Someone tweeted this article from the Milk Junkies website about transgendered men and lactation, which I thought was awesome, since I'd been on the hunt and it's not something you hear everyday. The article provides information for lactation educators who find they don't know how to address unique experiences of transgendered males:
Tips for Transgender Breastfeeders and Their Lactation Educators:
Latching will likely be particularly tough. Lactation advisers should know that trans men may face special challenges in latching their babies - accomplishing a deep latch can be very difficult with next to zero breast tissue. Teaching a trans man to make an effective "breast tissue sandwich" is essential to successful and reasonably comfortable breastfeeding. Using an SNS on top of this makes breastfeeding even harder. A first time trans breastfeeder will need lots of extra hands to help with latching and using the SNS
Lactation consultants should be aware that in the case of a trans guy who has not had any chest surgery, he may have practiced years of breast binding to flatten his chest, and this, of course, may affect milk production. There's more -- continue reading the article here.
I'm super excited about this story, since I've been wanting to find ones on the topic. I hope more transgendered folks share more of their experiences to help us help each other in the breastfeeing realm. Do you have anything to add?
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