AIBU to want to throw up every time I come across the word "chestfeeding"?

[surrealpotato]

Whenever I look for breastfeeding advice online, inevitably half the websites in the results, especially the top few, will use the term "chest feeding", sometimes avoiding he phrase "breastfeeding mother", or even the word "mother" completely. I find this language so dehumanising and gaslighting, but it seems that even some of the more otherwise respectable organisations, like La Leche League, are now adopting this language. I know I'm not being unreasonable. But AIBU?

You can disagree all you want but there is literally a definition for dehumanising language and using gender neutral terms for women is not it. You are being degendered at best.

I disagree with your premise. I believe a person's gender (sex) is intrinsic to their experience of humanity. All humans are either male or female, with very few rare biological exceptions (intersex), where the lines may be less clear... But that's not relevant here.

The erasure of words like 'woman' and 'mother' is dehumanising to the half of humanity that is female.

Yes of course. I meant that even if a trans man refuses to admit they have breasts, they still do even if the tissue has been cut off.
I'm presuming none of it could be aimed at trans women as they can never feed their kid?

YANBU OP.

What is also now coming out in testimony from female detransitioners is that there is a significant problem when they have trapped milk when their bodies produce milk to feed their babies but there is no way that milk can be delivered due to their surgeries.

That is just another horrific aspect of what has been done to female people in the name of gender identities after very difficult pregnancies, not only for them themselves but with worry for their child. Then this milk production issue happens.

People don't feed from their 'chest'. They feed their infants from breasts which is a specific part of the body with a specific purpose.

Horrendous.

In reference to your second point about trans women not feeding babies.... I strongly advise you not to go down that rabbit hole... (See a PP on this thread)

Yes as to your first point, it's a pointless manipulation of language that doesn't even achieve what they want it to achieve anyway.

I always think FFS it’s breast tissue that does the work of making the milk. BReast!!!! If you’re able to make milk it’s because there is BREAST tissue doing the work . Ergo, breast feeding .
chest feeding to my mind sounds something out of a horror film. SLurping zombie and body cavity vibes

I dont like the term, it makes it sound like men dont have breasts. Men can get breast cancer and pretending they dont have breasts does nothing to highlight this.

At least one man taking these drugs has also posted on public social media about how he got turned on by it as well. I am not going to search for him or the others who will surely have agreed.

It is sickening.

Why erase this particular word? If women who identify as men (‘trans men’) have babies and breastfeed, why does the word breast have to go? Why not pregnancy, vagina, foetus, umbilical cord, uterus, cervix? All those are utterly female. What is particularly unspeakable about breasts?

YANBU. Referring to breastfeeding as ‘chest feeding’ is as bad as calling it ‘Bitty’ YUK!

Gawd yeah I thought that about men breastfeeding after I typed it. Someone will come along saying it's possible etc. I'll shut up on that one! X

YANBU. It’s absolutely grotesque.

There seems to be an assumption that chestfeeding males produce something equivalent to the milk produced by mothers. I just read some information about research that seems to make that impossible:

