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Home › Articles › Essays/Opinion › My Adopted Daughter at My Breast

My Adopted Daughter at My Breast

Our Path Toward a Wonderful Nursing Relationship

By C.J. Johnson

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My husband and I had three sons and adored them for their uniqueness and for the people they were becoming. Ben was already 17, Davis 8 and Mason was almost 5. We knew our sons were a true treasure, but we longed for a daughter. Because of a complicated fertility situation, we knew we had slim chances of conceiving a daughter on our own. After months of discussion, we chose to adopt a baby girl.

Planting a Seed
I felt a bit nervous after filling out and submitting all the paper work with our adoption agency because it meant we would finally have a daughter of our own within a few months. We wanted to leave our options and hearts wide open in order to find our daughter. When filling out the papers we wrote that we were open to a child of any race as long as she was healthy and the birth mother had not used drugs. The agency told us it would only take three to six months for us to adopt.

Our baby girl could come at any time and I was jittery with anticipation. As I sat pondering the idea, a close friend called to check in with me. She asked if I planned on nursing my baby. I laughed out loud and said, "Oh, sure." She told me her question was serious and went on to explain that adoptive mothers can nurse. That short phone conversation changed my life in the most miraculous way.

Springing to Action
I contacted one of my editors who knew a lot about breastfeeding. She was very encouraging and forwarded me several links to articles about breastfeeding adopted babies. I felt on fire with the idea of giving our baby-to-be the very best nutrition. I knew I had no input on what nutrition she received during her nine months of development and hoped desperately that I could create breast milk to nourish her little body.

After reading the various articles and speaking with a few lactation consultants, I rented a hospital-grade breast pump, talked my doctor into prescribing Reglan for me and began pumping at home. Every three hours I sat in my bathroom and pumped for 15 minutes. I also began taking 12 Fenugreek tablets each day. On the third day, I began pumping clear liquid from my breasts. It was only a few drops at a time, but I felt encouraged. Then I began pumping for 20 minutes each day and turned the power up to high. That was when I faced my first challenge in preparing milk for my baby: my nipples became raw and bloody. In my enthusiasm, I had overdone it.

Waiting Patiently
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