"Why are we funding "Breastfeeding Men"?"
Blunt headlines force truths.
On Saturday, The Times ran a blunt headline: “Why are we funding ‘breastfeeding men’?” The article revealed that Scottish Trans - a publicly funded advocacy group - is lobbying the Scottish Government to extend legal protections and public support to males who induce lactation.
The public reaction was swift: a weekend of disbelief and outrage - mine included.
This isn’t just a quirky, last-article-of-the-news story, it’s an example of what happens when public health priorities are distorted by ideological lobbying - and of who gets left behind when budget holders’ focus is distracted from societal good.
While Scottish Trans pushes for recognition of male-induced lactation, breastfeeding women in Scotland are losing access to the most basic support:
Breastfeeding Buddies, a peer-led NHS support group staffed by trained volunteers, held its final session on 4 June 2025 after funding was pulled.
In January 2024, MSP Carol Mochan raised concerns in the Scottish Government Debate “Celebrating and Supporting Breastfeeding in Scotland” about health visits being delayed or denied due to staff shortages.
In March 2022, an inquiry into perinatal mental health MSPs warned that staff shortages compromised breastfeeding and birth trauma support.
These remarks show a clear pattern: health visitor and maternity care teams are stretched thin. Around 80% of women stop breastfeeding earlier than they want to, often because they didn’t get the help they needed. These services matter. When support vanishes, so does choice.
Meanwhile, in their submission to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Scottish Trans expressed concern that a recent UK Supreme Court ruling - clarifying that the Equality Act has, since 2010, protected people on the basis of biological sex - might limit maternity protections for men who identify as women and attempt to breastfeed. They wrote:
“There is now significant uncertainty following the ruling on whether trans women who are able to breastfeed can access pregnancy and maternity protection if they experience discrimination because of this.”
This group is framing male-induced lactation - which is not breastfeeding - as an equality concern deserving of legal protections and NHS resources. I’m not a lawyer, but my understanding is that maternity protections are for those of us who are female, not for men who develop an unrealistic and probably unhealthy desire to experience pregnancy and breastfeeding.
Scotland already has some of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. We urgently need funding to investigate and address the reasons for that, despite which there is:
No meaningful research on the impact of maternal trauma, poverty, or disability on feeding outcomes
No research into common barriers like tongue-tie, mastitis, or breast thrush
Little to no support for women managing pain while establishing breastfeeding
That last point is important in a local context because red-hair is not uncommon in Scotland and red-haired women are more likely to experience significant nipple pain during breastfeeding. They’re also at greater risk of anaesthetic resistance during labour and are more likely to sustain a birth injury than women who are not red-heads. It is thought this is due to differences in the MC1R gene, but instead of examining these issues - which affect our visibly Scottish citizens - my government is being encouraged to divert money to support the production of male nipple discharge.
Breastmilk: Smart Food
Breastmilk is rich in antibodies, oligosaccharides, and antimicrobial proteins, and changes based on the baby’s needs - even during a single feed.
Foremilk is watery, and hindmilk is rich and fatty, each feed has a starter and a main
Receptors in the mother’s nipple detect if the baby has a cold, and the mother produces antibodies within hours.
During teething, anti-inflammatory agents appear in the milk.
Night-time milk contains melatonin to help both baby and mother sleep.
A mother tandem-feeding two children produces different milk for each child.
A mother of a preterm infant produces richer milk than one with a baby born at term.
Amazingly, in 2023, researchers discovered that breastmilk made by mothers of male infants contains 200 more calories per day than that made by mothers of female infants. Breasts instinctively know which sex they are dealing with, so stand by for t-shirts announcing that “Tits are TERFs”.
Breastfeeding Has Value
Breastfeeding is free - if you think a woman’s time, body, sleep, career, and sanity have no value.
Breastfeeding takes over 1,800 hours a year. A full-time job with holidays is just over 1,900 hours a year. Childbirth is called labour because it is work - and so is feeding an infant. If it were respected as work, women would have access to training, protections, safety assessments, and support. Instead, women are expected to manage alone with no public investment - and that is probably why we only learned there is a sex difference in breastmilk in 2023.
Is Male Lactation Harmful?
Public debate has focused on whether male lactation is physically harmful. Reassuringly, there’s no current evidence that it damages an infant - but that’s not the point. The real harm lies in the disruption of the mother-baby dyad.
This complex bond has hormonal, emotional, behavioural elements and is foundational for maternal health and infant development. When a man removes a newborn from their mother in the early postnatal days in order to induce his own lactation, he interferes with maternal bonding.