She discovered breast milk changes based on baby's sex. Her male colleagues called it "measurement error." She proved milk is a 200-million-year-old conversation science had completely missed.
In 2008, Katie Hinde stood in a California primate research facility staring at data that made no sense.
She was analyzing hundreds of breast milk samples from rhesus macaque mothers. For months, she'd been measuring fat content, protein levels, mineral concentrations—the standard stuff. But something kept appearing in the numbers that shouldn't be there.
A pattern.
Mothers who'd given birth to sons were producing milk richer in fat and protein. Dense calories. Concentrated energy. Mothers who'd given birth to daughters were producing larger volumes with different nutrient balances—more calcium, different ratios.
The milk composition was changing based on the sex of the baby.
Katie checked her methodology. Reviewed the numbers. Ran the analysis again.
The pattern didn't budge.
When she presented her findings to colleagues, the response was dismissive. Measurement error. Statistical noise. Coincidence.
Because if what Katie was seeing was real, it would mean something biology textbooks weren't ready to accept: breast milk isn't just nutrition. It's information.
This wasn't the Middle Ages. This was 2008—the year the iPhone 3G launched, the year Barack Obama was elected president. In modern science, we thought we understood how bodies worked.
Except we'd been treating breast milk like gasoline. Calories in, growth out. A biological formula that delivers nutrients from mother to child. Nothing more.
Katie Hinde didn't accept that explanation.
She kept going.
Across more than 250 mothers and over 700 sampling events, the story grew stranger. She discovered that first-time mothers produced milk with fewer calories but significantly higher levels of cortisol—the stress hormone.
And babies who drank high-cortisol milk? They grew faster. But they were also more alert, more vigilant. More anxious.
The milk wasn't just building bodies. It was shaping temperament. Programming behavior. Communicating environmental conditions from mother to infant through chemistry.
Then Katie found something that changed everything.
When a baby nurses, microscopic amounts of saliva flow backward into the breast tissue. That saliva carries biological signals—chemical messages about the infant's immune system, about pathogens the baby has encountered, about whether the baby is getting sick.
The mother's body reads those signals.
And within hours, the milk changes.
White blood cells increase dramatically—from around 2,000 cells per milliliter to over 5,000 during acute illness. Macrophage counts quadruple. Targeted antibodies appear, custom-designed to fight whatever pathogen the baby's saliva revealed.
When the baby recovers, the milk composition returns to baseline.
This wasn't passive nutrition delivery.
This was conversation.
A biological dialogue refined over 200 million years of mammalian evolution—longer than dinosaurs walked the Earth. Mother and infant exchanging chemical information in real time, the mother's body responding to the baby's needs before the baby even shows symptoms.
And medical science had completely missed it.
When Katie surveyed existing research, she found something that made her furious. There were twice as many published studies on erectile dysfunction as on breast milk composition.
The substance that had nourished every human being who ever lived—the world's first food, the foundation of mammalian survival—had been systematically understudied because women's biology, especially the biology of motherhood, was considered less worthy of investigation.
Katie decided to change that.
In 2011, she launched a blog with a deliberately provocative name: "Mammals Suck...Milk!" The title was designed to make people do a double-take, to draw attention to a field that had been ignored.
Within a year, it had over a million views. Parents, doctors, researchers—people who had questions science had never bothered to answer.
The discoveries kept coming.
Milk changes by time of day. Morning milk contains more cortisol to help babies wake. Evening milk contains melatonin precursors to help them sleep.
Foremilk at the beginning of a feeding is more hydrating. Hindmilk at the end is fattier, more calorie-dense.
Human milk contains over 200 oligosaccharides—complex sugars babies cannot digest. They're not food for the baby. They're food for beneficial bacteria in the baby's gut. Milk simultaneously feeds the infant and cultivates the infant's microbiome.
Every mother's milk is biologically unique—customized not just to the species, not just to the individual baby, but to the specific moment in that baby's development.
In 2017, Katie Hinde brought this work to the TED stage. Her talk has been viewed over 1.5 million times.
In 2020, her research reached millions more through the Netflix documentary series "Babies," where parents around the world learned for the first time that the milk they'd been producing was exponentially more sophisticated than anyone had told them.
Today, at Arizona State University's Comparative Lactation Lab, Dr. Katie Hinde continues transforming how medicine understands infant development. Preterm infants in NICUs receive different care because of this research. Formula companies are redesigning products to better approximate milk's complexity.
But here's what really matters.
Katie Hinde didn't just discover new facts about milk. She revealed that half the human experience—the biology of mothers and infants—had been systematically understudied because it was considered less important than male sexual function.
She proved that the first relationship every human has—mother feeding child—is not passive delivery of nutrients but an active conversation. A transfer of information. An education in immunity and behavior and how to survive in the world.
Think about what that means. Every time a mother nurses her baby, her body is listening to chemical signals, adjusting the formula in real time, responding to needs the baby can't articulate.
It's been happening for 200 million years.
We only noticed in 2008.
And we only noticed because one researcher refused to accept that the pattern she was seeing was "just noise."
Sometimes the biggest scientific revolutions don't come from billion-dollar labs or massive government funding. They come from someone paying attention to what everyone else ignored. From someone trusting what the data shows even when it contradicts what textbooks say.
From someone willing to stand in front of colleagues and say, "I know what you think this means, but look again."
Katie Hinde thought she was studying milk composition in monkeys.
What she uncovered was a conversation 200 million years in the making—a biological dialogue so sophisticated, so responsive, so precisely calibrated to each baby's needs that it redefines what we thought nourishment meant.
She discovered that mothers aren't just feeding their babies.
They're talking to them.
And finally, we're learning to listen.

