After six years of sex reassignment therapy and 3 months of high-dose hormones, this transgender man was able to breast feed her partner’s baby for six weeks.
“This case shows that, in some circumstances, transgender women can partake in modest but functional breast-feeding,” claim the authors of a study published in the latest edition of the Transgender Health journal[1]. The “woman” – who was born a man – took treatment comprising oestradiol and progesterone for the last three months of pregnancy, combined with Domperidone, which increases the quantity of the milk. A breast pump was also used extensively to stimulate milk production. The amount of milk was only enough to feed the baby for six weeks, but bottle feeds compensated for the shortfall.
“She really must have taken high doses to produce enough milk,” exclaimed Paris-based endocrinologist, Dr Sandrine Brambilla, “taking such large quantities of hormones is far from being inconsequential”.
Although the child is developing normally and is healthy, the scientists nevertheless want to carry out a study to check the nutrients contained in “maternal” milk obtained with such treatments.
[1] http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/trgh.2017.0044
Allo Docteur (16/02/2018)