I have now been blogging about adoption for over three months, and I am LOVING it! It is so exciting to be able to share my own experiences with others who are new to the process and encourage them along the way.

When I accepted this position, I was ecstatic. My only reservation was how blogging about adoption at the rate of 43 posts a month might affect the way I think about my son. Would talking about his adoption so frequently cause me to think about him more as an “adopted child?” I am relieved... more

Choosing to breastfeed a baby is a personal choice. There is no “right” or “wrong” decision about whether or not to breastfeed your adopted baby. If you choose to do it, you will face some challenges, but the benefits to your baby will hopefully be enough to make it worth the effort.

If you decide that you want to breastfeed your adopted baby, start looking into it while you are still waiting to be matched. Adoption matches can happen quickly, so you might not have time to order the supplementation... more

If you are considering breastfeeding your adopted baby, you should think about the following issues:

(1) How much support do you have for this decision?

If you are one of those people who truly does not give a @#$% about what anyone else thinks about your decisions, you can skip down to the next issue. However, if you are like the rest of us, you might want to make an honest assessment of how much support you will receive from the people in your life. Adoptive breastfeeding... more

If you choose to breastfeed your adopted baby, you will face many challenges. In some ways, adoptive breastfeeding is the “worst of both worlds.” You have all of the challenges of both breastfeeding and bottle-feeding while missing out on many of the benefits of both. For example, a big advantage of breastfeeding is that you have your child’s meal ready and waiting on a moment’s notice. Since most adoptive mothers do not produce enough breast milk to supply the baby’s nutritional needs, that convenience is... more

There are many good reasons to breastfeed an adopted baby. The most obvious reason is that breast milk is better for a baby than formula. You cannot pick up a parenting book without being encouraged to breastfeed your baby in multiple places. There is good reason for this: breast milk offers many benefits, including the following:

Protects against allergies, asthma, and eczema Provides a variety of flavors based upon the mother’s diet Provides antibodies to protect... more

In Debra Stewart Peterson’s book, Breastfeeding the Adopted Baby, she discusses anything you could possibly want to know about adoptive breastfeeding. If you follow the link to amazon.com, you can see excerpts from the book. This was my “bible” in learning how to breastfeed an adopted baby.

Breast Pumps

Many women are able to lactate by using a breast pump every... more

For those of you who are just looking into adopting, you might be surprised to learn that it is possible to breastfeed an adopted baby. I was absolutely FLOORED when I learned this. I assumed that missing out on this experience was another one of my infertility losses to be grieved.

I learned about adoptive breastfeeding by reading a book about adoption. (I wish I could remember which book it was. I read so many books while I was researching the adoption process.) The author was talking about adopting an infant and... more

I hope that you enjoyed reading my story and learning about my experience with adoption. My road to parenthood was a long and difficult one, but it was worth all of the heartache along the way. We have now been a family for 6 years. I have almost forgotten what my life was like before having a child. So much of my life, both good and “bad,” revolves around being a mother. (I put “bad” in quotes because they are not “bad” things – just annoying things like being awakened at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday. LOL)

Even... more

The next few weeks were surreal. Overnight, I had become an “expectant mother” whose baby was due in a mere 7 weeks.

My sister said the first thing we needed to do was to register at Babies R Us. I did not know the first thing about what I needed. It had been too painful to even think about, much less read about, babies for the past 4-1/2 years, so I did not have a clue about what I needed to purchase other than diapers and bottles.

My sister met me at the store, and it was a complete mind warp to walk in. This was the store that I... more

Building healthy relationships between your child and his or her family members starts with early involvement. Take the time to include your family members in your adoption plans to better prepare them (and you) for the adjustment of a new addition to the family. Continue to encourage them to stay connected through interaction with the child once he or she arrives home.

Steps:

1. Inform your family members about your adoption plans during the early stages of the adoption process.

Once you make the decision to pursue an adoption, inform your family member of your plans. During your initial conversations you could share details about your adoption... more