UK Government’s NHS Trust Falsely Asserts Breastmilk Produced By Trans Women is ‘Comparable to that Produced Following the Birth of a Baby’
In 2021, the University of Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust (USHT) created “Britain’s “first clinical and language guidelines supporting trans and non-binary birthing people,” containing “ assertions about the ability of trans women to produce milk for a baby.” In a recent leaked letter to Children of Transitioners, USHT continued to assert breastmilk produced by trans women is “comparable to that produced following the birth of a baby.”
While it is possible to induce lactation in both men and women, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has yet to approve of any drug “designed to induce or enhance lactation.” These drugs, known as galactogogues, tend to be prescribed for other purposes by physicians, and their primary purpose is not to induce lactation and can have a number of adverse side effects for both adults and infants:
Metoclopramide: Several gastrointestinal disorders, insomnia, severe depression, and seizures and in infants that consume milk from treated mothers causing intestinal discomfort
Domperidone: Xerostomia, gastrointestinal disorders, cardiac arrhythmia, and sudden death
Chlorpromazine: Extrapyramidal symptoms in mothers and lethargy in infants
Sulpiride: Headache, fatigue, extrapyramidal symptoms, acute dystonic reactions, and endocrine disruption
Oxytocin: In high doses [oxytocin] may cause discomfort, uterine cramping, hazardous uterine rupture, and fetuses-placental compromise
Recombinant bovine somatotropin (rBST): (as observed in Bovine) Low pregnancy rates, increased open days, increase incidences of retained placenta, clinical and subclinical, reduced food intake, allergic reactions, laminitis digestive disorders, decreased hemoglobin and hematocrit, and mastitis.
Thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH): Hyperthyroidism and brief episodes of sweating
Medroxyprogesterone: Amenorrhea
Spironolactone: Unknown
Progesterone: Unknown
Estradiol: Inability to provide sufficient nutrition to the infant
Outside of medicinal side effects, research demonstrates induced lactation does not provide the nutrition nor volume necessary to sustain an infant’s life. In their letter, USHT presented five studies to support the claim that breastmilk produced by trans women is “comparable to that produced following the birth of a baby.”
The first source is a link to a webpage exploring “Breastfeeding Without Giving Birth,” a site broadly exploring breastfeeding for “non-gestational parents,” yet lacks specific references supporting breast milk similarity between trans women and women.
The second source links to a study published in 1977 examining 65 women nursing adopted babies, rather than trans women nursing infants.
The third source examines lactation in a handful of nonpuerperal women, not trans women.
The fourth source is an examination of two nonpuerperal women and their ability to lactate, not trans women.
The fifth source examined breastfeeding in one trans individual who co-fed an infant for 4 weeks, lacking long-term examination and replicability.
Chemically, milk produced by males differs from females. Compounds of male milk tend to contain “the presence of lactose, alpha-lactalbumin, and lactoferrin,” whereas female milk contains “casein, α-lactalbumin, lactoferrin, secretory immunoglobulin IgA, lysozyme, and serum albumin.” The difference is critical as proteins such as secretory IgA and lysozyme are just two examples of crucial proteins a mother’s milk provides infants with, which protect “the infant from viruses and bacteria” and “protects the infant against E. Coli and Salmonella” respectively.
While USHT still has removed their initial webpage regarding trans breastfeeding, USHT now links to a La Leche League website which “supports everyone who wants to breastfeed or chestfeed in reaching their goals.”
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