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A transgender woman is being blasted online after she revealed that she is breastfeeding her wife’s newborn daughter, having taken a regimen of hormones to try and stimulate her milk production ahead of the baby’s birth.
After opening up about her experience on Reddit, the unnamed woman – who is understood to be based in the U.S. – was met with bitter backlash from social media users who branded it ‘unnatural’ and ‘sick’ for her to breastfeed the baby, both because she was born a male and because she needed to take hormones in order to begin lactating in the first place.
The woman, whose username is AdmiralFisticuffs, explained that she worked with a lactation consultant and took a series of hormones and drugs to grow her breasts and stimulate lactation.
She went on to reveal that the hormone regimen worked successfully and that her daughter has now been feeding from both her and her wife.
Despite the backlash, a lactation expert told DailyMail.com that the process of taking hormones to stimulate or increase milk production is actually ‘pretty common’ – and, most importantly, totally safe for the baby.
‘I’ve been working with a lactation consultant and my GP for several months now to induce lactation, and this last month have started to actually produce some milk, but it still doesn’t feel real,’ the woman wrote in her post.
A transgender woman is being blasted online after she revealed that she is breastfeeding her wife’s newborn daughter and shared images of herself nursing the child (pictured)
The unnamed woman shared two images (one seen) and wrote about her experience on Reddit, where she was met with furious backlash from critics who branded her ‘sick’
The woman, whose username is AdmiralFisticuffs, explained that she worked with a lactation consultant to take a series of hormones and drugs to grow her breasts and stimulate lactation
She added that it worked successfully and her daughter has been feeding from both her and her wife
‘My wife gave birth on Thursday, and we’ve finally had a chance to come home from the hospital and sleep and actually compose myself, but for the last few days our daughter has been latching to and feeding from both of us! I’m so excited!
‘There was a part of me that was irrationally afraid that the baby would reject me for not being her “real” mom, and I’m so glad to see that little voice proven wrong.’
In the comment section, the Reddit user detailed the specific hormones that she used to induce the lactation.
She revealed that she took estrogen and progesterone throughout her wife’s pregnancy, but stopped taking the estrogen six weeks before the baby was due.
She also took a medicine called domperidone – a galactagogue commonly used around the world to produce milk in breastfeeding mothers, which isn’t FDA approved in the U.S. – and two herbs called Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle.
After the baby was born, she wrote that she slowly weaned herself off of the domperidone.
In her comment, the user explained that she also started using a breast pump before the baby was born, and as soon as she started taking the domperidone – which she had shipped to her from overseas – she started to produce milk.
‘Pumping before the domperidone definitely had effects – my breasts got slightly larger and much more sensitive, and it had huge effects on my mood, but milk production didn’t start until I got the domperidone and started to take it,’ she explained.
‘It started out as just a few tiny pinpricks of milk per pumping session, and within a week I was getting several drips per session.
‘After that though, the quantity started ramping up pretty quick and I’m currently making about a tablespoon or so per pump/feed, which is plenty to feed a newborn.
‘I’m not sure how much more I’ll end up making, but it’s been great to help feed the baby while my wife’s milk has started to come in, and because I’ve been lactating for several weeks now, I have a decent amount frozen if we need it.’
After sharing her story online, someone took a screenshot of the Reddit post and shared it to Twitter where it quickly went viral – sparking a major debate between users.
And while some supported the transgender woman, others slammed her, calling it ‘abuse,’ ‘sickening,’ ‘disgusting,’ and ‘vile.’ Some also claimed that it is ‘dangerous’ for the baby
And while some supported the transgender woman, others slammed her, calling it ‘abuse,’ ‘disgusting,’ and ‘vile.’
Some also claimed that it is ‘dangerous’ for the baby since she took ‘synthetic drugs,’ writing that the milk would be filled with ‘chemicals.’
‘This poor child,’ wrote one person. ‘This is an experiment on an infant who can’t consent. This is abuse for validation and it’s disgusting.’
‘This is sick. It’s not real milk made by a biological mother. It’s chemicals,’ added another.
Someone else said, ‘This could be legitimately dangerous. What you consume does have an impact on milk production, this includes medications.’
‘It’s not natural,’ read a fourth tweet. ‘Women’s bodies go through a process to produce the milk during pregnancy. It’s not just milk coming out anytime, and the father being on so many medications can definitely f**k that baby up.’
‘This can’t be good for the child. Breastfeeding mothers should avoid alcohol before breastfeeding or pumping, but this person is OK with excessive dangerous hormones? Psychotic,’ added someone else, while a different user agreed, ‘Filling the baby with nothing but synthetic drugs.’
‘I’m not doctor, but that seems like an awful lot of medication to be taking and then “breast” feeding a newborn. Doesn’t all of that pass through in breast milk? It can’t be healthy for a baby… Can it?’ asked a different user.
