Can you breastfeed your baby if they were born via surrogate?
Female bodies are pretty magical and one prime example of this is our ability to produce milk.
While we know its possible to breastfeed your child if you have given birth to them it is also possible to breastfeed your baby if you adopted them or had them via surrogate.
Mum NarSheba Tarajee Aasir and her wife tried several times to conceive a child through IUI and IVF but when all attempts failed a family friend of the couple stepped forward and offered to be their surrogate.
“We had a family friend (who we call our own little special angel) who had known our struggle and how badly we wanted to conceive. Out of the blue one day, she offered carry the baby for us. The rest was history.”
During the second trimester of the pregnancy, NarSheba learned about inducing lactation. Induced lactation is the process of making milk for a child you did not give birth to.
There are several ways that women can induce lactation, naturally or through the use of hormones, but the most important thing is to start as soon as you can so you can have milk when the baby arrives.
NarSheba went on to say that her lactation consultant started her on a birth control protocol high in estrogen and progesterone.
“I would take the active pills only, skip the placebo weeks and automatically start the next pack to trick my body into thinking I was pregnant. I also begin taking natural supplements, and within the lactation support groups I joined, the ladies would always share little food tips to increase my supply.”
While it took a few weeks, by her third month of induced lactation NarSheba began to see milk appearing.
“Finally, at month three, one night, I had an itch. But not surface. Deeeeep down. I couldn’t get to the exact spot. Naturally, I started hand expressing to massage the area. Needless to say … I dang near squirted my eye out! “
NarSheba said that her son latched on immediately and that having him breastfeed made her milk come in even stronger.
“He’s a greedy little man, and I make just enough to sustain him. Our first choice is always breast. However, when I have nothing left and he’s still hungry/fussy we will give him the bottle. He prefers the breast as well. So it’s a toss up on whether he’ll just take the bottle or wait it out.”
I had read stories in the past about grandmothers or other female family members offering the breastfeed another mums baby. NarSheba’s story is the first time I’ve heard of a woman who never gave birth successfully breastfeeding and I think it’s brilliant.
A lot of mums who adopt or have their baby via surrogate often feel that they miss out on some of the motherhood experience but stories like this show that they don’t have to.
I loved being able to breastfeed my child and am so glad to hear that there are ways for all mums, no matter how they became mothers, to enjoy that bonding experience with their child.
