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Can Anybody Do
| Sun, 01-15-2006 - 8:27pm |
Does anyone know how to have or get breast milk without becoming pregnant? My husband and I loved the experience when we had our children. Now they are older teens, and we would like to know if we could have the same experience again. Any ideas out there? Anything will be helpful.
Thanks bunches! mom_keleigh
Thanks bunches! mom_keleigh


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Thanks Tish! :)
C H A R A C T E R
When you're pregnant your body changes preparing for the baby and your body produces breast milk.
Actually - it is possible to lactate without being pregnant. It isn't uncommon for women who adopt a child right after the child is born to breast feed. While the hormones your body produces during pregnancy and childbirth help the milk to come in, they are not necessarily vital. The way these adoptive moms go about it is to nurse the baby until milk comes in or to being using a pump about a month before the baby is born.
So - to the original poster - you could try having your husband nurse frequently (i.e. every couple of hours, just like a newborn) or you could use a breast pump. Alternatively, you could have your doctor prescribe hormones, but they are unlikely to do this unless you're truly adopting a baby or otherwise "need" to lactate.
Hope that helps.
That's news to me. I have some experience with adoptive mothers of newborns in my family but never heard of anyone being able to nurse a baby when they never gave birth. I'll have to ask my gynecologist about that one. Just doesn't sound very probable to me.
However, if just nursing regularly at the breast was all that was required to start lactating, then we'd ALL likely be nursing our husbands and BFs! LOL!
Edited 1/17/2006 9:17 am ET by katmandoo2001
Actually, it is possible. I just had a baby 15 months ago. I bf for a while and then quit for several months and decided I might want to start back. Like pp said you start out by pumping often and regularly. The milk will come in.....some have problems bf in the first place and others with re-lactating (as I call it) but I wasn't the only mom who decided she would want to go back to bf. It is not an easy thing to do. It takes time and dedication but is possible.
I was told by a certified lactation specialist that such is possible and that adoptive mothers do begin the process a month or two b4 their adoptive newborn arrives so the adoptive mom can bf.
My point was that a woman who has NOT given birth will not be able to lactate just by having her partner nurse.
Since a woman's body may take up to 18 mos. or longer to return to pre-pregnancy state, physically and hormonally, restimulating those glands to produce milk after ceasing to nurse isn't so unusual.
Edited 1/17/2006 2:16 pm ET by katmandoo2001
I'm not sure about being able to by having her partner nurse only. I really don't see why not. If a woman who has never been able to give birth can use a pump often and on a regular schedule and lactate/nurse I would tend to think it possible in this ladies case with her dh nursing. It would take dedication and I would think be tedious at first since it would need to be often and regularly scheduled.
It takes a while, since pregnancy and birth didn't just take place and the body isn't doing it on it's own, to get it going which is why adoptive mom's start a good bit b4 hand. Pumps are in essence built to duplicate the sucking motion/action of a nursing baby. Adoptive mom's want milk there when baby first arrives and don't want to have to supplement during the weeks it takes to get things started and build a milk supply.
I believe it to be all together possible she would begin to lactate on her husband suckling alone. He would have to do it like he was actually nursing though, not just playing at nursing, and as I said b4 on a regular, frequent schedule.
For instance, my dh is a boob man. He loves my boobs. He doesn't "nurse" but he likes being in the area if ya' know what I mean. I haven't bf in months, but because he is there nearly every time we are intimate, even though not in a "nursing" way, he will from time to time get a bit of sustenance. LOL He'll say, "I think I got some milk." Since he just had to sample his son's entree from time to time while he was nursing, he'd know milk if he got milk. It's not much. Maybe a couple drops, but enough to know he got it. Taking into account our sexual dry spell for a few months between it's not like I quit bf'ing and my dh's "stimulation" keep a squirt or two of a build up either. I had completely dried up yet by his stimulation, again not nursing type suckling, my body will produce a tiny bit.
I think it's entirely possible for this woman and her dh, although it would take effort and work to actually build up a "nursing" supply. It won't happen over night.
As far as a woman who has never had children lactating with only her dh/partner nursing, that too would be possible. Adoptive moms do it only they use a pump rather than a partner to nurse and build up the supply while they await their bundle of joy. Again a partner would have to actually nurse, not play at nursing.
We must keep in mind too that some women for different reasons have problems lactating.
If you really want this. If you and your partner are dedicated to this, try asking a Certified Lactation Consultant the best way for your partner to start you lactating. Best bet may be to buy a pump. He could nurse at times you both found suitable and you could pump between times to keep that regular schedule going. If he doesn't nurse for a certain period of time you could stop again. Then there are things such as a backed up duct, mastitis, etc. that go hand in hand with bf'ing/nursing you may have to deal with if you do this. A CLC can usually be found in the yellow pages of the telephone directory. I'd consult one.
I have to disagree. If a woman doesn't have the hormones in place to begin lactation, either from a recent delivery or artificially, then she simply can't lactate just from regular nursing at the breasts.
And since we don't begin lactating during pregnancy, but after, then the artificial hormones given would have to carefully mimic the levels present at that period of the process, not during pregnancy itself.
The process of pregnancy and childbirth are what stimulate the glands to produce milk, not nursing. And the milk will come in regardless of whether the baby/partner nurses or not.
I'll have to ask my gynecologist to verify this but from what I know about biology, that is the case.
Edited 1/17/2006 5:31 pm ET by katmandoo2001
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