This story starts when I was about the age of seven. I was standing next to my mother after church one day, listening to the adult conversation above my head. My mother and another lady were talking about whether or not Adam may have had a belly button. The lady talking to my mother suggested that she didn't think so and that there would be no reason for one ,sense he had been created and not born out of a womb. Then my mother said , "if that was so than why did men have nipples"? At that point the conversation got quiet. Then my mom came back in a cheery voice and said "ye but can they breast feed a baby" The two ladies laughed and the conversation was over. I left thinking "why can't men breast feed"? What is it that women have that we don't. This has perplexed me ever since that day.
Several years later I still could not get that conversation out of my mind. And the answer to the question eluded me. This was way before the internet existed and information of this sort was nowhere to be found . I don't know why but at some point I started to dream about lactating. As time when on it became almost an obsession of sorts. I remember being in my teens and finding my mother's old breast pump. I pumped as often as I could always looking to see just one drop, which is funny because as far as I knew it was impossible for a man to lactate. I just wanted one drop, but nothing ever came.
Fast forward to around 1990. Still no internet , (for me at least). I still had this desire to lactate. I tried and tried, still nothing. Then came the internet finally. Now there was a source for this type of information. I found out that yes it was possible. At that point I was certain I would lactate some day. I continued off and on over the years, still nothing. One day around 2000 I saw a drop or two. I don't know , maybe it was something else or maybe it was a drop of sweat ? I think around 2008 I learned that Motilium caused a increase in prolactin levels and could stimulate lactation. I ordered some online. I tried again , I was very hopeful this time , but still nothing but a few drops. I was so let down. Then in 2010. I started hrt. I still tried to lactate but I thought it would not happen because I was so unlucky in the past and on top of that high estrogen levels will prevent the "let down" reaction. So lactation is not likely during periods of high estrogen.
Then when I wasn't expecting it . IT STARTED
!!!!. I was so thrilled. It started slow but kept increasing , the more I pumped the more that came. Now I know some here as Susan's have expressed some negative feelings or annoyance with unwanted lactation. To me lactation just seems like the most feminine thing a person could do. The only down side is when you stop, your boobs get smaller for about a month and a half.
Since then I have started and stopped lactating a couple of times. The milk always seems to come in when I try to lactate. When I am lactating it is not hard at all to express a cup or so in the morning. Even when I express it by hand it is not difficult to get it started. And yes I have been know to sweeten Mrs Erocse's coffee in the morning from time to time.
I will never breast feed a baby. But to answer your question, mom, "Yes, men can breastfeed a baby".
A bit weird I know, but hey this is me.
Hugs, Erocse
