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Adoptive Moms and Nursing
Adoptive Moms Still Can Be Breastfeeding Moms
Preparation Is Ideal
Adoptive mothers who wish to breastfeed should ideally do a little bit of preparation before their babies arrive. Gelman recommends that women start pumping six weeks in advance, if they can. She stresses, though, that "if 
there is no advance warning, then I tell women to go ahead without preparation. Their nipples will be sorer and it will take somewhat longer for their milk to come in," she says, but explains that it is simply not practical – or possible – for women to pump for two or three years while waiting for the finalization of a closed adoption. "Milk production is affected by so many variables that it is not possible to predict what any one mom's physiological response will be," Starr says. "If the primary focus is kept on the baby being nurtured at the breast, everyone can have a successful and beneficial experience."
"Those who are focused on the milk are almost always disappointed in the experience," Gelman adds. "The milk never comes in fast enough for them. Women who see every drop as an added bonus are usually extremely happy with the resulting relationship."
Human Milk Is Always Better
As with biological mothers who breastfeed their children, "an adoptive mother's milk is always superior to artificial cow- or soy-based baby milk," Gelman says. "Although each woman has antibodies to different diseases based on her lifetime exposure, with rare exceptions, any woman's milk is more acceptable for any baby than is any other species' milk." This is good news for adoptive mothers who are concerned that their milk could somehow harm their children.
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