Can Men Breastfeed?

Breastfeeding is the most natural way to feed a baby for the first year or so of its life. Babies need to have nourishment in the form of nutritious milk as and when they want it when they’re still very young, and mothers adapt to be able to provide their milk to them whenever they should demand it. Formula milk can be used in the same way however, not many people know of the beneficial bacteria which are part of breast milk, making it far more beneficial for babies to drink than any other milk alternative.

Some psychologists have diagnosed young family men with ‘Breastfeeding Envy’, a term used to describe a father’s jealousy of his partner’s ability to breastfeed. This envy stems from the jealously a man has of his partner’s ability to keep their baby alive by feeding it milk produced by her own body. Men do have this ability, but women are designed to be able to produce milk and be the primary source of food for a baby thanks to thousands of years of evolution.

There do exist ways for men to breastfeed without needing to alter their bodies and have their mammary glands produce milk. Certain products act as a coat with two bottles in the position of breasts. Men can use this coat and sit down with their baby and feed them from the artificial breast which is part of their coat. While these coats may seem slightly strange, they provide a father with the ability to breastfeed, and help him overcome his jealousy of the mother’s ability, should he be jealous at all.

While products that help men breastfeed their children might seem slightly odd, there are other products on the market which can be considered as much worse. Many people believe that only mothers should breastfeed, and this is largely the norm for people around the world. There are some families however, in which the father helps to breastfeed his child, and give the mother a break from constantly needing to be prepared to feed their baby at any given moment. The benefits of milk produced by men are the same as those of milk produced by women. Breastfeeding also helps to build a strong bond between mother and child, and fathers can create this same strong emotional bond through the support they are giving their child, the food it needs to go on living.

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