In a breastfeeding first, a transgender woman successfully nursed her baby, according to a recent report.
The 30-year-old, who had not had any gender-affirming surgeries such as breast augmentation or a vaginoplasty, was able to exclusively breastfeed her baby for six weeks, according to a case report published in the peer-reviewed journal Transgender Health. Her partner, who gave birth to the child, chose not to breastfeed.
The transgender woman who hoped to take on that role had been receiving hormone therapy for six years when she adopted a regimen of domperidone, estradiol, progesterone and breast pumping to induce lactation. After one month, she was able to produce "droplets of milk," the paper reports. At three months, she was producing eight ounces of breastmilk each day. Soon after, her baby was born and successfully breastfed.
"We believe that this is the first formal report in the medical literature of induced lactation in a transgender woman," authors Tamar Reisman and Zil Goldstein stated.
More: Parents of transgender students criticize DeVos
After six weeks of breastfeeding her child, she supplemented with formula because she was worried her milk volume wasn't enough. (A worry many breastfeeding mothers have.) At that time, doctors reported the baby's growth, feeding and bowel habits were "developmentally appropriate," the paper states. The mother continued breastfeeding at the time of the report, which was submitted when the baby was 6-months-old.
More: American moms don’t breastfeed long. Here’s why.
Authors said more research must be done to determine the best way to induce lactation in a transgender women in the future.
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