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A talented doctor and a dedicated nurse practitioner just made history for their work helping breastfeeding become a reality for transgender new moms. Thanks to their efforts, a transgender woman was able to successfully -- and exclusively -- breastfed her newborn for six weeks. Now, in the wake of this success, the world of transgender health has been changed forever.
Dr. Tamar Reisman and nurse practitioner Zil Goldstein from the Mt. Sinai Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery published their extraordinary findings in Transgender Health. According to the report, the patient approached Mt. Sinai when she found out that her pregnant partner didn't want to breastfeed their baby. The report explained that the unnamed trans woman "hoped to take on the role of being the primary food source for her infant."
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With only about three and a half months left in the partner's pregnancy, Reisman and Goldstein jumped into action and began giving the patient domperidone three times a day. Although this drug was originally developed to help treat stomach issues, it has been used to help increase milk production as well. However, the patient was forced to smuggle the drug from Canada because domperidone is currently banned in the United States due to the FDA's concerns about cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac arrest, and sudden death.
The woman had been already been on hormone replacement therapy since 2011, so Reisman and Goldstein increased her hormone intake. They also asked her to start using a breast pump for five minutes three times each day on both of her breasts to mimic nursing.
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Only a month after her regimen began, the woman was able to "express droplets of milk." Wanting to ramp things up a little more, Reisman and Goldstein increased both her hormones and her domperidone intake. They also asked her to begin using the breast pump six times a day instead of five. Each month, they increased her hormones dosages again, and at only three and a half months into the vigorous routine, she was able to become the baby's exclusive food source; she breastfed the baby from birth to six weeks.
Amazingly, the doctors reported that the child was healthy and developing at the same rate as other infants. "During that time the child's pediatrician reported that the child's growth, feeding, and bowel habits were developmentally appropriate," the report stated.
The document also shared that after six weeks, the patient began supplementing with formula every day to due concerns about milk production. "At the time of this article submission, the baby is approaching 6 months old. The patient continues to breastfeed as a supplement to formula feeding, and she continues to adhere to the medication regimen described earlier."
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This instance is said to be "the first formal report in the medical literature of induced lactation in a transgender woman," but Reisman and Goldstein say that there is still plenty of work to be done. The duo is eager to conduct further research to find the "optimal treatment regimen," questioning if the illegal drug used by their patient was actually a necessary component in achieving lactation.
Still, they remain happy with the results they have found as of now. As Reiseman told Romper, expanding options for transgender moms who want to breastfeed is paramount in "building happy, healthy, transgender families."
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