Surrogacy is not just the process of finding a surrogate mother but there are so many emotional and ethical considerations to be made. Once the baby is delivered by the gestational carrier, the very next important decision to be made by the intended parent is feeding the baby with the breast milk of the surrogate mother.
Some of the intended parents prefer for the surrogate mother to feed the newborn. Keeping emotional and ethical reasons aside, they choose to go for something which is of prime importance for the health of the newborn. There are many medical and immunological reasons behind. The mother’s first milk is called colostrum and contain following important components which are essential for the baby’s health.
- Antibodies
- Proteins
- Carbohydrates
- Fats
- Vitamins
- Minerals
However, some parents go through emotional thought processes regarding the breastfed milk and they don’t opt for the same. The nutritional value of extracted milk cannot be compared with the breastfed colostrums. In order to ease out the surrogate mother from the engorgement pain, they would pay for the breast pump. The breast pump is nothing but a mechanical device which helps in pumping out the milk during the lactation period. Lactation period is milk feeding period of the mother to the newly born infant.
There might another reason for the same when the intended parents and the surrogate mother do not live nearby or close enough, then through shipment of breast milk; the need of the newly born is fulfilled. Another important consideration for the intended parents is the regular shipment of the breast milk, so as not to compromise with the nutritional value that the freshly extracted breast milk offers. They have to cover all the cost of shipment. Also, they have to make sure that only the good quality containers through which milk has to be transported should be used. Equally the conditions during transportation like proper packing, frozen environment etc. must be taken care of. The duration of providing breast milk by the surrogate must be mentioned already.
Sometimes, in the case of international surrogacy contracts, it is not possible to provide the breast milk on the overnight basis, so the milk is shipped weekly or monthly. In the case of the low amount of lactating milk, the gestational carrier might not be able to feed the baby, even if the intended parents want.