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Male Breastfeeding

Harlequin

Active member
The male human body is physiologically capable of producing milk of the same sort a human female produces in order to produce a child. There are a lot of different reasons that humans -- and mammals in general -- don't use this as a child-rearing strategy, but it's physiologically possible for tons and tons of mammals including humans. (The Dyak fruit bat might be an exception that has male lactation as a natural part of its lifestyle, but wev.)

Now, humans are unique in the animal kingdom because we're capable of doing things that run entirely contrary to our evolutionary programming. We already do it all the time, but that's a different issue. Now, with the right hormone supplements a human male can produce enough milk to feed a baby on his own. Our science has advanced to a point where we could allow men to breastfeed babies. There'd be a bunch of reasons for this, including but not limited to a healthier baby and closer bonding with the child for the father.

The question I ask is: do you think this will ever happen? ALSO would you let/encourage your male partner to breastfeed/breastfeed yourself/if lesbian encourage your female partner who didn't give birth to breastfeed using manual stimulation or hormones?

Why? Why not?

I personally think it'd be a really interesting development. It'd put men and women on a more equal footing when it comes to raising a child, it'd be really useful for gay/lesbian families (one mother often complains about not feeling close to the child, gay parents never get that closeness (like heterosexual men)) and I might be willing to try it. I don't know!
 
I don't think it gives much at all. Male breasts and female breasts aren't actually very different before puberty, it's only because females get fat deposits and whatnot that they appear to be different. Manual stimulation in males can produce milk already, just not in the same quantities that women produce after a pregnancy. Given the right hormones a man could produce the same amount.
 
Eh, whatever. If the man wants to do it, it's cool.

For me it's really not a big deal.

Personally though, my siblings and I were bottle fed and I don't feel like I didn't bond with my parents and all of us are extremely smart. I do have social skills problems, but that's more of a result of being strange and thus teased since the moment I stepped foot into a school.
 
I thought guys needed certain drugs to be able to do that?

The OP did say "with the right hormone supplements" it can be done. If you mean besides the hormone supplements, then no they do not, as far as I know.
 
The OP did say "with the right hormone supplements" it can be done. If you mean besides the hormone supplements, then no they do not, as far as I know.

Am I a horrible person for first thinking of sexual applications of this?
 

Yeah, spam much?

I've heard about this, but never really thought much about it, I was bottle fed too so yeah.

I wonder if guys would have some of the same issues, like women breast feeding in public, mainly because it *might* expose their breasts, or because breastfeeding makes some people uncomfortable, would it be similar for men?
 
I thought guys needed certain drugs to be able to do that?

Nope. Lactation can be induced (in both males and females) by simple manual stimulation of the nipple. In primitive human societies the mothers of new or sickly mothers uses to induce lactation in order to provide milk for her grandchild should her daughter's milk fail. When stimulated the nipple released a hormone called (iirc) prolactin, and if stimulation is repeated for long enough periods over a few weeks, lactation is induced.

The extra hormones would only be necessary for the amounts required to nurse a child, although if a father only wanted it for bonding sometimes I guess his natural production would work.
 
Haha, that's pretty awesome that science has advanced so far! I'm not sure that it would really become a 'mainstream' thing to do for a long time, though, which is a shame... It definitely sounds like an interesting development, which would be really helpful and awesome for lots of families. :D

Although I find breastfeeding kind of freaky regardless so I probably wouldn't want to watch or anything. Haha.
 
I like to think that nobody has any truly moral objections to this (okay, I am sure they do, but I like thinking good things about humanity), so it's just a matter of social acceptability. But since female breastfeeding has, I think, become less and less socially acceptable as time has gone on, I can't see this catching on. Perhaps for female partners, but definitely not so much for the men. :/
 
I think I might like to have a go at breastfeeding. Maybe. I think it'd be a really interesting thing to do and potentially very useful for any child I'll have, since I doubt it will be able to benefit from its egg donor's breast milk.
 
Yeah I can't see this catching on at all.

Thank you for your thrilling and insightful post, Pwnemon. I always look forward to reading whatever gems you're going to produce because this has really, really enhanced our discussion on male breastfeeding.

I still think it could be an interesting experience and it's one I might be willing to undergo!
 
I'm in favour, particularly in cases where someone is a fuckhead because someone else doesn't want to breastfeed for whatever reason. If someone's repulsed by the idea of babies on formula, they can go off and donate their own breastmilk. >(


It's probably not going to be common at all, no, but that's at least partly because of a stigma against breastfeeding in general.
 
I suspect people will be opposed to this for the same reasons they're opposed to homosexuality, transgenderism and black people.
 
I don't think it's going to catch on anytime soon. We're only just getting to the point where people accept homosexuality and transsexuals (depending on where you live). Men getting in touch with their feminine sides seems to be accepted to a degree, although this would probably be pushing it. Once some famous, respected, masculine and confirmed heterosexual men start doing it it's more likely to catch on, but until then it's going to be rare and not done in public. Cost of hormone treatments would also be a major factor - if it's too expensive then people won't do it on economic grounds.

If it does catch on, I can see it doing so with house-husbands, at least at first. There's such a thing as paternity leave now as well, so a man could stop working to raise a young child (then again, how long does a woman need to get over carrying the baby?) The other main initial group may be multiple births (in particular triplets and up) where having an extra pair of nipples has other advantages.

I can't see any reason why people shouldn't, other than if there's any side effects of the hormones. But of course they'd make sure there wouldn't be any, or at least let anyone taking such treatment know in advance, like for every other medical treatment ever. Obviously some people are going to talk about it being unnatural but that's a pointless argument because if it was unnatural it would be impossible.

I won't, but then I don't plan on having children or even doing anything that's going to make one by accident so it's sort of irrelevant to me.
 
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