For those who don't know me, I am an adoptive mom of six children, whom I spent a total of about ten years breastfeeding and many more counseling other adoptive moms.  I haven't posted on Lactnet in years, but have been trying to get back into the swing of things, as far as helping adoptive moms and others whose situation is different than the majority.  

Recently, I turned to a program on Discovery Health called, "Transgendered and pregnant".  It was about a transgendered couple who both thought that the hormone therapy they were on would have rendered them infertile.  They got a very wonderful surprise, when they learned that the husband (who was born female), was pregnant.  The show takes them through the delivery of their healthy baby boy, and the first few days after his birth.

The reason I am posting this on Lactnet is because the wife and mother of this family (who was born male, in case I haven't explained this very well) hoped to breastfeed the baby.  They had gone to an endocrinologist who had given her estradiole injections and assured her that she could lactate.   They didn't go into a lot of details, but my impression was that the endocrinologist was making promises he couldn't keep.  Fortunately, the couple saw lactation consultant Carmen Clark, who gave them an SNS and helped the baby latch on and suckle the breast.  As I watched the tears fall from the eyes of both of those new parents, they fell from mine, too!  It didn't show anything more about how the breastfeeding attempts went, but it didn't look to me as if they were planning to keep nursing with the SNS, thinking that they would just use bottles for the time being.  They said that, because the baby was two weeks early, they weren't quite ready to breastfeed, but were still confident that her milk would come in.  Unless there was something else going on besides the estradiole injections, I very much doubt that the results would have come close to fulfilling her expectations.  So much about breastfeeding in mothers who did not give birth to their babies has to do with expectations.  Unrealistic expectations are the most likely thing to ruin what could have otherwise been and very beneficial situation.     

I tried googling and did not find anything about this couple, but I would sure like to find a way to make contact with them and/or the LC that worked with them, both for the sake of just knowing how things worked out for them and to see if there is anything I might personally be able to do to support them in nurturing their baby.  If anyone has any information on this, and anything other case of induced lactation in transsexual females, I would be very thankful for it!  

Darillyn Starr
 




 		 	   		  
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