You can see that females of all mammals produce milk and nurse their young. Well, have you ever thought that men can breastfeed too, that such a situation is possible?
Actually in the past scientists, It is possible to say that there are various observations and theories that men can breastfeed. For example, in a review published in 1896, researchers named George Gould and Walter Pyle made the observation that men can perform a kind of babysitting like wet nurses. Even the scientist Alexander von Humboldt took his wife with them after he got sick. male caregivers they are known to have. Moreover, it is among the rumors that these caregivers can give milk.
Media company Agence France-Presse in 2002; published a story in which a woman talked about a 38-year-old man who breastfed his two children because he lost his wife after giving birth to his second child and could not breastfeed his children. Well, starting from these interesting examples men can breastfeed naturally can we say Let’s dive deeper into this issue.
In fact, the mammary glands required for lactation are present in both men and women.
Milk-producing mammary glands in male and female members of all mammals exists. But when we look at the human species, the development of women’s mammary glands during puberty, prolactin It leads to milk production thanks to the rise of various hormones such as the endocrine hormone secreted by the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland. In men, the mammary glands do not reach the maturity required to give milk. As you can see, the reason for this situation, which is different for men and women in milk production, is due to the hormonal changes experienced during puberty and pregnancy.
Although men have the necessary equipment to produce milk, in fact, men cannot produce the hormone they need to use it. That means; hormones needed to produce milk If supplemented to men, men can give milk and breastfeed babies.
As you can see, men can give milk with a medical intervention, but of course, this is not like giving milk naturally.
Anthropologist Dana Raphael, in her book she wrote in 1978, claimed that when men’s nipples are stimulated, breastfeeding will be triggered. Even Robert Greenblatt, an endocrinologist at the Georgia School of Medicine, agreed with him. But Jack Newman, a doctor and lactation specialist in Toronto, disagreed with both. for men to give milk He insisted that the hormones that are absolutely needed for his life should come into play.
In short, if men are given estrogen and prolactin by injection, it may be possible for them to give milk. Thorazine, which is also known as an antipsychotic, and digoxin, a heart drug, are a drug that causes milk to come in men. side effect is also known to do.
Still, there are rare examples of men giving milk spontaneously on the stage of history.
Men give milk when starved, in World War II Japan and Nazi Germany in prisoners of war you can see. When a person is malnourished, the functioning of the glands that secrete hormones such as the pituitary gland, which produces prolactin, and the liver, which destroys these hormones, deteriorates.
Then, when nutrition improves, these glands recover more easily than the liver and hormone levels increase. milk produced in the mammary glands is happening. In fact, there are experts who think that a side effect such as lactation may occur when any tumor occurs in the pituitary gland.
Resources: Minority, Scientific American