Every mother surely wants to breastfeed her little one. With some little issues in the initial few days after the baby’s birth, most of the mothers do continue to nurse.
But what about those mothers who adopt a baby or get their baby delivered through a surrogate woman? Don’t these mothers too feel like breastfeeding their baby? Just because they did not get pregnant and deliver their baby, they should not even attempt to breastfeed their little one?
Is breastfeeding really possible in such cases?......and the answer is YES.
Breastfeeding is not just about, providing milk to the baby. It also involves the BONDING BETWEEN THE MOTHER AND HER BABY. Hence it is important to give a these mothers a chance to breastfeed their adopted babies. This is called as ‘Induced lactation ’or breastfeeding without pregnancy.
This is not a new concept, but rather well known to history and many cultures. Historically, it has been a standard method to provide nourishment for an infant whose mother has died in childbirth or is unable to nurse for some reason. In such cases, the friend or the relative who would take care of the baby would breastfeed him or her as those days; no other alternative source of nourishment (like formula milk) was available. The more she would nurse the baby, over a period of time her breast milk supply would gradually increase. This is the basis of induced lactation.
Remember, the goal is not to exclusively breastfeed the adopted baby(as the mother may not be able to produce that amount of breast milk), but to nurse the baby so as to give as much breast milk as possible along with the support of donor breast milk or formula. The ultimate goal in such cases is to let the baby and the mother bond together lovingly, so that they may blend into each other though not biologically related.
Such women should take help from qualified lactation consultant as soon as they plan to adopt a baby or plan to go ahead with surrogacy. The woman’s body and her breasts need to be primed upon by appropriate techniques, to make her ready to breastfeed. The earlier the efforts are made, the better are the results.
Thus, ALL MOTHERS, should be able to breastfeed.