As many of you no-doubt recall, as is the reason I am on Substack now, I was canceled in 2022 for suggesting that people with the DSD 46XY CAIS, formerly known as testicular feminization syndrome are men, if we have agreed they are adult male humans, regardless of how they look or feel about this reality. There is no medical reason 46XX with complete androgen insensitivity cannot exist, but they would not have testicular feminization syndrome and would have (likely infertile) ovaries along with Mullerian structures (absent in CAIS unless there is a second DSD present). I understand many disagree, and I am not trying to relitigate it. Ironically, I find myself calling attention to the fact that stigmatizing this care will impact them, because the protocols being used by trans identifying men to induce lactation to breastfeed a mother’s child, were pioneered for a similar purpose of enabling 46XY CAIS patients to experience breastfeeding children they are not the genetic parent of.
The reason they need this protocol is that testicles do not produce the correct hormones in the correct complex rhythm over many years starting in infancy to grow fully functional breast tissue. The aromatized testosterone, now estrogen, does stimulate some forms of breast growth, resulting in breasts which can even be triggered to lactate slightly (much like other males who take estrogen). However, the lack of progesterone cycling impacts their ability to produce milk at adequate volume and consistency for a growing infant. The protocols being used in trans identifying men were developed to address this aspect of CAIS.
So my warning to all is that before you go condemning this protocol - especially if you’re a name-brand GC who does not want to step on the same third rail that I did - make sure you are comfortable with the implication that they should perhaps not being doing this in any males, simply for the purpose of emotional validation and “bonding,” at the possible expense of an innocent newborn’s nutritional adequacy, before you go full attack mode on this protocol. For the record, that’s still my take. Babies come first. That means adult validation comes second. And if you believe that this intervention and level of success (a small amount of milk for a very short time) is acceptable for one group of 46XYs and not the other, despite a similar reported outcome, please be prepared to show your work.
#ItsAFetish
100% with you on this.
Shoving a random nipple into a baby's mouth is not "feeding" anything but the nipple owner's ego.