Trans Woman Breastfeeds Through First-Ever Induced Lactation Case

A 30-year-old transgender woman in the United States reportedly breastfed her newborn baby by induced lactation in a possible first-ever recorded case, a study published Thursday in Transgender Health journal suggested.

Induced lactation is the practice of bringing about an increased milk supply in non-lactating women. In a report titled "Induced Lactation in a Transgender Woman," the study's authors detailed the story of a transgender woman's visit to Mount Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery in New York. Upon arrival, she expressed her goal of being able to successfully breastfeed her pregnant partner's baby.

For six months straight, she had received feminizing hormone therapy to help produce lactation prior to visiting the clinic. She was reported to be of good general health, the authors said.

Doctors placed the woman, whose name remains unidentified, on a regimen that she was instructed to follow daily. The woman was given domperidone, estradiol, progesterone and told to perform breast pumping. Through this routine, "she was able to achieve sufficient breast milk volume to be the sole source of nourishment for her child for 6 weeks," the study read.

"The patient's first follow-up visit occurred at 1 month. On physical examination, she was able to express droplets of milk," the study continued. "The domperidone dose was increased to 20 mg po qid, her micronized progesterone to 200 mg po daily, her estradiol to 8 mg po daily, and her breast pump use to six times daily."

"Three months after starting treatment, 2 weeks before the baby’s due date, the patient was making 8 oz of breast milk per day," the authors added.

The baby was born three and a half months into the transgender woman's treatment. She subsequently began breastfeeding for six weeks straight following the child's birth. The newborn's pediatrician confirmed to the couple that the baby was in a healthy state during the breastfeeding period. However, the woman decided to swap out her daily breastfeeding practice for 4–8 oz of Similac formula amid concerns of insufficient milk volume.

The child, who was six-months-old at the time of the study's publication, is currently being breastfed by the transgender woman.

"It is not clear at this time whether all of the aforementioned components of the patient's medication regimen were necessary to achieve lactation, or whether the patient's hormone levels were optimized to achieve adequate breast milk volume," the authors wrote. "Future investigation will be required to determine the optimal treatment regimen for induced lactation in transgender women."

Induced lactation has been an area of interest among transgender woman but non-lactating adoptive mothers and woman that had children by a surrogate as well. There are many hormone therapy methods available to boost milk supply, including Metoclopramide and Domperidone, among others. However, Babble reported that many women have also benefitted from utilizing mechanical stimulation.