Is it true that men can breast feed?

[Jara sang]

My GF said they can, I called bullshit. She said that there are documented instances where men have breast fed their children. I need cold hard data. If this is true this is earth shattering.:scared:

[4morewars]

1. Your friend is an idiot.

I can't believe she's that stupid, so she must be pulling your leg.

[Jara sang]

A quick search reveals that she was indeed correct.

http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Maternal/archive/1230.html

Care to comment now?

[4morewars]

15. OK

Your friend is brilliant, I'm an idiot.

[wtmusic]

2. Absolutely

but their babies will be very, very disappointed...

[billyskank]

3. If so, can you find out how? And how much?

Like, could I get enough to put on my cornflakes? Could save so many emergency dashes to the supermarket to get milk.

[Zuni]

4. I knew a dude in high school who could shoot milk out of his nipple

no joke. it was disgusting

[HEyHEY]

47. Oh, fuck off!

[amazona]

5. don't have the data to hand but maybe google it

I had a friend in college whose breasts produced milk -- not enough to sustain a baby, but enough to be annoying -- and he had to get medical help to make it stop. I imagine if he'd actually had a child that suckled, he would have produced more milk. That's how it used to work with women who worked as wet nurses. The sucking action of the child, even though not their own, caused them to begin or continue lactating. Don't be scared, it isn't going to happen to you. It's super rare in men based on what I know although excessive sucking can bring it on not uncommonly in women.

My friend was a large guy, football player size, and he was also straight. It was just a hormonal glitch apparently. He freaked out at first but the doctor told him not to worry. It really didn't mean anything. He took some medication for awhile and he was fine.

[Zuni]

10. I knew someone like that too

this dude in HS---he was a jock too, and not effette in any way--but he could "milk" himself sometimesx. it was nauseating

[fleabert]

12. milk production is simple supply and demand.

suck enough and even male mammaries will produce milk, some enough to support a baby. This is why adopted babies can be breastfed by their non-birth mothers.

[LynzM]

43. I think (but don't quote me)

That that usually requires some amount of hormonal therapy as well, to be really effective.

[fleabert]

45. not necessarily. there is anecdotal evidence of men

spontaneously lactating, and lactating after suckling an infant for a few days. Stress can bring it on (stress of losing the mother and a starving child for instance) and stress releases a lot of hormones, so maybe that's it.

for women, there is no need for hormones to lactate. a LOT of nipple stimulation and a breast pump is all that is required. It may take a few weeks to a few months to get things going. A baby suckling is the best stimulation for the production and let down of milk, so the best bet for adoptive moms is to start nip. stim and pumping early, and when baby arrives, use a device that is basically a bottle that hangs on the mom's neck, and has a long, skinny, soft tube that hangs down to the nipple, fill the bottle with formula and feed the baby formula while nursing at the breast. baby gets nourishment, mom gets the stim necessary to make milk. I forget the name of that bottle thing... it's also a great way to supplement nursing as opposed to using a bottle for preemie's.

[Placebo]

6. Just ask Stewie Griffin.

:rofl:

[Beetwasher]

9. Jinx!

;-)

[Placebo]

19. That scene is priceless though...

how slowly you see Stewie go from peaceful sleeping suckling baby to just PURE STEWIE! :rofl:

[racaulk]

42. That scene was way too funny!!!

When Stewie pulled that hair out of his mouth, I thought I was going to pee all over myself! Absolutely priceless! :spray:

[Beetwasher]

7. Have You Ever Seen Family Guy?

The Ep where Peter tries to breast feed Stewie.."What the deuce??!!"

[Jara sang]

11. I have seen that one.

:spray:

[fleabert]

8. yes. documented and confirmed.

doula speaking. (and I have taken many the breastfeeding class)

http://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/Male_lactation

http://transgender.coolfreepages.com/milkmen.htm
>snip<

The following passages are from Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine by George Gould, M.D. and Walter Pyle, M.D.

Hunter refers to a man of fifty who shared equally with his wife the suckling of their children. There is an instance of a sailor who, having lost his wife, took his son to his own breast to quiet him, and after three or four days was able to nourish him. Humboldt describes a South American peasant of thirty-two who, when his wife fell sick immediately after delivery, sustained the child with his own milk, which came soon after the application to the breast; for five months the child took no other nourishment. In Franklin's "Voyages to the Polar Seas" he quotes the instance of an old Chippewa who, on losing his wife in childbirth, had put his infant to his breast and earnestly prayed that milk might flow; he was fortunate enough to eventually produce enough milk to rear the child. The left breast, with which he nursed, afterward retained its unusual size. (Note from Laura: This is definitely something to consider!)

