Analysis of the experiment of induced lactation in a transwoman

Breast tissue is just that, however brest milk is so much more. A woman's body changes the milk she produces depending on the needs of her child, if they are ill her milk changes to support recovery. Her body knows when to change milk so that a baby can be fed until and beyond weaning. There is very little chance that we could replicate this complex process completely. Yes, wecan use drugs and pumping to stimulate a milk substance, anyone can do that, male, female or trans! However the clever bit, the but that biology leads is so complex we don't even understand it yet. But we do know that lots of drugs pass into milk and that lots of drugs are never good for babies. It would be completely unethical for a transwoman to donate milk whilst we are unsure of the impact of the cocktail of drugs taken.
As for a transwoman settling a baby with breasts, you don't need to be producing milk at all, your nipples are biological dummies babies settle (sometimes) with a dummy in their mouth.
Totally unethical and definitely child abuse if anyone is taking a cocktail of untested drugs to support body changes to priduce milk.

Yes, I thought that. Poor baby, whatever happened.

'was the sole parent to breastfed them' needn't mean they received any nutrition to speak of from the father - it could mean the mother didn't breastfeed them at all and they had a quick suck on the father's nipple and he produced a few drops of something due to drugs.
That's not at all implausible, sadly.

By the way, does anyone know what womanhood means? I don't. I am a woman, I've been one all my life (not far short of 60 years now) and it's not a word I ever used or even heard until falling down this rabbithole.

Bloody hell. From that link above:

As far back as 2010, Dr. Christine McGinn, a trans surgeon who specializes in gender reassignment surgery, appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show in a sensationalized segment that revealed she had both fathered her children and was the sole parent to breastfed them. What’s more surprising is that it took this long for a medical journal to document the process.

What's more suprising to me is that anyone with even a smattering of biological knowledge could believe that surgeon's story. If there's any truth in it at all, I do wonder how Dr McGinn's partner, the birth mother I assume, thought about it all.

"My body will never allow me to conceive and bear a child, and I've always wanted to at least be able to nurse one."

Yeah, same here, but you know what? I didn't because, primarily, I didn't want to destroy my own body for a vain hope of nourishing my child which would probably just be a few tastes, and of course as well, I didn't want to poison my child.

The other thing that may interest you is that, in the UK, it's generally frowned upon for even adopters and foster carers who are already BF another child, to BF a fostered or placed-for-adoption baby (in the former case because, quite rightly, the fostered child is supposed to be forming a bond with their mother with a view to returning home, and in the latter case I think because it's going to place loads of pressure on mum and baby, and the fact that it was done can be a traumatic piece of information for the child when older.

So how are the medical professionals saying this is all right? I assume that they have no thought for the welfare of the child.

Three lactating transwomen's stories. One of them is a radiologist and says breast tissue is breast tissue, my mammogram looks like any woman's. Another one tried lactating, and might try it again with a view to donating. (No idea what a milk bank would think of accepting it.) It was kind of funny because my spouse has really struggled with my breasts growing ...It was a very satisfying experience."

www.them.us/story/trans-women-breastfeed

CharlieParley sometimes I'm not always clear*

Why... Why why why why

I like how one of them decided to try, just for the lolz 🤯👀

Fair enough. In that case, always worth pointing it out. Misunderstood your point and read it as men being able to sustain a baby via bf.

Don't know every one knows....

CharlieParley I completely agree with you that it is dangerous and unethical.

I don't everyone knows it is possible for men to lactate.

Grumpgran8
Oh god now it's moved on from selfish identity validation at the expense of a newborn baby's heath, to wanting to star in a breast-milk porn video in my mind.
Occam's Razor is pointing to one of these more strongly....

How can anyone state that a biological male has successfully breastfed a baby without observing expressing and verifying milk production? And then studying any resultant "milk" to check what it is actually made up of and what levels of hormones/drugs are present? Before being involved in anyone actually trying to feed a baby this way.

Really, how could any medical professionals be involved in this and any self-respecting publication publish this? It's nonsense and/or abusive.

There was a women's hour episode earlier this year about breastfeeding and the very very complex emotions around it which are all about breast milk being 'best' for your baby. Any woman who was struggling to feed is doing it because of that. Not because she needs to be validated.

Barracker
I doubt there was even a baby, leta alone a partner. The clinic never saw either of them. The 'patient' apparently produced a pediactrician's report to the effect that the baby was thriving, but no details were given. If that report existed and wasn't faked, it could have been a report on any baby.
If the baby had been real, the doctors involved would have faced censure from their medical associations, for conducting a human experiment without oversight and without authorisation from an ethical body.
It's my opinion that these two doctors facilitated a man's autogynephiliac fantasy purely to drum up business for their clinic. So, thankfully, no child was involved.

Did you see in the comments that a woman reported complaining to the BBC about their uncritical reporting of this article and (hold your breath, you won't see this coming) she got fobbed off!

I think this is a terrific example of how women's expertise is simply not understood or appreciated. Nobody who has breastfed a child for any length of time would believe what was claimed in that article or failed to be horrified at the implications, but the journalists who reported it don't seem to have had any questions at all.

And another thing ... (crikey, this story gets my goat)

A female body undergoes 38 weeks (roughly) of hormonal changes and an extraordinary hormonal and physiological event to finally lactate to feed a newborn.

These guys claim they can reproduce that process in three months.

Laughable. Utterly laughable.

I also find it hilariously ludicrous to suggest that you could exclusively breastfeed a newborn on this volume of supposed lactation for six weeks.

It is less than half the lowest daily intake suggested by research. My dd was on 750ml of breast milk daily as a newborn and she was an average baby.

The whole thing is nonsense.

And I get it's probably a lie but it should still be investigated.