Discussion on Male Breastfeeding Controversy

Could you just explain to me what this is?

So this is men who, what, want to

feed babies milk through their own body?

Or how does it work?

Well, it is quite mind-boggling, isn't it?

I mean, we know that it's women who breastfeed babies.

I think, I mean, we want to support anyone.

We want to support women to breastfeed their babies.

And that's really important, all women, if they're able to.

But the idea that men can do it is quite bizarre.

I mean, you men can sort of grow sort of,

well, we call it gynecomastia when

you get this sort of swelling of breast tissue

around the male nipples. And that's usually in response to sort of abnormal,

if somebody's had medications that could make it grow,

or if they have actually taken estrogen. But that doesn't mean they can breastfeed.

And of course, there's no such thing as chest feeding.

You have to have a woman and you have to have breasts in order to breastfeed.

Chest feeding doesn't exist.

Okay.

And if I use taxpayers' money to be able to

in some way lactate and then fed a baby with that milk,

is it as good for a baby as it would be going from a woman?

Well, so what we do know is that, yes, okay,

so men can produce a little bit of chest secretions or nipple secretions.

But I think the most that's ever been recorded is about 30 mils, so you know, a thimbleful really.

So you're not going to feed a baby on that.

Women can produce pints of milk, and that's what the baby is going to need, depending on the age of the baby.

And also, we don't know what the breast milk,

sorry, the moob secretions

might be producing with this.

So we don't know what the analysis is of the milk itself,

the secretions themselves from men. And we need to know that.

We need to know.

And even if there's some safety involved here, they're tiny, tiny amounts,

and then you have to question the motives of why a man might want a baby to latch on to his nipple.

And this is not for the baby's health.

This is, you have to think about when he's breastfeeding.

Because it wouldn't fully feed the baby is what you're saying.

That's the thing. It's not, it's... Is it because it wouldn't fully feed the baby anyway?

It wouldn't feed him. No, it's not just that.

Why is a man wanting a baby to attach, to suckle on his nipple?

This is not for the baby. This does not benefit the baby.

We have to be very clear about this,

that there's something else going on that a man should want to do this. And

it's certainly not for the baby's benefit.

And as the women, as the Women for Women Scotland are saying,

you know, possibly that he's doing it for other motives.

Okay, I mean, so a couple of points here.

Trans women rights activists might say that, you know, decisions about infant feeding should be made

by parents and their healthcare providers and not by politicians or the public.

So I mean, it's legal, isn't it?

Just because something's legal doesn't mean that it's the right thing to do.

And also, I think you have to think about the rights of the child.

So the Children Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child very much put the children's best interests first.

And that in itself should be something that should prevent anyone trying to do this.