In early September 2009, the Swedish newspaper The Local reported about a 26-year-old boy named Ragnar Bengtsson, who decided to test for himself whether the male body can produce breast milk. In other words, can a man, if necessary, breastfeed his children himself? Do not rush to frown in disgust, let's take a closer look at the problem
“If the experience is successful,” Ragnar told reporters, “it will help men get much closer to their baby. In addition, it will be possible to breastfeed the baby if a young mother, for example, gets sick or, God forbid, dies.
Ragnar even set up his own blog on the Internet, which features a documentary titled "Breastfeeding Man: A Drop at a Time."
How does Ragnar do it? She takes a breast pump, applies it to her nipple and within a few minutes performs the same manipulations as a nursing mother. Three hours later, he repeats. And since he is a full-time student of the Faculty of Economics at Stockholm University, then, according to him, over the next few months he will have to use suction not only at home, but, if necessary, in the classroom as well.
“If I start lactating and the milk is no worse than a woman’s milk, it will be a major achievement,” Ragnar said.
But is the male body adapted for the lactation process? Many people think this is unnatural! But experts say that a man may well become a nursing father, but only after he starts taking special hormones. However, Ragnar is not going to use drugs in his experiment. He believes that constant exposure to the breast with a breast pump can increase the level of estrogen in his body.
Yet the maximum a man can hope for is a few drops of milk per hour, experts say.
He is considered insane
Ragnar began his experiment on September 1, 2009 and intends to continue it until early December. On September 2, he was shown in one of the most popular shows on Swedish television. After the broadcast, debates began across the country and abroad. Particularly heated controversy was caused by Ragnar's intention to engage in stimulating lactation in public - in the university classroom.
“If it bothers someone, that's their problem,” he said resolutely.
Be that as it may, not everyone welcomes the daring of the future dad.
- There were many cases of sharp criticism in my address, - says Ragnar. - Some people think I'm crazy.
Warmth and comfort
At the very beginning of development, the human embryo has no sex - future boys and girls have the same structure. And only after six weeks does the male Y-chromosome come into play, that is, differences characteristic of a boy are formed. But by this time, the future man already has papillae.
Sigbritt Werner, professor of endocrinology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, thinks Bengtsson will be able to achieve something in three or four months.
- Women breastfeed after they've metaphorically bathed in estrogen for nine months of pregnancy. Thus, it takes time to start lactation. But if Ragnar works on this regularly, then perhaps he will achieve that in his body begins to produce prolactin - the hormone responsible for the secretion of colostrum, she said. But at the same time, she emphasized that a man can give a baby a breast not only in order to feed, but also just to calm down.
- If the mother is gone and the baby is crying, dad may well attach the baby to his breast, says Dr. Werner.
- After all, they not only breastfeed, but with its help they give the baby a feeling of warmth and comfort.
Strange family
By the way, on June 30, 2009, the Swedish press talked about the original married couple. These young parents have a two-year-old child. So, in this family it is believed that the separation of people by sex is a purely social phenomenon. Therefore, mom and dad still don't tell anyone if they have a boy or a girl. Baby, that's all! They call him (or her) Pop, but this is not the real name, but the conventional name of a baby who has trousers and dresses in the closet, and the child chooses what to wear.
“We want our child to grow up really free,” the 24-year-old mother of the baby told Svenska Dagbladet. - Only the one who changes the baby's diapers knows what gender he is - male or female. But bringing a child out into the world with a gender definite once and for all is cruel.
A very strange position. Psychologist Susan Pinker believes that such an experiment is dangerous: if we hide basic things from children, this subsequently hits the parents themselves
- either in the form of a child's psychosomatic illness or in the form of his protest behavior. But Christina Henkel, a gender equality consultant, argues that there are too many stereotypes in society: a boy is initially supposed to be considered more masculine just because he is a boy. And if it is something indefinite, "neuter", then the attitude to the baby will be like a person, and not like a boy or a girl.
What can you say about this? Only one thing - it's better to experiment on yourself, and not on a defenseless child.
Breastfeeding … fathers
But back to our topic. In Central Africa there is a tribe of pygmies aka (about 20 thousand people). While mom is hunting, dad is breastfeeding the baby. And vice versa.
Literature, from the Talmud to classic novels, contains descriptions of men breastfeeding. For example, in "Anna Karenina" there is a short story about a child Sucking the breast of an Englishman, whose wife died. And we have every reason to believe that this is possible.
Back in 1896, in the catalog of Anomalies and Curiosities of Medicine, George Gul-da and Walter Pyle cited several eyewitness-confirmed cases of a man feeding a child. Among them was a 32-year-old dad from South America who was seen by the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt. This dad, due to his wife's illness, acted as a wet nurse for five months. The catalog contains information about male missionaries. While in Brazil, they were forced to breastfeed their newborns on their own, as their wives became ill and lost their milk.
And here is a story that many probably still remember. On November 1, 2002, FrancePress published a short report about B. Vigeratna, 38, from Sri Lanka, who nursed his two daughters while they were infants, as his wife died in a second birth. Vigeratne tried to feed the babies with powdered milk, but they just sobbed. Then, in despair, the man began to put the girls to his chest. They immediately fell silent and began to suck. And soon Vigeratne had milk.
Researcher and traveler David Livingston (1813-1873) describes a similar incident in Scotland. The nursing mother died, and her husband began to put his son to his breast. To the surprise of those around him, the father was soon able to feed the baby himself.
For a career
In a 1995 article for Discover magazine, titled "Father's Milk," Pulitzer Prize-winning physiologist Jud Diamond wrote that stimulation of the nipple, hormonal imbalance, and fasting can lead to prolactin. Such incidents were seen during World War II among prisoners of Nazi concentration camps and Japanese POW camps. And our contemporary Laura Shanley claims that a man can induce lactation even by self-hypnosis. Her common-law husband David said that he would feed the child himself, and after a week his breasts became swollen, and milk began to ooze from the nipples.
Males of many mammalian species have the potential for lactation (bulls, goats, dogs, wolves, lions, gibbons). Diamond points out that in our time, male lactation could be beneficial to society. After all, today many nursing mothers are forced to sacrifice their careers for the sake of the family.
So similar
Up to a certain age, boys and girls resemble each other in many ways. And only during puberty their body changes significantly - under the influence of hormones. This means that genetically, women should retain some remnants of the channels that excrete sperm, and in men, excrete milk. They have the tissues necessary for this at a young age, but then they gradually disappear. In case of urgent need, it turns out that they can "resurrect".
At the same time, let us not forget that in a person a huge role is played by thought, feeling, a keen desire to help his own being. And although men do not have a formed bust, they are still able to help a baby in an emergency.
So dads - present and future, take note of this: what if it comes in handy sometime?..
Evgeny TOKAREV
"Secrets of the XX century" № 41 2009