A trans woman has been helped to breastfeed her grandchild in what is believed to be a world first.
The unidentified 50-year-old was helped to express up to 30ml of milk at a time, after four weeks of hormone treatment.
Duke University researchers reported that the woman “breastfed for a total of two weeks” and was able to feed the four-month-old baby.
The motivation for inducing breastfeeding was to create a “bond from breastfeeding that she had not been able to experience with her own five children.”
She was moved to tears by the experience, which she said had the added benefit of affirming her feminine gender and making her breasts larger.
Mika Minio-Paluello, a trans woman from Britain, sparked the international debate on gender and motherhood last year after uploading this photo of herself breastfeeding. She was not involved in the new investigation
American trans woman Naomi, 24, a mother of three, went viral on Twitter last May for feeding her child breast milk that she had expressed. She was not involved in the new investigation
The patient later discontinued treatment “due to logistical barriers.”
According to the researchers, who published their study in the journal Breastfeeding Medicine, the patient had said they had “a last-minute idea” about breastfeeding their grandchild.
“The patient first expressed a unique desire to breastfeed her expected grandchild during an appointment with her endocrinologist in the spring of 2022,” they wrote.
She revealed that this was a last-minute idea that came to her just before her daughter’s due date.
‘Five weeks after initiating treatment changes for lactation induction, she returned to her previous medication regimen.
“She says she stopped pursuing her personal goal of breastfeeding due to logistical barriers, such as the need to care for her grandchild while her daughter was pumping.”
‘Her primary motivation for initiating breastfeeding was to experience the bond she had with breastfeeding, which she had not been able to experience with her own five children.
‘The patient tearfully said that this was an important and emotional experience for her, which felt very different from formula feeding her other children.
‘She indicates that she has a special bond with this child for which she is grateful.
She regrets not knowing about the possibility sooner and wishes other transgender women could know that breastfeeding can be a reality.
‘She reported unforeseen benefits, including confirmation of the female gender and full maturation of the breasts.
‘The patient experienced no side effects from her treatment regimen.’
This is only the fifth report of a trans woman experiencing induced lactation for the purpose of breastfeeding.
Different treatment protocols were also required because the drugs used in the previous four studies were not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in the U.S.
The researchers added: ‘Conversations with the subject before, during and after treatment revealed important insights for the ongoing discussions about the role of lactation induction and breastfeeding in gender-affirming care.’
The issue of trans women breastfeeding is controversial; gender-critical campaigners called the research ‘absolutely shocking’.
Heather Welford of With Woman, a collective of midwives and breastfeeding experts, said: ‘Most people would find the idea absolutely shocking.
‘Babies come ready to continue their relationship with their mothers, and breastfeeding helps with that.
‘Disrupting this with attempts at breastfeeding by someone else is downright disturbing.’
Maya Forstater, executive director of campaign group Sex Matter, said: ‘Babies cannot consent to take part in a study that sets aside biological reality to define treatment protocols relating to so-called ‘gender medicine’.
“Men should not be allowed, much less supported, to come between babies and their mothers, or to use babies as props to reinforce their belief that they are women.”
The CDC was criticized last year for advice on its website that appeared to endorse “breastfeeding” — when a trans woman born male is breastfeeding.
One section, titled “Health Equity Considerations,” asserted that “an individual does not have to have given birth to breastfeed or breastfeed.”
There was nothing on the site that mentioned any health risks to the baby, including heart problems.
