Any breastfeeding (or plan to) adoptive mamas here?

[Melanie]

Just wondering. I saw a post on another board from someone who said they could not BF b/c they adopted, and I thought it was pretty well-known that it could be possible. I wasn't sure if it was possible for all women, so I was wondering if anyone here had tried?

[Kimberly H]

I think there's a Yahoo Group for adoptive moms who want to breastfeed. I know it's been discussed on the big ChinaAdopt Yahoo Groups before.

[kalebsmama]

It actually is possible to breastfeed an adopted child but there are many variables. Some women do eventually produce enough milk and others may only make enough to partially feed their child and they supplement with formula. You do this by hanging a bag of formula aroung your neck with tubing that runs down along the breast to the nipple and into baby's mouth when he latches on. This way, he is stimulating milk production and still getting fed. (I guess this is used by mamas with their birth children when they aren't producing enough milk?) Anyways, I figure even if you only produce 50% of the needed milk, the child is still getting the benefits of breastfeeding.
SIL breastfed her adopted DS but always had to supplement. I attempted to BF with DS, but it didn't work for us. I have some ideas on what I'd do different and plan to try again with the next one.
I have some info that I can dig out if anyone is interested. I'd also be willing to share my own personal experience as far as what didn't work, why, and what I'd do different.

[Melanie]

I found this the other day and thought I'd add it to this thread:

http://www.fourfriends.com/abrw/