According to Mehliss some missionaries in Brazil in the sixteenth century asserted that there was a whole Indian nation whose women had small and withered breasts, and whose children owed their nourishment entirely to the males.

Ford mentions the case of a captain who in order to soothe a child's cries put it to his breast, and who subsequently developed a full supply of milk. He also quotes an instance of a man suckling his own children.

http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/miscarticles/milkmen.html

>big snip<
In the news, 12/23/04: "Meet the Fockers star Dustin Hoffman is celebrating after becoming a first-time grandfather earlier this month - but the good news has led to him developing breastfeeding urges. His daughter Jenna and her husband Seamus welcomed their son Augustus into the world just three weeks ago, and doting granddad Hoffman admits the experience has given him strange desires. He says, 'I have felt almost the tendency to lactate. We don't realize, but when we're formed in the womb, we have milk glands, before we're differentiated between male or female and before God knows whether to make you male of female. When you think about it, why should men have nipples? And yet we do. I didn't think about it until I started to drip!'"

There is an excellent chapter about fathers who breastfeed in Fiona Giles' book, Fresh Milk: The Secret Life of Breasts (Simon & Schuster, April 2003). The chapter includes a passage written by a man in Australia who nursed his daughter until she was a year old. While the man didn't attempt to produce milk, he found the emotional connection he made with her very gratifying. The other chapters in the book are equally fascinating. Subjects include: cooking with breastmilk (there are several recipes in the back of the book), breastfeeding triplets, donating milk to a milkbank after the death of a child, adult nursing, inducing lactation for an adopted child, lactation pornography, as well as more conventional topics such as weaning an older child, and dealing with mastitis. Sheila Kitzinger writes of the book, "An exciting, funny and provocative book that covers new ground. Do you fancy a breastmilk cocktail? Are you a breastfeeding father? Does milk spurt out when you make love? All the things that the other books about breastfeeding don't say!"

Colombo - A 38-year-old Sri Lankan man, whose wife had died three months ago, appears to have the ability to breastfeed his two infant daughters, doctors said on Wednesday.

The man, from the central town of Walapone, lost his wife during childbirth.

"My eldest daughter refused to be fed with powdered milk liquid in the feeding bottle.

"I was so moved one evening and to stop her crying I offered my breast. I then realised that I was capable of breastfeeding her," the man admitted.

Dr Kamal Jayasinghe, deputy director of a Sri Lankan government hospital, was quoted as saying it was possible for men to produce milk if the prolactine hormone became hyperactive. - Sapa-AFP

[SarahB]

16. You're a doula?

So cool. I was a postpartum doula for awhile. I'm hoping to become a lactation consultant when I get out of nursing school. I'd go alternate routes, but I figure I sort of have to do the mainstream route money-wise and insurance-wise (and hopefully I can eventually comfortably work within the "system".)

[fleabert]

21. yep! I haven't taken on any clients in a long time, can't be on call

right now, my schedule is too crazy. two weeks before and two weeks after the due date is very limiting. It's the best job I have ever had. I also did postpartum work, that's fun too. Nothing better than seeing babies born! (my last birth was twins at a planned home birth!)

[fleabert]

26. how you doing by the way?

did you get my candy and flowers? :-)

[SarahB]

28. I'm good.

Sundog just felt bad for me getting two threads deleted today. :)

I'm very much ok though. Life is good.

And thanks. They look yummy. ;)

[LeftyMom]

13. She's right

There are several documented examples at this link. http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/miscarticles/milkmen.html

There's also a chapter about a nursing father in the book Fresh Milk, the secret life of breasts.

[Jara sang]

18. Is it safe for a baby to drink?

I think the pysch damage alone would make me not do that, even if I could.

[fleabert]

22. it's fine. babies don't care about gender. nt

[LeftyMom]

25. I would assume so

Some of the documented reports involve fathers nursing for months after thier wives died, and thier children were unharmed as far as we know.

