The Baby Does Not Care Wether is Mommy or Daddy- Can Men Lactate?
By Natalie Ktena
Am I the only one who thinks nipples are weird?
Sure, women's nips are practical and biologically engineered to help babies suck milk - they're a handy shape and their dark colour may make them more visible. But while the male version can look mighty fine on a well-sculpted torso, let’s face it - they’re usually hidden under a forest of chest hair and forgotten about.
Or that’s what we used to think.
Pointing out that his four-month-old daughter must have been confused, he clarified that she had, in fact, latched on all on her own. While it looks like most men today are happy to roll up their sleeves for any childcare task, there is still one thing they are not equipped for – breastfeeding. Or so it seemed.
Turns out, this baby wasn’t exactly breastfeeding. She was comfort nursing – the act of sucking on the breasts for comfort.
"Technically men can lactate. You don’t have to have a womb to produce milk that will feed a baby,” explains Professor Amy Brown, author of The Positive Breastfeeding Book.
“It’s basically down to your hormone levels; if you’ve got a working pituitary gland and if you stimulate your nipples enough, then you will probably make some milk whether you’re a man or a woman.”
That doesn’t, however, mean men can instantly produce milk. It’ll take some serious work.
“If he used a breast pump, a man would probably need to be doing it about eight times a day for 20 - 30 minutes each time and this would need to go on for weeks before any milk was produced. You’re going to have to be doing it a lot.”
Amy doesn’t think it’s abnormal for a dad to comfort nurse. “Babies suck for comfort and some won't mind whether that’s a male or a female nipple," she says.
She acknowledges it’s not for everyone though: “Socially and culturally it’s seen as odd, but, from a physiological viewpoint, it’s totally feasible.”
Come on guys, it may give all the hard-working mums out there a long enough break to grab a bath or even a cup of tea. Not to mention the fact it helps men bond with their babies. Some dads complain they find it hard to get a look-in during those first few months when baby is clamped onto mum’s boob 24/7.
Maxamillian Neubauer, a dad in Wisconsin, went viral in July when he stepped in to ‘breastfeed’ his newborn daughter. His wife had been taken away for emergency surgery leaving him to feed his baby through a plastic nipple shield, attached to a formula-filled syringe.
"The nurse asked if maybe I would like to throw a nipple on and do some real breastfeeding," he explained to the BBC at the time. "Me being a big joker with the ability to try just about anything once, I said sure, why not. I've never breastfed or even thought in a thousand years I would. I was the first to breastfeed the baby!"
For him, the experience was a positive one: "I felt a connection the minute I saw my little girl. I got to hold her and help her get use to breastfeeding I hope."
See guys – comfort nursing is normal, really.
Comments