Day Twenty-Six | Chelsea's Journey | An Adoption Milk Story

I don't know that our nourishment journey has been any different than for other families. We chose what we felt was best for our child, the same we would have done had they come to us biologically. Every child deserves the best nourishment available to them and the fact that they are adopted made me want to fight for that even more!

Our son came to our home at 7 weeks old and was tiny! He was six weeks preemie and had some other health exposures that made him one sick little guy. We knew from the time he came home that we wanted to give him breastmilk because we wanted his body to be nourished and healed with the purest of nourishment. 

Luckily, I had a friend that had used donated milk for her adopted children, so she was able to get me added to some groups on Facebook and then I just posted a little about our son and women responded saying they had milk to give us. We didn’t even attempt to go through a milk bank because the cost was simply too high.

It often felt like a part time job driving around, picking up milk from several different women, but once we started seeing that he was healthier and gaining weight, it was definitely worth it. I also gained a precious friendship as a result of it, so I really won out on that aspect as well!

I did attempt using an SNS and it all worked for a little bit, but I worked full time and was not able to keep up with everything. It was just a lot to manage at the same time and since I wasn’t producing anything didn’t seem like something we needed the heartache of doing. We figured he was getting the nourishment either way, so we stuck to the bottle of donor milk! He didn’t have any issues accepting the first bottle we tried so we just stuck with that.

Thankfully, I have some really great friends and family that have gone before me on their motherhood and adoption journeys, so I reach out to them whenever I need any kind of support. I also spend a lot of time praying, God knows my heart and the heart of our children, so I rely on His gentle nudges to guide me to what's best for our family.

My advice is to do motherhood YOUR way. There is not a one size fits all approach to how to love and raise your babies. If they come to you biologically, or by adoption, if you breastfeed, or formula feed, it doesn't matter as long as you feel it's what's best. Your heart will guide you on much of what you're questioning, but if you need help, have a village you can trust to help and respect how you want to love and raise your babies! 

Did you adopt a little one? How did that change your story? We would love to hear about it in the comments. If you want to share your nourishment story please contact me and we can start to plan your perfect mommy and me session!