|
Men
Breastfeeding
Courtesy
of Suite 101
October 16,
2003 5:36 PM » - Fatty Acids
You may be
interested to know that it is a lot easier for
men to lactate then people would imagine. There
are sacrifices though. I am a male, age 60,
married, three children and two grandchildren.
About 2 yrs ago, quite by accident, I started to
lactate. Please understand that I am
transgendered and was on estrogen and
progesterone for almost a year. Then I stopped
suddenly and as happens when an expecting mother
has her baby the estrogen and progesterone
levels dropped suddenly tell my body that I had
delivered and it was time to begin lactating.
Bear in mind that I have always had sensitive
nipples and enjoy them being massaged and I had
been pumping with an electric dual, automatic
pump. I was able to keep the milk flowing for a
year. However, it was not enough to fully fed an
infant, only a little snack. During this time I
breastfed my two grandchildren when I was
babysitting them. After a year, I decided to
stop and so I stop my pumping and eventually had
to take a medicine called Dostinex. The milk
stopped after about a week. Over the next month
I felt a great since of loss, I suppose it was
similar to a woman having a breast removed. I
had lost something very feminine about my self.
So with manipulation and pumping, I started it
back and continued it for another 4-5 months.
After almost a year, I decided to try again only
this time I would prepare my breast better. I
should point out that since I am a little over
weight, that my natural breast before the
hormones were a little fleshy, after the
hormones they increased slightly, not enough to
notice under a shirt that was not form fitting.
So this time I started on July 1st with the
hormones. I plan to continue with them at
increasing higher levels for six months. Around
the first of Jan 2004, I will stop everything
and try to start the milk back. I have already
developed more breast tissue, that I assume are
the alveoli, ducts, and sinus, as I can feel
them under and around my nipple. There is also
some other tissue that I assume is fatty tissue
that has developed as I went through my
"second puberty" (as a woman). As for
what and how much of the hormones, if your
interested, I will be more specific. There are
several involved. Regards, D.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
October 27,
2003 10:16 PM » - Men Lactating and
Breastfeeding
As an addendum
to the earlier message. I decided to begin the
lactation sooner than I had planned. I had
planned to go a full six months but my breast
have developed faster than expected and the
right one shows a definite protrusion at the
nipple as well as the nipple is larger and
darker (I understood this was not possible for a
man, as he did not have the hormones to produce
the enlarged areola and darker areola)
apparently men do have this hormone or the
effect is produced by another hormone. In
addition, I have been able to feel the milk
sinuses, ducts and developing alveoli over the
last several months, more in the right than in
the left breast. The right breast on the other
two occasions I began lactating produced twice
as much milk as the left. To recap, I began on
July 1st and will begin lactating around the
middle or late part of November, four months. I
will discontinue all estrogen and Progesterone
on Nov 1st and begin pumping, massage,
expression, etc. Both hormones were initially
received by IM injection. The Progesterone
injections were stopped sometime ago as they
have a very long duration of action with a midweek
point of 30 days and can take up to three months
to drop to appropriate levels. The estrogen was
stopped later but giving it time to also drop.
In the meantime I have been taking oral hormones
and transdermall patches to keep up the hormone
levels and to increase them to raise the blood
levels of the hormones, as would happen to a
pregnant female. The anti-androgens will be
continued to suppress the Testosterone Domperidone
was started a month ago and has been increased
to 2 tabs four times a day and will be continued
to help the prolactin produce milk. I also have Oxytocin
spray to help initially with let down. All of
this is scheduled to start the 40 hours of
"delivery to milk period" on the 5th
of November. At that time I will start ten to
twelve 30 minute sessions on the pump per day,
with massage and expression to help it begin. I
expect it to take more than 40 hours; however, I
am seeing already what appears a Colostrumum,
this is not suppose to happen in induced
lactation either. I do not know for sure if it
is trucolostrumum, it only comes from the right
breast when I pump. It appears as a yellowish to
clear thick fluid and does not taste at all like breastmilk,
it is somewhat tangy or bitter. Then if all
happens, as I am sure it will, be producing milk
by the end of November I expect to be producing
more milk than before, how much? We will see.
Why? Would I want to do this? Because I see the
future as a move toward more father involved
parenting. There is no reason that right now any
father without hormones or pumping could breastfeed
using a Supplemental Nursing System (SMedelaela)
Lactaid aid system. They could use milk pumped
by the mother to feed the baby while mom was at
work or where ever. This would create a real
bonding with the father, relieve mom of some
responsibility (this will probably be resented
by many women), help avoid nipple confusion and
still give the valuable breast milk to the baby.
More to follow. Regards, D.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 6,
2003 12:08 PM » - Lactation Began
To follow up on
my two above messages with the latest info. On
Nov 2, I stopped all female hormones, but
continued the anti-androgens to suppress
Testosterone. I have been pump frequently as
much as 8-10hrss in 24, plus massage. Today on
Nov. 6th at 2:00pm I got the first drops of
white milk out of my breast by expressing it
after a warm bath and massage. Since then I
continued to express about every 30minitesss,
each time more milk, and more ducts opened. It
is now almost an hour since it began and each
time I try a little more comes out. Regards, D.
HOME
Land
of Milk and Honey © 2007
All rights reserved.
|