CDC advises trans people to ‘breastfeed’ children, accused of neglecting health risks

The official website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published tips for trans and non-binary people on how to seek guidance on how to “breastfeed” their babies.

In the sections of the leading health institute’s guidance on breastfeeding, it contained information for those who had large portions of their breasts removed in gender reassignment surgeries, or for biological males who take hormones to growing breasts, on how to feed their newborn children.

However, several doctors criticized the guidance, not only because the CDC appeared to be giving guidance to biological males on how to breastfeed children, but because they claimed that the CDC failed to assess the risks of children drinking milk produced by chemicals used in gender reassignment medicine. operations

In the CDC website’s section on “Health Equity Considerations,” found in its “Infant and Child Feeding Toolhouse,” the center stated that “transgender and gender nonbinary can give birth and breastfeed or breastfeed (breastfeed).”

She also stated that “The gender identity or expression of transgender people is different from their sex at birth” and that “the gender identity of non-binary gender individuals does not fit neatly into either male or female “.

In the CDC website’s section on “Breastfeeding,” specifically an entry covering breastfeeding for those who have undergone breast surgery, the institute mentioned “breastfeeding.”

The CDC posed the question, “Can transgender parents who have had breast surgery breastfeed or breastfeed their babies?” He answered “yes,” followed by an explanation.

“Some transgender parents who have had breast/upper surgery may want to nurse or nurse (a term used by some transgender and non-binary parents) their babies,” the CDC website states. “Health care providers working with these families should be familiar with the medical, emotional, and social aspects of gender transitions to provide optimal family-centered care and meet the infant’s nutritional needs.”

The publication added that these transgender parents “may need help to” “maximize milk production, supplement with human milk or pasteurized donor formula, medications to induce lactation or avoid medications that inhibit lactation, suppress lactation (for those who decide not to breastfeed or breastfeed) ” and “Finding adequate support for breastfeeding management, peer support and/or emotional support”.

According to the Daily Mail, this advice can be applied to biological men who can produce their own breast milk by taking “hormonal drugs” that mimic the changes that occur in a biological woman’s body during late pregnancy.

However, the outlet noted that the FDA’s warning that one of these drugs, domperidone, “can pass into breast milk in small amounts and can sometimes give babies an irregular heartbeat as result”.

The outlet spoke with several doctors who criticized the CDC for failing to mention the health risks posed by “breastfeeding” babies of biological males in transition with hormones that mimic women.

The executive director of the conservative Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Dr. Jane Orient, told The Daily Mail: “The CDC has a responsibility to talk about health risks, but they have been neglected in doing- it”.

He also stated that “we have no idea of ​​the long-term effects on the child” if trans parents are using “all kinds of off-label hormones,” meaning drugs that are being used for a purpose different from what they were for. expected

Dr. Stuart Fischer, an internal medicine physician based in New York, told the Daily Mail that it is “very hard to believe” that the breast milk produced naturally in a biological woman is the same as the breast milk induced in a biological man .

It also notes that it’s unclear how the latest form of breast milk would affect babies, asking: “If it’s been tried a handful of times, how would we know the long-term effect? ​​The short-term is one thing , but the long term in terms of physical and mental illness…”

“It’s an emerging field, to put it mildly,” added Fischer.

The CDC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.