ISTOCK, SWEETLEMONTEATwo New York physicians report that, for the first time, a transgender woman has been able to breastfeed her child, and did so for six weeks.
The 30-year-old patient of theirs took hormones and an anti-nausea medication for three months, after which she was producing eight ounces of milk per day, the doctors reported in Transgender Health this January. Two weeks later, her partner gave birth and the baby’s growth and development progressed well during six weeks of exclusive breastfeeding from the transgender mom, after which the parents began supplementing with formula.
“There have been self-reported cases online of transgender women trying DIY regiments to induce breastfeeding, but this is the first case of induced functional lactation in the academic literature,” one of the doctors, Tamar Reisman of Mount Sinai hospital, tells The Guardian.
Boston Medical Center’s Joshua Safer, who did not treat the mom, tells New...