PERSONAL ACCOUNT – Julia Malott
@alottamalotta – 20 FEBRUARY 2024 – ‘X’
This came up yesterday in response to a memo by the
, discussing breast milk from transgender women being ‘comparable to that produced following the birth of a baby’. The last time I commented on this I was labelled some pretty nasty things for merely suggesting that it’s biologically possible (and acknowledged possible risks) for a biological male who has hormonally transitioned to breastfeed. I have never had breast augmentation surgery. My breasts developed from five years of exposure to estrogen and progesterone. And yes, they have mammary glands and ducts… …and it’s truly amazing how individuals who are ‘definitely not anti-trans’ get furious at the mere mention that someone such as myself might have developed breast tissue. (And yet, these same individuals call themselves the protectors of biological reality…) None of this means that the quality of breastmilk from transgender women is equivalent to that of someone who has given birth. We should care about understanding that better and this has not been thoroughly studied. It also shouldn’t be overlooked that any transgender women looking to breastfeed is going to need to be on a dopamine antagonist such as domperidone in order to raise prolactin levels (which happens naturally in childbirth) Drugs like domperidone might be a problem. There are mixed opinions on the extent to which domperidone carries into the milk supply when lactation is induced. But… that is not a trans-specific issue. That is an induced lactation issue. My city has 4 lactation consulting clinics and it’s not because we have thousands of transgender women breastfeeding, it’s because biological females have long been inducing lactation for plenty of reasons. By the numbers, if induced lactation is a concern then we should be alarmed that it’s done at rates dozens and dozens of times higher in the non-transgender community. The occasional transgender woman breastfeeding should hardly be our main concern. So what about me? I haven’t ever breastfed. Why? My child is 17 and came under my care as a young teenager. For me, this has never been a practical consideration. But my wife and I have discussed it because we are planning for another child. My wife is chronically ill and getting a full night’s sleep is the most important factor to keeping her illness at bay. And for anyone who has breastfed… you know how compatible it is with a good night’s sleep. So we’ve casually considered our options and what we might do. Perhaps we’ll co-breastfeed—something becoming ever more common in couples where both partners can lactate. Perhaps we can collect enough milk from her during the day? Or perhaps we’ll just use formula. There’s so many considerations and we don’t have an answer because what matters most is the health of the baby. It’s shockingly difficult to get good information about the health outcomes of each pathway. New information is coming out regularly and this isn’t a decision we need to make right now. …because we have better things to do than be constantly thinking about breastfeeding.
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