Hi everyone. I'm new to this forum. Here's my situation in a nutshell.

I had six children, all of whom I nursed on average 10 months each. At age 29, I had a full hysterectomy. Since, we have adopted four older children, and now are in the process to adopt a little boy, hopefully 2 years or younger, from Ukraine. I am now 32 years old. I would like to breastfeed my new son when we adopt him but I am discouraged, as I feel like it is only a dream. I'm not only not sure that my doctor will support this, but I am also not sure that an 18 month old child will even want to nurse. I really want to do this, and when I found this sight, I nearly jumped up and down with joy. But, I was not a huge milk producer when I nursed my biological children, and I have a feeling that my milk supply will be minimal thus discouraging me even more.

I think we will be traveling to Ukraine in about 60 days to adopt a son, but it is not definite. We will be flying for at least 12 hours with no access to a breast pump. Would this be an issue?

Thank you for any and all support, advice, suggested protocol, etc. I get from this thread.

Oh, and nice to be around so many women that feel as passionate about breastfeeding as I do.

Christine

Hi Christine,

Many women induce lactation and breastfeed older children. Karleen Gribble began when her adopted daughter was 3 years old and went on to breastfeed her for a good long time.

So if you want to, you likely can. To date over 4000 women have done so that we know of. You can find the guide to the Newman Goldfarb protcols on the breastfeeding page of this website.

Best, Lenore

Hello,

I just wanted to add that when we flew to Africa (20+ hours)to pick up our son I took along a manual pump which was super inconvenient but did the trick! Ypu might want to consider this - it was also great for being in Africa when I didn't have access to a power source...

Karyn