She'll make the oxytocin and all that when the baby nurses...it's pretty neat.

[CMcC]

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Asklenore is awesome! I will definately bring it up at the next prenatal. And I'm so pleased to find out that the milk is just as good as if she had had the baby herself! I didn't even think about the other mother inducing lactation until my DH said something. If they are going to do this, it will have to be the quick protocol. I'm still working on momma to get her to stop smoking and hopefully breastfeed.... we'll see.

[jennica]

Originally Posted by CMcC

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Asklenore is awesome! I will definately bring it up at the next prenatal. And I'm so pleased to find out that the milk is just as good as if she had had the baby herself! I didn't even think about the other mother inducing lactation until my DH said something. If they are going to do this, it will have to be the quick protocol. I'm still working on momma to get her to stop smoking and hopefully breastfeed.... we'll see.

Not a birth professional, but, my sister smokes ocassionally, and looked up info on it to see if she should pump and dump when she does it. She told me that from what she found it barely gets into the breastmilk. Of course, it is better to not smoke, but if you do smoke, it is still better to breastfeed than to formula feed. Or that's what she told me that she found out when she looked it up. So, maybe you want to look it up and see what you can find. You might want to be careful not to imply that she needs to stop smoking if she wants to breastfeed, because it's my understanding that the nicotine laced breastmilk is still better than formula.

[pamamidwife]

While I think that a smoking mother nursing her baby is still far superior to artificial baby milk, I would certainly talk to the non-bio mom about this option.

There is good info here: http://www.asklenore.com on induced lactation. It takes some work, but it can be done.

I've done non-nutritive nursing of our almost 17 month old dd since birth. While I did try to induce lactation, it was pretty time consuming. So while I have no milk in my breasts, our dd still nurses on me on average of about 5 times a day.

Definitely bring it up. Four breasts!

[Zoo Loo Naturals]

Wouldn't it be fantastic if they both nursed the babe?!

The Papa at our house often wishes he could breastfeed.

[CMcC]

Originally Posted by jennica

Not a birth professional, but, my sister smokes ocassionally, and looked up info on it to see if she should pump and dump when she does it. She told me that from what she found it barely gets into the breastmilk. Of course, it is better to not smoke, but if you do smoke, it is still better to breastfeed than to formula feed. Or that's what she told me that she found out when she looked it up. So, maybe you want to look it up and see what you can find. You might want to be careful not to imply that she needs to stop smoking if she wants to breastfeed, because it's my understanding that the nicotine laced breastmilk is still better than formula.

I've done some searching on the subject. Here are a couple of resources I found.

http://www.efc.co.nz/frame.php3?main...hp3%3Fpage%3D2

http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/smoking.html

I'm not telling my client she has to stop smoking in order to breastfeed, I'm still encouraging her to breastfeed. (We are at the beginning stages of discussing breastfeeding.) I'd love if she stopped smoking now before baby is born. (Bit worried about premature labor right now.) But the whole smoking thing comes into play because smoking adds a lot of health problems/ risk to the baby. Increased risk of SIDS, respitory illness, etc.... I think it's in one of these articles that says nicotine stays in the body for 95 minutes after a cigarette and can cause fussiness. And depending on how much the mother smokes- the baby can also experience nausea, vomitting and diarhea. Not sure where your sister found her info, but I would conclude that smoking does affect the baby's health significantly. Anyway, especially if my client continues to smoke, the baby will be much better off if one of them breastfeeds. This is what I'm hoping for. And it would be awesome if baby actually had 4 boobies instead of just 2!

[JunipersMom]

I'm still breastfeeding my now 2 year old adopted babe. I didn't use Domperidone or a certain protocol, just a supplementor ~ not the norm, but it worked for us in just a few months and we are still going strong. So its totally possible.

[jennica]

Originally Posted by CMcC

I've done some searching on the subject. Here are a couple of resources I found.

http://www.efc.co.nz/frame.php3?main...hp3%3Fpage%3D2

http://www.lalecheleague.org/FAQ/smoking.html

I'm not telling my client she has to stop smoking in order to breastfeed, I'm still encouraging her to breastfeed. (We are at the beginning stages of discussing breastfeeding.) I'd love if she stopped smoking now before baby is born. (Bit worried about premature labor right now.) But the whole smoking thing comes into play because smoking adds a lot of health problems/ risk to the baby. Increased risk of SIDS, respitory illness, etc.... I think it's in one of these articles that says nicotine stays in the body for 95 minutes after a cigarette and can cause fussiness. And depending on how much the mother smokes- the baby can also experience nausea, vomitting and diarhea. Not sure where your sister found her info, but I would conclude that smoking does affect the baby's health significantly. Anyway, especially if my client continues to smoke, the baby will be much better off if one of them breastfeeds. This is what I'm hoping for. And it would be awesome if baby actually had 4 boobies instead of just 2!

She got her info here at La Leche Legue. It looks like the risks increase the more you smoke. If you are a light smoker, it seems there isn't too much of an effect on the baby.