@CandyLeBonBon
Can someone decode 'non gestational lactating mothers' for me? Does that mean what I think it means? Because afaik only women who have given birth are able to naturally produce breast milk. So I am a bit
I dunno, I think given they're calling it LGBTQI+ this could conceivably include:
- trans women, inducing lactation medically and/or offering suckling without the intention of providing milk (ie. using the nipple as you might use a dummy)
- lesbian non birth mothers who have not previously given birth, inducing lactation medically and/or offering suckling, as above
- lesbian non birth mothers who have previously given birth and produced milk, offering suckling which may in itself be sufficient to induce lactation since she's done it before, or which may again be supplemented with medication.
I think these are three (or indeed six) very different scenarios and carry different types and levels of risk. I'm no expert, but I'd be extremely wary of attempting to induce lactation in a male body - I can't imagine the evidence exists for the safety or nutritional value of this, and I can't see that it's ethical to experiment here in order to gather such evidence. OTOH if a previous breastfeeding mother wants to try allowing a baby to suckle and see if it restarts her milk supply, I think the only risks are (1) disrupting the establishing of breastfeeding in the mother who actually gave birth to this baby, and (2) the child getting enough milk for healthy growth and contentment while this possibility is explored - both of which I think can be fully mitigated.
In all cases I think a HCP needs to be looking out for whether the parents are prioritising the needs of the baby over their own, of course. It's very easy to imagine imagine three of these scenarios as being opposite to this (tbh i think lots of ideas intended to support early bonding between the parent who did not carry the baby - whether that's a father or another mother - fall foul of this) but I dont think all are inevitably so, especially in the scenario where medicine is not required. I've had my babies breastfed by friends on a couple of occasions and I found it helpful, preferable IMO to expressing for a bottle or giving formula. And I think a second mother being able to breastfeed is no different to the many families where the father (usually) gives a bottle feed to allow the mother a break.