Even if the composition is slighly different from mothers' milk, it's probably much closer matched to the human baby's needs than any of the alternatived derived from plants or the milk of other species. As far as I know, nobody's ever analyzed milk from a lactating human male to determine it's nutritional composition, testing usually focuses on why a guy's hormones are out of whack.

[SarahB]

14. Supposedly

:shrug:

http://www.unhinderedliving.com/nursingfather.html
http://www.unassistedchildbirth.com/miscarticles/milkmen.html

[lenidog]

17. I have heard that men taking hormones for a sex change have been

reported to start lactating but I never looked it up or found any confirmation because I though it was BS.

[liontamer]

20. yep they can

and male bats often do. Human males are just lazy I guess. ;)

[fleabert]

23. goats do too, nt

[havocmom]

24. You guys can gestate too, after a fetus is implanted

But natural birth would be outta the question.

Back in the 80s there were experiments done on male apes. Fetuses were attached to blood rich organs like liver and spleen. Things went just fine.

I'm wishing the research team involved would publish on the web and consider making the option available for all the males in the US who want to restrict a woman's right of choice in matters of reproduction. Those men could put their own bodies on the line instead of using emotional, but empty rhetoric and using 'sanctity of life' arguments as a cover for their desire to control others. Same thing for pharmacists who wanna pick and choose what part of the job the will do ;)

[fleabert]

I remember reading an article in Popular Science in the seventh grade

mid 80's or so, about this theory. They had drawings and everything. it seemed really bizarre but brilliant. wonder if the research went any further?

[LynzM]

44. There's a neat fiction book about it....

The Fourth Procedure. Interesting read, a little mystery/politics, too, if I remember correctly.

[One_Life_To_Give]

33. What about getting the placenta detached?

I thought the difficulty was in seperating the child from the man at birth. Thet currently there is no way to get a proper seperation after birth. Hence a man would likely bleed to death upon the birth by C-Section.

[havocmom]

35. If they managed it with great apes...

they could get my brother-in-law through it too ;)

[One_Life_To_Give]

36. I would concider it

as physical injury has left my wife in no condition to do this herself. But the last time I looked around for this. It was not really possible.

[One_Life_To_Give]

27. After reading this, I have to wonder

Why don't we find more men doing this? Aparently there is no reason that a man can not take care of a 4am feeding. So I would think women would encourage this.

I understand why men might want to keep this quiet. But I don't see why women would not find this liberating.

[jswordy]

29. GET BACK IN THE KITCHEN, WENCH! LOL. n/t

[One_Life_To_Give]

34. Hugs

Thanks

I don't normally get mistaken for a woman. I feel all special now.

[jswordy]

38. It was not actually directed at you personally, but...

...if you respond to the word WENCH, then I guess it was!

:rofl:

SMOOOOOOOOOOOTCHIES!

[CitrusLib]

30. Medically, it's called galactorrhea, a condition both men and women

can get. It's "spontaneous milk flow not associated with childbirth or the nursing of an infant". It's caused by prolactin elevation. A common side effect of some anti-psychotic medications - particularly the 'typical' or first generation anti-psychotics. Also seen with high doses of Risperdal.

As for the quality of the milk expressed, I cannot comment.

[fleabert]

31. and then there is the lactation by both genders associated with direct

stimulaton of the nipple.

[Deja Q]

32. Isn't that activity best left for infants?

Adult men have teeth... :evilgrin:

[Jara sang]

39. I was wondering who would go that route

Just so happens it was you Hypno.:hi:

[FuzzySlippers]

37. According to this link, some men have been able

to produce small quantities of milk, but certainly not enough to feed an
infant.

http://www.babycenter.com/expert/baby/babybreastfeed/8824.html

[fleabert]

46. anecdotal history says otherwise... and see the pic in this message too...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=3426229&mesg_id=3426285

[fortyfeetunder]

48. Hey guys, we know how to get more milk out!

Ask a lactation consultant, and they recommend (in moderation, of course) an occasional glass of beer to stimulate milk production.

When my kid was several months old, I was having difficulty making milk and I started having a glass of beer. I got full of milk like nobody's business! I'd nurse a few hours afterward and the kid was getting enough milk.

So guys, beer does a man (and baby) good....

[dhinojosa]

40. Beer comes out of my man-titties.

Tap in!

[BlueEyedSon]

41. That would give the kid a double dose of *different* antibodies.

Could be very healthy for the kid.....