Prescription needed? When to start?

Well, i personally would maybe wait until you are at least waiting to be matched and your homestudy is complete, etc. I only say this because when we started this process, we were certain that we would be matched really quick.... but it took 18 monts for us to be matched. On the other hand, i decided about 1 month into our match to try and breastfeed, and that only gave me about a month to get things going. I really wished i would've started as soon as we were matched. That being said, i took the Yasmin for a month, with the Domperidone, and on the 3 rd day of pumping, i had milk already. I think that isnt the norm though. Ive breastfed before, a number of years ago. Anyways, ive been pumping for almost a week and am getting like 1/4 of an ounce a day. Its not much, but i cant expect miracles i guess. Im also on Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle. I got a prescription from my OB/GYN for the Yasmin. The Dom. i got online. My order came through fine and i got it in like 2 weeks. You can also order Yasmin online, but if you CAN get it from you Doc, then just do it that way. The Dom isnt cheap, but its worth it, and i figure that's less formula i have to buy... which def. isnt cheap. Im pretty sure i ordered through inhousepharmacy, which i believe is called something else now, but i didnt need a script for the meds. Hope this helps and good luck to you in the process. Rach

Welcome to the world of adoption! I am an adoptive mom of six kids, whom I breastfed for a total of ten years. My youngest is now 15. I can go on all day, on this topic, so please excuse the length of this. Also, please don't take offense if it sounds too Mickey Mouse! I am sure you have researched and know a fair amount about it, but I just don't know which things you know. I see lots of evidence of misunderstanding about it all, which even results in babies not being breastfed, having breastfeeding postponed, or cut short. I did not get real far with my first two babies, and I want others to be able to start having the kind of experience they want, with their first babies, so I talk alot!Are you aware that you can start nursing, with the Lact-Aid, even with no advanced preparation? Back in the 80s, adoptive moms who wanted to breastfeed had very little information available. There were no medications to take. Most of us had never seen a decent breast pump, which were generally only available at hospitals. We usually had almost no notice that there was a baby for us. (With my first two, we had less than 24 hours notice.) Fortunately, we had the Lact-Aid, so we could start feeding and nurturing at the breast as soon as we got the babies home. To start with, the babies were just getting formula, but there were usually drops of breastmilk within two weeks, (and often in just a few days). Most moms who stuck with it went on to produce somewhere between 25-75% of what their babies needed (before they started taking other foods) just from the suckling stimulation, alone. It was fairly common to be able to stop using the Lact-Aid, once the babies were on solids and other liquids. The medications, great pumps, information about herbs, etc., that are available, now, can be a big help in increasing the amount of milk we can offer our babies. However, I believe it is still most important to know that you can nurse without them. This isn't a medical process. It is a natural process that can be augmented by medical means. I never want anyone to think that they can't nurse because they didn't have a chance to prepare, or because they can't take birth control pills, or anything like that. If you have a desire, at least one breast, and a baby, you can nurse! I would suggest that, whenever the agency starts considering you for placement, you go ahead and purchase a deluxe Lact-Aid kit and some domperidone. That way, if a baby comes unexpectedly, you can start nursing right away. Since it looks most likely that it will be some number of months before a baby comes, there are basically two ways to use medication to prepare in advance. One is to take domperidone and start pumping. The other is to spend time taking BCPs and domperidone for a time, then stopping the BCPs and start pumping. I, personally, do not believe that taking the BCPs for only one month offers any benefit over just taking the dom and pumping right away. I don't think nursing the baby should ever be put on hold, while Mom takes BCPs. I think taking the BCPs and dom for several months increases the odds of a large milk supply to some extent, but certainly doesn't promise it. There is no way to predict who will respond to what the best. One advantage to taking BCP/dom for several months is that it is easier to stay on that for a long period of time, than to keep pumping around the clock, month after month. Another option is to do the dom and pumping for two or three months, to see how it goes and then, if it still looks like there is no match in sight, cut back the dom to half or so and go to pumping only twice a day, just to keep things going to some degree. Then, when you know a baby is coming, increase your efforts. One of the main benefits of domperidone is that it enables most moms to be able to pump ounces of milk to freeze. Before that was available, there weren't many moms who saw more than drops from pumping, although most got ounces pretty quickly, once they were able to replace the pump with a baby. Emotions are a big part of the release of prolactin, and pumps just aren't as good as babies. The dom bypasses the need for the emotional response. Looking at a pump container and seeing little or no milk in it can be very discouraging, too. With a baby, we can't see how much milk is coming from the breast. It is much easier to relax and not focus too much on the milk, and that helps the milk flow. I didn't use to be too big on taking on a rigorous pumping schedule, not just because it wasn't usually that productive for milk, but because I had seen so many moms get so discouraged by not seeing milk, that they gave up on the whole idea before they even got a baby, which was a shame. Another very important part of preparation is to learn about breastfeeding, in general. Adoptive moms need to know essentially everything bio moms do, with the special concerns of adoption in addition to that. Finding some supportive people is an important thing, too. It is a very good idea to find your local La Leche League group and start attending meetings. Most of the moms there won't know a lot about inducing lactation, but they will know about positioning at the breast, mothering in general, and will almost always think it is wonderful that you are breastfeeding. Sometimes you can even make some friends who are willing to donate some milk for your baby, if you need to supplement.I'll quit yacking now!Darillyn

