Lactation support conference in Ireland - the quiet part out loud

Gotta love this "we don't take responsibility or have to agree with every view an invited speaker may hold".
Actually, you have a responsibility to do your due diligence, or take action when an unacceptable view is made known to you.
And yes, you do have to have an opinion of such views, that they're unacceptable at a gathering like this.
If it was Pride Galway, I'd understand the excitement of having this specimen on board. But it's very much not that.

Going back to the "induced lactation after surrogacy" thing, I actually feel even stronger about it now I've thought about it.

It is, like the TW in the op, "for validation". If the commissioning mother cared about the baby getting breastmilk instead of formula (formula is safe and fine), she'd pay the birth mother to be a wetnurse. The milk is right there ready to go, and has all the natural post birth hormones driving it. (She's already fine with renting other parts of the woman's body.)

But no, it's like the commissioning mother posing in a hospital gown with the baby, she's doing this to rubber stamp her Mother status.

Of course it's not remotely as bad as men doing it because at least it's actual breastmilk and she's not getting turned on by it.

But it's not putting the baby's needs first, it's putting the adult first.

I'm really glad your baby (now a grown up!) Is all ok in the end. I very much care about babies getting the support they need and I hope you didn't think I was being flippant about the babies needing the breastmilk, just concerned about the food-safety if you like, when it's being expressed at home (not in your case but just as a general thing). I understand there are couriers but unless they watch it being expressed (which would be weird!) we still don't know much about it. And as we know, there are bad actors out there, even if very rare.

Kingdomofsleep
That's really kind of you to express breastmilk and donate it but I'm surprised the hospital gave it to the babies unless you expressed it in hospital. (They couldn't guarantee that someone could have added something to it or simply not stored it correctly etc). But I agree that donor breastmilk is a lovely thing if we can get over those issues.

This was back at the end of the seventies and since my extremely small baby was in the hospital, and I was feeding him every three hours, or more often because he took so little at a time, problems about provenance didn't arise! And it gave me something else to think about apart from worrying for him; his lower leg was the size of my thumb, at birth, which was distinctly alarming: with his head in the palm of my hand his feet didn't reach up to my elbow. Ten inches long, poor sprat. But after the first month he grew like a South Sea Bubble, and ended up 6'3 and very healthy, so it's a happy ending story.

Whatever next? Transmen having the right to be sperm donors?

I also note that we have had zero interest on this thread from the Usual Suspects. Does no one want to post here in support of this "lactation consultant?" No one? No? 🤔

(I wonder why?)

"ALCI recognises that questions relating to gender, identity and breastfeeding may generate strongly held and differing views."

How very disingenuous of them. I don't believe that most people have been complaining about "gender, identity and breastfeeding" but, rather, the enabling of a speaker who wants to talk about "sexual gratification" as a reason some men might want to "breastfeed."

I don't think ALCI has any idea what a minefield they are walking into. Again, shame on them if they refuse to see this man for who he is and what he is so clearly happy to advocate.

Saying the quiet part aloud, indeed!

the overall organisers have been shown to have terrible judgement

Yes, perhaps it will remind ALCI to research their speakers next time. This kind of enabling of an abuse apologist is not a good look for any organization. Shame on them for inviting such a disgusting man in the first place (and I do not use the word "disgusting " in the general, oft overused sense that many in Britain use it for. I sincerely hope that a reason can be found in the US to subpoena his devices, because I do not believe that there is smoke here without fire).

I am livid over this, you can probably tell. Glad that it has been cancelled. Serves them right.

I'm glad the hotel have cancelled but I'm not convinced the event itself won't still go ahead but somewhere else. Given the statement they put out they clearly don't see anything wrong with helping men indulge their paedophile fetishes 😠

That's really kind of you to express breastmilk and donate it but I'm surprised the hospital gave it to the babies unless you expressed it in hospital. (They couldn't guarantee that someone could have added something to it or simply not stored it correctly etc). But I agree that donor breastmilk is a lovely thing if we can get over those issues.

However, induced lactation following surrogacy is just wild. The baby already has a mother, whose breasts will be getting engorged after just giving birth. At least use the surrogate as a breastmilk donor!

I am opposed to surrogacy, but still feel that it might be better for the unfortunate baby at least to have breast milk even if it has been ripped away from its mother more or less at birth.

When I had a baby in the SCBU and more milk than he could easily make use of they asked whether I would express some for babies whose mothers were unable to feed them immediately, and I was happy to do so, so I suppose I was being a breast-milk donor at that point. I think a lot depends on circumstances, for all these things. Except men feeding babies pus; that is abhorrent no matter when or where.

I'm going to quite strongly disagree with you that "induced lactation following surrogacy" is an important* topic. But maybe a topic for another thread.

If that list is the list of topics that the same conference had last year - it demonstrates my point above that the organisers have terrible judgement and there could be more scandals to unearth.

Even donor breastmilk is at best a neutral thing - because it is difficult to feel reassured about where/who it's come from, the vast majority of mothers would far prefer to use formula - and once you open the floodgates of breastmilk coming from anyone but the baby's mother, it can lead down the road we've just tread in the original post.

Edit to add - i assumed you meant important for lactation consultants to be trained on. But if you meant, important in the context of the bewildering priority of "inclusion" over babies' well-being, then yes, i agree

A shame that one stupid man has spoiled it for everyone, even so: using last year as an example, topics such as HSE Infant Feeding Standards; donor breast milk; the role of voluntary breastfeeding organisations; the WHO Code on marketing breastmilk substitutes; induced lactation following surrogacy (the speaker was a woman who talked about her own personal experience of inducing lactation for a baby born via surrogacy); and medication use during breastfeeding are all of them important, and he's silenced all the people who might be interested in doing their jobs rather than pandering to child abusers.

I partially agree but the overall organisers have been shown to have terrible judgement, so any confidence in the people they've invited to speak is lost.

The venue wouldn't be sure that there'd be no more surprises in store. Much safer to can the whole thing

It's a lovely family run hotel and I'm sure they're shocked after getting phone calls objecting to this freak show.

Great news, many thanks for sharing the link. I can imagine the hotel manager thinking "wtf" when getting the complaints, I'm sure he/she thought they were just hosting a wholesome event for professionals who support new mums.

I thought the thing cancelled was the paedophilic bloke, not the whole event. Not so good, if some of the people attending and giving talks and so on were actually being sane.

The hotel has been inundated with people objecting to this freak show.

https://x.com/aislingaon/status/2093392668302733477?s=46&t=MOj6CgFoSi71haSbHpE99g