Makes me feel nauseous too- totally agree with you that it's dehumanising. How dare anyone try and shoehorn others into a category for the sake of hurt feelings? Because that's what it is, at its essence. @Britinme has provided data (as such) that surely makes anyone think twice?

The world has long gone bonkers!

Following Britinme's post, it is also important to look at why these male people are asking endocrinologists to prescribe them these drugs. (And this endocrinologist has been recorded in prescribing for 5 or so men). For this male person, it was all about themselves. Not about the infant.

It must also be noted that Buckley is suing a breastfeeding expert for misgendering. I will put the links for thread about that at the end.

http://archive.today/ekhDf

The archive link to one of the original articles about Buckley.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10859287/Transgender-paramedic-breastfed-newborn-baby-know-like-mum.html

A transgender mother who was born male has described how 'breastfeeding' her baby an hour after her wife gave birth to the boy helped affirm her as a woman and she feels proud.

'Being a trans woman I can't carry, it's one of the limitations of it all,' Ms Buckley told Daily Mail Australia.

'To know I could breastfeed my own child and have that experience, I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to know what it was like to be a mum and breastfeed.'

The controversial practice has been criticised by specialists as experimental and unethical but Ms Buckley believed she had the right to breastfeed her infant.

The 41-year-old would never be able to carry her own baby but began medically transitioning into a woman in 2017 after years of feeling she was female.

Then

'I will never know what's it like to menstruate or carry a baby or give birth,' Ms Buckley said.

'But to be told I could have the opportunity to breastfeed, it was something that was nice to be able to experience as a trans woman.'

Ms Buckley said her endocrinologist had suggested she try to produce breast milk a couple of months before her wife gave birth.

Then

'The first time it came out I just started leaking,' Ms Buckley said. 'Then I pumped and it was a weird feeling having a suction cap suck out milk, but it was exciting.

'I thought, "Oh my God, I am actually producing human milk".'

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womensrights/4809751-two-australian-women-told-they-broke-the-law-after-criticizing-male-breastfeeding-child?page=1_
and another
www.mumsnet.com/talk/womensrights/5159824-5159824-wth-australia

The concerning thing is this man was not the only one that the Endocrinologist gave the drugs to.

This endrocrinologist has spoken at AusPATH about this, and has 'assisted' FIVE other males to do this, I suspect each state in Australia will have some males to have done this already and quite a few more will be aiming for it.

Dr Naomi Achong, a former president of Australian Professional Association for Trans Health (AusPATH), is the Brisbane endocrinologist who recommended Ms Buckley breastfeed Auden.

It is understood she has helped five other transgender women breastfeed.
Dr Achong spoke on the topic of 'lactation induction in transfemales' at a AusPATH conference last weekend and her talk was one of the most booked events.

Another article about Buckley

Here is an Article from The Australian.
https://archive.is/kyPZF

Jennifer Buckley v Jasmine Sussex: test of science and freedom of speech as Queensland tribunal prepares to hear case over breastfeeding
Author: Jamie Walker 7 November 2025

Here is part of the article:

“What’s not in dispute is that Ms Buckley did discharge a fluid she characterised as breastmilk and proudly fed her baby boy soon after his birth, a scene she had photographed. Prior to signing up for the sex-change surgery, she had frozen the sperm used to impregnate wife Sandi, who steadfastly supported Adrian through transition. She was diagnosed with the auto-immune disease multiple sclerosis before becoming pregnant.”

“A committed couple of nearly two decades standing, they made no secret of how their son was nourished during his first days of life, with Ms Buckley venturing into the media and posting online to describe breastfeeding him.”

“As she later explained to British website parentingqueer.co.uk: “I didn’t realise that it could be an option for myself. My endo­crinologist helped induce lactation by mimicking pregnancy in my body.”

”The process was exacting. Her oestrogen levels were boosted to those of a pregnant woman through hefty oral doses of female sex hormones. Next, she used off-label a drug called domperidone – an anti-nausea medication – to produce prolactin, a key hormone responsible for bringing on and sustaining breast milk in women after childbirth.”

