Breastfeeding, Without Giving Birth - The Atlantic

What if the parent who breastfeeds doesn’t need to be the parent who gave birth?

While her wife was pregnant with their son, Aimee MacDonald took an unusual step of preparing her own body for the baby’s arrival. First she began taking hormones, and then for six weeks straight, she pumped her breasts day and night every two to three hours. This process tricked her body into a pregnant and then postpartum state so she could make breast milk. By the time the couple’s son arrived, she was pumping 27 ounces a day—enough to feed a baby—all without actually getting pregnant or giving birth. And so, after a 38-hour labor and emergency C-section, MacDonald’s wife could do what many

related reading

• 10 Thoughts from the Fourth Trimester — Wait But Whywaitbutwhy.com
• I Am Not Enjoying Motherhoodmorganhoog.substack.com
• Breastfeeding experiences and women's self-concept: Negotiations and dilemmas in the transition to motherhoodfrontiersin.org
• The Choice to Become a Mother Alone - The Dialthedial.world
• Psychological effects of breastfeeding on children and mothers - PMCncbi.nlm.nih.gov
• Perceptions on human milk donation and banking: Maternal optimismncbi.nlm.nih.gov
• Prioritising allocation of donor human breast milk amongst very low birthweight infants in middle‐income countriesncbi.nlm.nih.gov
• Breastfeeding and Health Outcomes for the Mother-Infant Dyad - PMCncbi.nlm.nih.gov
• Lactation counseling for maintaining exclusive breastfeeding in adolescent mothers: a trial protocol | Pilot and Feasibility Studies | Springer Nature Linkpilotfeasibilitystudies.biomedcentral.com
• Brasil - Representations of women milk donors on donations for the human milk bank Representations of women milk donors on donations for the human milk bankscielo.br
• Why more women should get an epiduralworksinprogress.co
• Factors That Influence the Sustainability of Human Milk Donation to Milk Banks: A Systematic Reviewncbi.nlm.nih.gov