A transgender person (who was born male) and their partner have gone viral following a video of the trans-person breastfeeding their child.
In a video circulating on social media, the trans-person is seen breastfeeding a baby despite being unable to lactate.
Someone behind the camera asks: “Are they getting milk?”
The trans-person and their partner respond by shaking their heads.
“The baby has been able to latch but I’ve not been able to produce any milk. It’s okay because we’re going to supplement the feeding with formula so that my baby has the nutrients that they need,” said the trans-person.
What sparked an outrage was the fact that they let the baby suck on their nipples. People wanted to know if was for vibes, content creation or an experiment?
The video was watched over 3,7 million times and had more than 5 000 quotes with most people saying what the couple was doing was being unfair and abusive to the baby.
Transgender Male breastfeeds baby, despite not being able to lactate because he is a man.
Is this child abuse? pic.twitter.com/FUvnCojSzA
“The purpose of breastfeeding is to provide the child with vital nutrients. It is often painful, however, mothers prioritise the baby’s well-being and do it. Attempting to do this when you are physically unable to is nothing, but a perverse choice. Child abuse and pedophilia even,” wrote @luluzabelle.
Breast milk is mostly produced by expecting mothers, those who have just given birth and those who have breastfed before.
During pregnancy, a female’s body prepares itself to produce milk. After a baby is born, they are trained to latch on their mother’s breast so that the hormones prolactin and oxytocin can be released and produce milk for the baby to feed.
If the mother cannot produce milk, formula milk is recommended. And while some people who commented on the video exposed their homophobia, the bigger issue was the couple ignoring the baby’s hunger.
The least that the parents of that baby could’ve done was get lactation supplements. They knew that they were having a baby and wanted to breastfeed.
It would’ve been better for them to take supplements before the baby was born so that when the baby arrived, they were able to breastfeed and give the baby the nutrients they needed instead of letting the baby such on dry breasts for vibes.
Slate reported on something called the Newman-Goldfarb Protocols for Induced Lactation, which states that transgender women, cis men and women who had children via surrogacy can take medicine to induce lactation and feed their babies.
“The protocol starts with the use of hormonal birth control, which is known to work by mimicking the hormonal balance found in pregnancy, preventing new pregnancies from starting.
“After several months of a pregnancy-like hormone balance, patients abruptly stop taking the birth control to mimic the hormonal change of giving birth.
“The Newman-Goldfarb protocol then has patients start an anti-nausea medication called domperidone, known to increase levels of prolactin—the hormone that triggers milk production,” writes Slate.
So, instead of just doing things to look cool for the internet, people who want to have children need to know that babies are not dolls they can use to fulfil their fantasies.
They are real humans. And as parents, it is their responsibility to do thorough research to avoid compromising their children’s health and well-being.