“Finally,” she wrote, “I was on an anti-androgen (drug) to suppress my testosterone called ­cyproterone and suppress my ­testosterone it did, to undetectable levels. Along with this, to encourage lactation, I had a daily routine of using a breast pump to encourage my body to express milk.”

“At first, it was only a small amount but gradually increased … producing approximately 40-50mls per day. It was amazing that I was able to produce this amount.”

and

“Ms Buckley said the couple had agreed Sandi was “always” going to be the primary feeder, and her part would be supplemental, but not long-term, as the MS treatment Sandi had suspended to undergo IVF was to recommence a month after she gave birth.”

”For her part, Ms Buckley was to have cut her oestrogen intake two weeks before the baby’s due ­arrival, again to simulate what would happen to a pregnant woman. Their son had other ideas, however, and emerged a fortnight early. Sandi endured complications from the birth and struggled to breastfeed.”

”Fortunately, Ms Buckley had been freezing her lactate for three months, providing a reserve.”

“The doctors and midwives were reluctant to allow her to breastfeed in the hospital, concerned by “my ability to be able to do so and went as far to have discussion with my wife when I wasn’t there and wanting her to sign waiver forms and to declare my blood infectious status”.

”Discharged two days after delivering, Sandi became ill at home from retained placental fragments and was rushed back to hospital by ambulance.”

”“This meant that the only food our baby was getting was from the breast milk I had stored and was able to feed from my breasts, which wasn’t a lot,” Ms Buckley wrote. “All the stress associated with the childbirth and the emergency at home meant my body stopped producing milk. The night she went back to hospital via ambulance we decided that we would formula feed from now on.””

It really is all about Buckley.

This. Yanbu The trans brigade are being very unreasonable and constantly pandered to. Vomit 🤢 inducing

Fetish behaviour and using baby as a prop to support HIS fetish.

There has been at least one male person with a transgender identity who has written about males feeding the secretions from their breast to infants and said, “this is wrong”! Dr Deutsch.

(sorry about the link, it works)

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2161151-transgender-woman-is-first-to-be-able-to-breastfeed-her-baby/?utm_source=rakuten&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=2116208:Skimlinks.com&utm_content=10&ranMID=47192&ranEAID=TnL5HPStwNw&ranSiteID=TnL5HPStwNw-uOWyW0a0EHFcOxL5MmCf5Q&utm_source=rakuten&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=2116208:Skimlinks.com&utm_content=10&ranMID=47192&ranEAID=TnL5HPStwNw&ranSiteID=TnL5HPStwNw-eFdm05QNJngWSRNMPW32yA#ixzz6f2Pil0Ik

“However, the woman’s breastmilk has not been assessed yet, so we don’t know if it has the same mix of components as in milk from new gestational mothers. This means the practice cannot yet be recommended, says Madeline Deutsch at the University of California, San Francisco. She says she can see the potential benefits of breastfeeding, but that the long-term impact of this milk on the baby – including on subtle measures like IQ – is unknown.”

“Deutsch herself is a transgender woman with a six-month-old baby who is currently being breastfed by Deutsch’s wife, who was the gestational mother. “I am very sad not to be able to breastfeed her and at the same time I did not consider doing this for the above reasons,” she says.”

I believe Dr Deutsch is a director of clinical services at the Center of Excellence for Transgender Health at the University of California San Francisco.

I must admit I hated the term nursing too, I brought my dc up in the USA and they don’t use the term breastfeeding, why ? To save the blushes of men! Breasts are part of our anatomy for one reason, feeding our offspring along with all mammals (ish)

🤮🤢

The UK had this one hit the headlines too in 2023. He was pictured up thread.

https://reduxx.info/uk-man-who-calls-himself-a-mother-admits-to-breastfeeding-his-child-dismisses-concerns-as-anti-trans-hate/

”A trans-identified male who was profiled as a struggling “mother” in a recent ITVNews video on soaring water bills in the UK is now defending himself amidst backlash for “breastfeeding” a baby. Mika Minio-Paluello, a man who identifies as a woman, is calling criticism of transgender breastfeeding “anti-trans hate.”

This is the one who also reported stopping only because he then needed cancer treatment.