However, others defended the mother, with one explaining that this is a ‘well researched and respected protocol’ and that it is ‘absolutely safe for the baby.’
‘A child being breastfed by their parents, especially at a time of formula shortages, is wonderful, however it was achieved,’ they added. ‘Get over yourself.’
‘It’s real milk. They’re using medication to undergo the exact same biological changes that mothers go through when they produce milk,’ explained another Twitter user. ‘It has the same chemical make-up as any other breastmilk.’
‘They use the exact same techniques and medication to induce lactation in ciswomen who cannot breastfeed either,’ said someone else.
Another person wrote, ‘This is just mother nature evolving and conservatives can’t understand it.’
‘This is an absolutely beautiful story and this child will grow up with two wonderful and loving moms,’ gushed one user.
‘We can all agree in these times of shortage of baby formula, this is a step in the right direction providing natural milk,’ added another.
‘Love how transphobes can’t seem to grasp basic biology – that the ability to lactate only requires hormones. Do they think AFAB people are just born with a sock of it?’ asked someone else.
Lactation expert Reisman spoke to DailyMail.com about the process, and she said the regimen that the Reddit user took is ‘pretty common’ and completely safe.
‘You can absolutely take progesterone while breastfeeding, that is done so frequently,’ she explained.
‘Any cis person who has just had a baby and wants birth control and is breast feeding – which is a huge number of people – ends up on a progestin birth control. It’s safely used in lactating women.
‘Domperidone is not FDA approved in the United States but not because it poses a risk in breastfeeding – domperidone is commonly used as a galactagogue around the world for increasing milk volume.
‘The reason it’s not FDA approved in the United States is because there was a case or two of patients using it IV and having heart rhythm abnormalities.
However, others defended the mother, with one explaining that this is a ‘well researched and respected protocol’ and that it is ‘absolutely safe for the baby’
‘But that’s when it was given through IV, and that was the risk for the patient, that’s not the issue when it comes to breast milk.
‘Again, it’s very commonly used in many countries around the world as a galactagogue.
‘Domperidone is very commonly used in other countries for GI issues, in Canada you can get it for nausea, vomiting, all kinds of stomach issues.
‘We have a pretty good idea of its profile, only really minute concentrations of it gets into the breastmilk. We know the implications of that.’
The American Academy of Pediatrics lists progesterone as ‘compatible’ with breastfeeding.
Childrens.health.qld.gov.au reported, ‘A very small amount of the domperidone you take can pass into your breast milk, but there is no record of harmful side effects in the baby from the mother taking domperidone.’
When it comes to the Fenugreek and Blessed Thistle, Doctor Reisman said these are often used by women who are having trouble producing milk and pose no risk to the baby.
‘Those are herbs which are also galactagogues. Those are very, very, very common supplements that breast feeding women use as galactagogues,’ she explained.
‘I know many, many, many women – cisgender women – take that as a means of increasing breast milk volume.’
She explained that transgender women’s breasts are the same as cisgender women’s breasts, despite being created by hormones.
‘There isn’t really a difference between the male and female breast. It’s sort of the same baseline anatomy,’ she told DailyMail.com.
‘Breast tissue grows in response to hormones, and transgender breast development is very similar to that of cisgender breast development during puberty.’
She revealed that cisgender women use these drugs to induce lactation all the time, including adoptive mothers and birth moms struggling to breastfeed.
Doctor Reisman said she has had numerous transgender patients who have successfully breastfed on regimens just like the one that the Reddit user was taking.
‘These are protocols people have been using forever. It’s all kind of the same four ingredients,’ she added.
‘It’s been used for a while at this point. A lot of transgender women use it off the books to induce lactation. None of this is particularly new.
‘Does it work? The answer is yes, I can tell you first hand that it works because I’ve had patients who were able to successfully breastfeed with similar regimens.’
The endocrinologist added that it’s ‘shocking to her’ that people are outraged over this, especially during the ‘devastating formula shortage.’
‘It’s shocking to me that at a time when there’s a devastating formula shortage that people are not more supportive of breast feeding,’ she concluded.
‘The idea of induced lactation is not new at all. This idea of people who were not birth moms breastfeeding – this is not at all a new concept.
‘When all those ingredients are there – when there’s estrogen and progesterone, when there’s development of breast tissue, when there’s prolactin and oxytocin, you get breast milk.
‘And that is the same situation whether you’re cis or trans, whether you recently gave birth or that’s being stimulated with medications.’
Illi.org reported that the ‘composition of milk produced by inducing lactation is comparable to that produced following birth.’
‘The milk does not contain dangerous levels of artificial hormones – in fact, it very rarely contains any artificial hormones at all,’ it added.
‘In most cases, the only artificial hormones that are taken are estrogen and/or progesterone before there is milk production.
‘Progesterone and estrogen levels are high during pregnancy and taking these hormones artificially may help to make the body think it is pregnant.’
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