Darillyn and Rach thank you so much for your comments. I have always looked forward to the day that I could breastfeed my children and now that adoption is on the horizon I am glad that I don't need to give up this dream! Seeing that I likely have some time, the BCP and the dom makes the most sense it sounds like but my husband and I are trying to figure out between the 2 of us whether we want to start BCPs again since there is still a small chance that we could become PG (very small but miracles happen). I plan on certainly ordering the dom though b/c I have read on other threads that it can take some time to come in. It certainly sounds like from others and for my situation pumping so frequently when you have no match or prospects in site may not be the most optimal thing to do. I have contacted the local Le Leche league here in AZ and plan to start attending some meetings. I love that you offered the suggestion that some of them might be able to provide breast milk if needed - GREAT tip! I have also been told that I can talk with a lactation specialist maybe just to see if they can assist with picking out an appropriate breast pump etc. I also bought some books as well that were suggestion on a few websites. Knowing that adoption can come quickly or take a long time is tricky but doing something like preparing to breastfeed I think will offer me some "control" over the situation. How do the herbals play in. The other thing that I have read is that oatmeal increases milk production? Any other foods/drinks?

I always felt like anything I could do to prepare kind of gave me some control over the situation, after so many years of feeling helpless, due to the infertility. Pumping very far in advance wasn't an option for me, for various reasons, but I concentrated on getting everything else ready for the baby. After we'd been trying for two years, I decided to start making baby things. I made everything as nice as I could, with hand embroidery, French seams, etc.. Sometimes, I couldn't do it, or even look at the things, but over all it made me feel more hopeful. After we finally decided to focus on adoption, I started looking for things that I could make over for the baby, like I got a bassinette for $7 and made a new mattress, blanket and bumpers for it. I got a crib that was in pieces and painted it and put it back together. By the time we got the call that we could pick up our baby, the next day, all we needed to get was some formula. I had everything else ready, including a Lact-Aid kit.Even though I always needed to supplement, I always felt like I had gone a long way toward regaining the control that infertility had taken away. I couldn't give birth to a baby, but I could still raise one the way I felt was best. I always felt like their health was much more like babies who were totally breastfed than like babies who were totally formula fed. My third through sixth babies, who got a siginicant amount of milk from me, until they self weaned, were rarely sick. My third did have asthma, from an allergy to mold but, since I am also allergic to mold, I wouldn't have been able to protect him from that, even if I'd given birth to him. He had some other allergies that turned up, when he was older, but as long as he was still nursing, even a little bit, they weren't a problem.My late friend, Ann Sutherland, always recommended oatmeal. Unfortunately, I hadn't heard that it was helpful with milk supply until after I was done nursing my kids. I wonder if it is helpful because it is a mucilagenous food, and also if there are other mucilagenous foods who are helpful. That is the kind of thing that was probably common knowledge until a century ago, when people started artificiallyfeeding babies.There are several herbs that are helpful. Motherlove Herbals has several preparations available. What I used the most was fenugreek and fennel. If there is one that is the best, it is probably fenugreek. I chose fennel over others because it is one I can stand the flavor of. I have a hard time taking capsules, so I made tea of mine. Blessed thistle is really bitter, or I would have used it. I made a quart of strong tea every morning, with four rounded teaspoonfuls of fenugreek seeds and one of fennel, to a quart of hot water. I didn't let it steep longer than five minutes. If I did, it got so bitter that it was nasty tasting and burned my stomach. I added some honey while it was warm and drank a cup with some milk. Then, I filled the quart jar the rest of the way up with water and sipped the rest, iced, throughout the day. It is much cheaper to buy bulk seeds. Another advantage to seeds is that they stay fresh. I have some I have had for like seven years, and I can still get them to sprout, so they still have life in them. When they are ground, for capsules or teabags, they start to deteriorate, so you need to make sure any capsules you get are fresh. Another way to use seeds is to just wash them down whole, like small pills. The side effect to fenugreek is that you start to smell like pancake syrup, because it is an ingredient in artificial maple flavoring. My son Joseph, whom I used the most fengreek with, loved the scent so much that he liked to find something of mine that smelled like it and carry it around like a security blanket. One time, I found one of my nursing bras in a mud puddle, after he had been playing outside with his older siblings! All his life, his favorite foods have been pancakes, waffles and French toast, with syrup, and I really wonder if it isn't partly because he associated that flavor and scent with comfort and security, from when he was little.One more thing, the best place I know of to buy fenugreek and fennel is the San Fransisco Herb Company, online. I haven't noticed if they have blessed thistle. Darillyn

I haven't read through all the replies, but I would say that I didn't find that the BCP really helped at all. I was on it for three months before I started pumping, and during that time I didn't notice any change in breast tissue or anything. Once I started pumping I took off. But I breastfed a bio child three years ago and I've heard that makes a difference. So if you don't really want to do the BCP because you could get pregnant, then I wouldn't sweat it.