La Leche League will support males (of the male sex) who wish to breastfeed.

Supporting transmen makes absolute sense and I imagine they have plenty of additional needs that women don't experience that need addressing. From the responses that LLL have given to OP it doesn't look like they've thought too deeply about that which is a worry.

I hope this thread survives, another couple on this topic have gone phhhhht due to straying into Unapproved Wrongthink on Disallowed Subjects.

Yeah I went down this path. Unfortunately I was unable to produce anymore than about 4oz per day, with multiple pumpings including through the night, but there was some.

I do not understand why adoptive mothers lactating, is mixed in with males trying to do it. Adoptive mothers are women. The female body is designed for this. The male body is NOT. That this needs to be said is a sorry state of affairs really, but totally usual in todays topsy turvy world of nonsense, that centres the wants of male p[people before everything, even the safety of babies it seems

Trans women's breasts are anatomically pretty much identical to other women's breasts and have pretty much the same hormone levels.

Ant there we have it. Honestly, I don't know why we indulge this self absorbed bullshit.

Them supporting transmen makes sense. Them supporting male people trying to make themselves lactate via a load of drugs and such, is not right. I am surprised, I had support from this group when trying to breastfeed and they appeared to be all about the science and such. And all about whats best fr the baby. I cannot see that 'male breastmilk' produced by cocktails of drugs, will be safe, let alone nutritional for babies. This is shocking.

This thread is like a mini demonstration of what women seeking support from LLL are going to come up against unless LLL manage to stick to their mission statement of supporting breastfeeding mothers and babies with what is best for both of them.

Agree. Organisations like LLL need to be standing firm now and having these arguments now. Otherwise it will get harder and harder to push back against the nonsense.

Can men and transwomen who take the drugs to induce a little bit of fluid from their nipples develop mastitis?

Can they also develop thrush? If so does it give you the deep, sharp pains in milk ducts like it does in women?

Do men who 'breastfeed' get up in the night with full 'breasts' and are unable to sleep due to the pain of being full of milk? Or wake up soaked because of a leaks?

Quite aside from that has anyone in support of this, maybe even LLL themselves, have some long term, peer review, not insane, in depth and data supported medical studies that it doesn't harm or have any negative medical, emotional or developmental effects on the babies?

No?

Actually, we are very keen to discuss the child’s needs here. AND the mother who has breastfeeding issues

I only breast fed my first dd fir 3 or 4 weeks. Expressed fir a couple of months after , but, from the little I remember ( shes a teen now ) the big thing they suggested at the breast feeding clinic was lots of skin on skin contact. Right when you want to hide the flab under the baggiest t shirts you own , you are sharing baths akd spending ages with not top on.

Only someone who is in it for themselves when the baby has the mother right there who is missing vital time she will never get back, and who things its all about just feeding the baby , would do this.

It has to be damaging for the mother and the baby. We already know that even babies adopted at birth into the most loving and supportive families still suffer the effects of separation etc

It matters. It really does. Why would you damage your baby this way doing something so unnecessary and selfish. The baby could have 2 loving parents raising a happy healthy child via a bottle or with the mother breastfeeding, there's no need to do this ...

Can anyone other than a woman breast feed? How ridiculous pandering to this bullshit. What a waste of time

Otherwise, like many other threads, this one is discussing the needs of females (including transmen) and children. In this case, infants that deserve to have their needs put before any one else’s. Hence why women seek support for breastfeeding, which can be fucking hard from my own personal experience

Absolutely this. This thread is like a mini demonstration of what women seeking support from LLL are going to come up against unless LLL manage to stick to their mission statement of supporting breastfeeding mothers and babies with what is best for both of them.

I always thought LLL were quite elitist, so surprised they would let biological men who cannot physically breastfeed a baby in, yet berated me when I dared to ask about combi feeding because obviously only losers don't fully BF. A absolutely agree in supporting transmen (aka biological women) in BFing if needed, although there is probably additional emotional support needed that differs there; but it's ridiculous.

How is it not?

Er - no it isn’t.

It implies you buy into the Idea that non trans = cis.

Er, because that's true?

So many people claim to be experts on trans issues and yet appear to know so little.

Actually, we are very keen to discuss the child’s needs here. AND the mother who has breastfeeding issues.

If you have some studies and statistics from the trans point of view. Please post them. You know that we will read the links.

Otherwise, like many other threads, this one is discussing the needs of females (including transmen) and children. In this case, infants that deserve to have their needs put before any one else’s. Hence why women seek support for breastfeeding, which can be fucking hard from my own personal experience. But crack on discussing your needs on this thread.

I don't feel this about transmen who breastfeed though. I think they are brave enough to see past all this shit and just think about their baby and not how other people view them, for a short time.

And yet you did not actually read the post did you?

This was evidenced in the single case study jj that only proved a type of lactation was possible and was completely focused on the transwoman’s ability NOT the child’s needs.

But why would you steal support from women who have given birth and are genuinely struggling to breastfeed with all the equipment provided, why would you take the care and support of la leche advisors and channel them into an attention seeking impasse, which is entirely about the ego of the transwoman,
And not about mum and baby.

Why not concentrate on being the best parent you can in other ways and by other feeding methods. It seems to me this is nothing to do with the baby parent relationship but just about attention seeking and validation.

"The histologic effect of high levels of estrogen utilized for transition from male to female, unlike gynecomastia, includes development of ducts, lobules and acini histologically identical to cisgender women. Pseudolactational changes have also been described [16]. Figure 2 shows an example of lobule formation and pseudolactational changes in the breast biopsy from a transgender woman. We have also observed lobular development similar to a pre-pubertal breast in the setting of estrogen treatment of transgender females"

Females with pre pubertal breast can't successfully feed infant babies either.

If as this study suggests 13 years on hormones only produce minor changes in breast composition then adult males will also not be able to sufficiently feed an infant.

Once again we seem to come back to how pseudo-activists think the differences between male and female bodies don't really exist, it's all societal invention, but somehow always know which group of people to patronise, insult and gaslight. (Hint: it's the same group of people who are actually at risk of violence in the world.)

Testosterone at a male level? To a baby girl? Mmmmm! Obviously you are under the impression all transwomen have little or no testosterone. Have you not read any posts on these boards since you have been posting?

Trans women who have been on t blockers long enough or who are post surgery/orchidectomy are likely to have very low testorerone levels, usually around the same as other women and none at all in some cases.

So many people claim to be experts on trans issues and yet appear to know so little.

link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40134-018-0260-1

jj1968 I notice that you often use 'transwomen and other women' in your posts. I am sure this is deliberate in a kind of forced teaming way. Personally, I think it is more correct to say 'transwomen and women'.

Your reply of 'For the same reason any other woman would.' in response to 'Why would a transwoman want or need to breastfeed a baby' is a case in point. If you read it from a biological sex point of view as ' For the same reason any other male would' it puts a totally different slant on the reply.

Transwomen are biologically male. Transwomen are not a subset of women.

Men can nurture and care for babies in so many ways, they can form incredibly strong bonds, why on earth is it necessary to hijack breastfeeding, when so many mums don't even DO it, and still adore and cherish their babies. It doesn't make them lesser mums not to bstfd.
It is so selfish to say I need to breastfeed, when so many natal women get so little support to do it.

I’d like to hear from a female who has no problem exposing themselves online knowing it is not a secure group.

Oh. And I am more interested in people who don’t then victim blame the women who feel they have so little options but to post these pictures. In the past we have had a few who blamed women for posting their pictures in these groups. Like the women had any other option.....