BREAKING: NHS Trust u-turns on male breastfeeding advice
But why such a weak and delayed response when babies and children are being put at risk?
Many readers of The Mule have followed the story of the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust’s leaked letter, which appeared to claim that trans women could breastfeed and that their ‘milk’ was comparable to women’s breast milk.
Now the Trust seems to have revised this claim, stating that their letter, and the Trust’s now deleted guidelines on which it was based, only applied to induced lactation in females.
Remember the news stories and headlines the NHS letter spawned back in February?
At the time, I wrote about how nobody (not even me initially when I was contacted before the story broke) had actually drilled into the NHS letter that made these claims, particularly the links to evidence they gave - and yet before you could say ‘men can’t breastfeed’, the story was all around the global newsfeed, including the BBC. Here’s a quick summary of what happened:
A letter was leaked by an organisation called Children of Transitioners (Cots), written by the medical director of University Hospitals Sussex, Rachael James.
Cots had specifically asked the Trust for, “details/links to any scientific/medical source which has tested the composition of any such male secretions for safety and nutritional value ie evidence and medical trials (that) feeding babies these drug induced secretions is safe and beneficial”.
To this, the Trust replied: “Medications are sometimes used to induce lactation, similar to the natural hormones which encourage lactation to develop when the baby is newly born although occasionally some people are able to induce lactation without hormonal treatment. The evidence which is available demonstrates that the milk is comparable to that produced following the birth of a baby.”
They then went on to cite studies to support their claim. Four out of five of the studies cited by James as seemingly supportive of babies being fed induced lactation in males, were on induced lactation in females.
In the letter, James also cited World Heath Organisation evidence that ‘human milk’ is best for babies. Again, these WHO recommendations are entirely about female milk - male ‘milk’ is not mentioned.
In spite of the fact that anyone doing due diligence and actually looking at the links that the Sussex NHS trust provided could see that they referred to induced lactation in females, even the BBC appeared not to have bothered to ask the right questions.
The opening words of the BBC report were: “Transgender women’s milk is just as good for babies as breastmilk - that’s according to a letter from the medical director at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust…The trust referred to studies and World Health Organisation guidance, including one case which found what it called no observable effects in babies fed by induced lactation.”
At the time, the only person who reported on this story accurately was…me.
Here’s the piece I wrote in full. 34 thousand of you read it.
Many people then complained to the BBC, and by June, following an investigation by their Executive Complaints Unit, they had apologised, stating that their report had been ‘misleading and inaccurate’.
This caused many of us, including myself, to question why the NHS Sussex were so quiet about this. Did they not wish to put a stop to the global headlines and clarify what they meant?
It appeared not.
I wrote to them on the 22nd June urging them to clarify what they had meant in their letter. Allowing the misinformation to remain uncorrected would put babies at risk, I explained.
It took them over three months to send me an underwhelming response, which stated:
“Although others may have made different claims and interpretations based on the information contained in our letter, our clinicians can only base the discussions they have with patients on the evidence that exists. Our staff, therefore, cited the limited research evidence available comparing milk resulting from induced lactation with milk produced following the birth of a baby.”
How slippery! They were still unable to use the sexed language required to clear up the confusion they had created.
Let alone hold their hands up and say, ‘We did not mean to imply that male people’s milk is just as good for babies. We’re sorry we inadvertently created that false information and we now wish to clarify’.
They were still a million miles off doing the right thing, and didn’t seem to care.
My only option at that point was to take my complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, which I was planning to do (but hadn’t got round to yet).
Meanwhile, the group Children of Transitioners - who work to support people when their parents transition - has been putting the pressure on Sussex via a series of freedom of information (FOI) requests.
And last week, in a response to one such FOI, NHS Sussex stated:
“…there have been a small number of occasions when (biological/cis) female partners of new mothers have expressed a wish to participate in the feeding process as well. The Trust is not aware of any instances where transwomen / biological men have expressed a wish to be helped to feed their partner’s child themselves.”
Suddenly they have discovered the value of sex-based language, it seems!
So they are now saying that their claim, which spawned those global headlines - the majority of which are still out there - referred to women only, for example lesbian couples who wish to induce lactation.
It absolutely beggars belief that they have taken nearly a year to provide this fairly wooly clarification.
And again, there is no apology. No clear retraction. No acknowledgement of their error.
Children of Transitioners (Cots) told me that they feel this is because NHS Sussex, like other UK organisations, have been trained to prioritise trans inclusivity above all else. They said:
“When the 'chestfeeding' issue first came up months ago, Cots thought as soon as children of transitioners pointed out the safeguarding failure- that men like our dads are using children as sexual props in sexual paraphilias, in an unethical medical experiment that also involves feeding babies potentially dangerous liquid - they would act immediately. But powerful organisations trained by trans lobby groups like NHS Sussex, NHS England, NSPCC and LLL seem unable to prioritise child safeguarding if the perpetrator of abuse says he's trans.”
Cots explained to me that many people are simply not prepared to think about the issue of child sexual abuse in relation to fathers who transition. “There are strong links between men saying they are trans, and having sexual paraphilias, and an increased risk of sexual offences against women and children”, they said. In their view, it would not matter what quality of ‘milk’ a male could produce. “The secretion produced by males could be nectar but Cots would still be speaking out against it because men who do this are using babies as sexual props in their sexual paraphilias (often lactophilia), and this is a form of paedophilia. This is the tough truth that means that, for the sake of the safeguarding of babies and children, this practise must be totally outlawed.”
Instead, say Cots, NHS Sussex and others are choosing to, “prioritise the demands of men.”
Men who continue to claim that they can lactate.
(you can see my response to this recent tweet from Steph, here)
In the current climate, with so much public confusion, and with trans activists like Steph continuing to insist that male people can and should be supported to breastfeed, public bodies like the NHS should be taking a position of absolute clarity.
It’s quite clear that babies and children are at risk. Why would the NHS not speak up?
Taking nearly a year to provide what still isn’t really a clear and definitive explanation, really isn’t anywhere near good enough.
I’m sure you can think of many news stories and scandals over the past few decades where men have been protected at the expense of children.
I’m deeply sorry to say that this seems to be another such story.
This story has been covered in today’s Mail on Sunday.
For support or more information on Children of Transitioners, click here.
Alternatively you can buy me a coffee / wine / gin….
Well done Milli & COTS!🥳 - this needs to be drilled down & skewered unequivocally for the travesty it is.
That a governmental agency should have ever been promoting using babies as sex toys for adults is beyond belief. https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/since-when-is-medical-experimentation
Who cares what sort of "quality" milk men can produce? That should never have been the first question. What they should have been looking at is "what does separating babies from their mothers do to normal development?" And that's already been asked and answered in a way that guarantees no men should be attempting to breastfeed any baby, ever.