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A female-to-male transgender man, who gave birth after his transition, can now breastfeed his children using a supplemental nursing system device and donated milk.
At the age of 23, Trevor MacDonald from Winniepeg, Canada began transitioning into a man. He underwent a surgery to have his breasts removed but decided not to have a “bottom operation” as he had plans of bearing a child in the future.
Later on, he married Ian whom he has two children with.
In 2012,MacDonald gave birth to their first child, Jacob. Although he had undergone breast tissue removal surgery, MacDonald discovered that he could still produce a small amount of breastmilk.
However, he needed to use an SNS or a supplemental nursing system.
In a blog he wrote for Huffington Post, he described the device:
“An SNS is a bottle with a tube going into it. You put one end of the tube next to your nipple and then latch the baby onto your nipple and the tube at the same time. This way, the baby gets both the milk that the parent can produce and supplement from the bottle at once.”
A Dad’s Breastfeeding Journey
According to MacDonald, his breastfeeding journey with Jacob was not easy but with the help of La Leche League, an international breastfeeding support group, he was able to overcome the difficulties of breastfeeding.
Initially, La Leche League Leader Simone had apprehensions if MacDonald could breastfeed when she first saw him latching his son. Simone thought that MacDonald did not have enough breast tissue for Jacob to latch on.
Because Jacob was not gaining enough weight, MacDonalds needed to use SNS to stimulate his own body to produce milk.
In addition, MacDonalds and his partner were able to find enough breastmilk donors through the Facebook group Human Milk 4 Human Babies in order to ditch the use of formula milk.
“As Jacob enters toddlerhood, breastfeeding is about far more than the food. I can nurse him to sleep when he is overtired, or latch him on to calm him when he’s had an unfortunate adventure with the corner of a coffee table. Nursing has taken on dimensions that I never imagined would be possible for us,” he wrote on his blog.
The transgender dad, who recently gave birth, is also breastfeeding his newborn baby.
MacDonald is maintaining a successful blog called Milk Junkies, which aims to educate transparents about birth and breastfeeding.
