Chestfeeding/breastfeeding infographic

[MilkSpill]

This has pushed me over the edge today. I'm not sure where it originated but it was shared by The Milk Meg on FB.

The chest feeding stuff really bothers me. It's not just women being erased, now it's babies too. Breastfeeding is not a performance to validate parental gender dysphoria. It's a human right of infants and women, which is systemically denied or used as a weapon against us. I'm not sure if I'm angrier at the TRA pushing this rubbish, or the women's advocates who are embracing it.

Yikes. I'd thought of the milk meg as fairly sensible.

That just looks overly complicated?

Dads inducing lactation? That’s new to me.

I was just going to say the same thing Dryheave. Dads inducing lactation is nowhere near realistic practice. Unless the dad's are female?

Rogue apostrophe

So if the dads are the penis-having variety they're attempting to induce lactation (...) purely for validation? I assume that since this is a separate set from the "trans dad" they're doing that to indicate that they're possessed of Y chromosomes.

Thing is if more than one person is attempting to feed baby this will interfere with establishing supply which is so vital in the early days.

Breastfeeding will fail to be established in some cases due to this.

So many barriers already exist to uptake and maintenance of breastfeeding.
This poster shows total ignorance about how this works.

I saw this on FB too. My reaction was WTAF?

I think I wasn't clear in articulating this in my OP - what's really bothering me in this, is that there are pumps and bottles but NO BABIES!!

In breastfeeding support we often say 'breastfeeding is for the baby, not the baby for breastfeeding'. Inclusive breastfeeding support seems to completely disregard the baby (and often the birth mother) altogether.

Breastfeeding will fail to be established in some cases due to this.

pombal I got kicked out of a lactation advocacy group for saying this. In response to a case study where exactly this happened - trans identified parent wanted to induce lactation and share breastfeeding. Birth mother was unable to establish a full milk supply and the baby ended up being weaned to formula. I was accused of being 'transphobic' for suggesting it was unethical to remove a baby from their mother's breast "because the baby has two mothers it's still at its mothers breast"

Yoi can induce lactation in men - but you CANNOT feed a baby. This a offensive in that it is promoting something which could be potentially harmful just to validate someones psychological disorder

Virtue signalling bollocks.

Yoi can induce lactation in men - but you CANNOT feed a baby.

Actually it has happened already. I am a bit concerned about whether it is safe though.

mobile.nytimes.com/2018/02/15/health/transgender-woman-breast-feed.html

Actually it has happened already. I am a bit concerned about whether it is safe though.

Very important twitter thread here from a doctor who has analysed the case study.

Key points:

One of the study authors is trans.

The study authors did not provide any clinical evidence to support the claims that the baby was receiving enough milk, or that the breastmilk being fed to the baby was actually expressed by the trans parent.

The study authors did not explore the claim that the birth mother did not want to breastfeed.

twitter.com/lascapigliata8/status/968546394113019904?s=21

My question is, what combination of meds is the person lactation is being induced in on, and is the milk that results safe for the baby? And more importantly, why does nobody seem to think this is relevant? Normally when women are breastfeeding there's a whole list of stuff not to consume because it might hurt the baby, but in this case we don't even take that into consideration?

When you take the morning after pill you’re advised to pump and dump for a set time.

How can this be considered safe for the baby if the male partner is taking high dose hormones to induce lactation? Has anyone analysed the milk produced? How can it be deemed safe if the dosage in the MAP is not? Who is prescribing these drugs? Where is the oversight and ethics?

Again this is all about validation, at any cost, and sod anyone else. There’s no centering of the baby here, only consideration for the parent.

No babies and no actual feeding taking place? What absolute nonsense.

AngryAttackKittens

Those questions are transphobic

Re medications, the medication used to induce lactation, domperidone, is useful to breastfeeding mothers struggling with low supply. It's an off-label use of the drug but is considered safe for mother & baby.

BUT in many countries, including the USA, it's either illegal or doctors refuse to prescribe it to breast-feeding mothers because a small sample of elderly men with cancer showed increased heart problems using domperidone for stomach issues (no recorded issues among young women). This patronising attitude literally costs thousands of women their breastfeeding relationship every year.

This case study actually describes that the doctors supported the couple in travelling to Canada to buy the drug. This would never happen if it had been the birth mother wanting the drug for herself.

There is a move towards gender neutral language in antenatal education generally too. I have noticed it on the Lamaze newsletter. No longer talks about the labouring woman but the labouring person. I work in antenatal education and there is an element of mainly younger colleagues who think it only proper that we adopt gender neutral language too, even though we are talking about a tiny % of clients and most of us have never met a pregnant woman identifying as male. The day I am expected to stop talking about women is the day I retire. Birth and breastfeeding is a huge feminist issue and this needs highlighting not blurring.

Domperidone is fairly safe (I’ve taken it myself for HG, not that it worked..) it’s more the cross sex hormones I’d worry about. And the supply issue.

No one centering the baby here are they?

And why call it chestfeeding ffs? Men have breast tissue. The chest is a different structure to the breast.

I don’t think I’m particularly awake on these subject but I’m only 20 and everyone my age is pushing for all this equality of trans, fine brilliant live your life BUT as a 20 year old mother, why can’t women just have breastfeeding? We’re made to do it, our bodies are amazing and whether we choose it or not for our babies all women have the ability to produce milk! I’m actually really angry at this chest feeding bollocks, give women one thing fgs! Chestfeeding what a load of crap

I'm not represented on that infographic.

Where do I complain..?

Domperidone has an mhra alert against its prescription for all but "intractable vomiting in palliative care" due to arrythmias. That's why most GPs won't prescribe outside a trial for lactation. It's not just off label.

Glaring omission is single mum exclusively breastfeeding.

That was my scenario

Also mum exclusively breastfeeding not supported by (deadbeat) dad...
And mother breastfeeding while being criticised by random family members or strangers
Mother pumping likewise..
And supplementing...

And of course, they all look chirpy...
Mother breastfeeding with PND
Mother breastfeeding while completely and utterly knackered

Probably all much commoner scenarios than some of those on the 'infographic'

Oh ffs some of the comments as well
Eg commenters worrying that the language around BF is "gendered". Er yeah because it pertains to FEMALES ffs is that illegal now
I used to follow her when I was BF
Bloody pandering