Xref: utzoo sci.bio:946 sci.med:4343
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From: heather@blia.BLI.COM (Heather Mackinnon)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.med
Subject: Re: male breastfeeding
Message-ID: <4241@blia.BLI.COM>
Date: 27 Feb 88 05:23:29 GMT
References: <1686@brahma.cs.hw.ac.uk> <9626@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <1636@aecom.YU.EDU> <696@spdcc.COM>
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Organization: Britton Lee, Los Gatos, CA
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In article <696@spdcc.COM>, dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes:
> In a syndrome like galactorrhea, the volume of milk produced is usually much
> smaller than a normal lactating woman's and its production is much less
> reliable; there's no evidence that men have the full physiological apparatus to
> evoke the "milk letdown reflex" in response to an infant's suckling, and I
> would be quite surprised if the fluid excreted (I hesitate to call it "milk")
> was nutritionally adequate to sustain an infant.

I have no opinion as to whether men can lactate sufficiently to suckle an
infant (not enough solid information), but I do know something about 
lactation in women.

Milk production is determined by how much an infant suckles.  It takes
3-5 days following birth before a woman is producing enough milk for
her newborn.  During growth spurts, there is about 24 hours delay between
increased suckling by the infant and increased milk production by the mother.
Therefore, the volume of milk produced during galactorrhea in the absence
of nipple stimulation seems inconclusive to me.

The milk letdown reflex is in response to an infant's cry.  The letdown
reflex is dependent on the presence of the hormone oxytocin which is
produced in response to suckling.  While the letdown reflex makes nursing
easier for the baby, it doesn't necessarily happen everytime a baby cries
or even always prior to nursing.

Here are some things that I'd want to know before I could feel this question
was answerable:

1)  What's the chemical composition of the fluid produced by men with
    galactorrhea?  Is it similiar to colostrum (the fluid in a new mom's
    breasts), is it similar to milk or is it very different from either?

2)  Do men (either galactorrheaic or otherwise) produce oxytocin in response
    to nipple stimulation?

3)  Can a galactorrheaic man's "milk" supply increase following intensive
    suckling?

4)  Can galactorrhea be produced in otherwise normal men without the use
    of drugs?

5)  (and oh yes)  Would a man get up every two hours to change and suckle
    an infant?

Heather Mackinnon