Male-induced lactation is not about the needs of the infant - it’s about the desires of the man. Sometimes, those desires are motivated by erotic purposes, which have no place around babies. It is important to ask: if it is ok for a man to encourage a baby to suckle his nipple, is that different from encouraging suckling on his toe - or his penis?The concept of male lactation raises many safeguarding concerns.
If Scottish Trans wanted to draw the government’s attention to challenges faced by people with gender issues who want to breastfeed, they might consider the experience of the woman who underwent a double mastectomy as a trans man, later detransitioned, became pregnant, and was profoundly distressed by the loss of her breasts and ability to breastfeed.
Perhaps Scottish Trans could consider allocating some of their £2.5 million worth of funding on the evidenced gaps in consent, poor clinical support, and urgent need for change in guidelines and maternity care for detransitioned mothers who cannot breastfeed.
Expectations and Women’s Choices
Breastfeeding is not compulsory. Some women don’t want to do it; some can’t. Around 20% of mothers who want to breastfeed experience lactation failure - and many feel shame, or are shamed, for using formula. Good breastfeeding support should also include supporting women to stop. No one should break herself to feed her baby, formula is a good option for many families.
Paradoxically, breastfeeding mothers are told to cover up, or feed babies in toilets. The confused message is: if you breastfeed in public, you’re inappropriate, and if you bottle-feed, you’re selfish. Whatever mothers do, we’re criticised.
I breastfed each of my three babies for around a year and that was the hardest and best thing I’ve done, so far, with my female body. I had no aspirations to be an “earth mother”, I wasn’t particularly swayed by stories of health benefits - just as well as my kids still had asthma, allergies and eczema. I chose to breastfeed simply because I am forgetful and figured it is harder to leave a breast behind than a bottle. It suited our family but made me a lazy mother, I solved all problems by sticking a boob in a face - which turned out to not be a particularly transferable skill.
I had little help, me and the baby winced along and tried to figure it out together. My midwife and health visitor did salvage my minced nipples - but in the long, dark nights I foraged for scraps of advice on Mumsnet, where I found experienced mothers who shared tips, encouragement and sympathy - as women have done for new mums for millennia.
Breastfeeding women really benefit from peer support, and I was delighted to see the new women-only, mother-led service launched by former La Leche League GB trustees: MoMa Breastfeeding, which offers volunteer-led, free breastfeeding support exclusively to women, after existing groups denied women single-sex support.
I have thought carefully about Scottish Trans’ proposal and I have realised that if a person says they want to breastfeed and are instantly offered government-funded drugs, equipment, services, personalised support, praise and validation - then we can be sure that person’s a bloke.
Call to Action: Speak Up for Women and Babies
Write to Your MSP
In Scotland, health is devolved – so your MSPs (both regional and constituency) represent you.
Find them here:
www.parliament.scot/msps
You can also write to your MP if you want to raise your concerns nationally:
www.theyworkforyou.com
What to Say
Choose what concerns you most. For example:
“Is the Scottish Government considering funding male-induced lactation when women can’t access basic postnatal care or breastfeeding support?”
Other points you might raise:
Cuts to postnatal visits and infant feeding teams
Lack of investment in women’s health and lactation research
Ethical and safeguarding concerns about men encouraging infants to suckle
Use of unregulated hormones in infant feeding
Template Email
Subject: Concern About Public Funding for Male Breastfeeding Initiatives
Dear [MSP Name],
I am a constituent writing to express concern about the Scottish Government’s support for ‘male breastfeeding’ initiatives, reportedly promoted by lobby groups such as Scottish Trans.
Scottish women still face huge barriers to breastfeeding: reduced postnatal visits, under-resourced infant feeding teams, and lack of access to meaningful support.
I would be very concerned if funding was being diverted away from services that mothers and infants rely on.
I would like to know:
Do you believe public money should fund initiatives to encourage male lactation?
What safeguarding measures are in place?
Why aren’t mothers’ actual needs being prioritised?
How do we know male-induced lactation is safe or appropriate for infants?
I support inclusive, evidence-based maternity services – but I worry this move would do harm to women and babies.
Yours sincerely,
[Your Name]
[Your Postcode]
Share This
Please consider sharing this video and post with anyone concerned about safeguarding and women’s health.
And please do look at MoMa Breastfeeding’s work to protect the mother-baby bond and women’s rights to single sex support and spaces.
Further reading
Gillian Bowditch Times article:
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/article/why-are-we-funding-breastfeeding-men-brjrf2vtr
Breastfeeding Buddies article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxv50w7ze4o
Carol Mochan, breastfeeding debate:
Scottish Parliament+12TheyWorkForYou+12Scottish Parliament+12Scottish Parliament+1Scottish Parliament+1
Perinatal health inquiry:
https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/chamber-and-committees/official-report/what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-29-03-2022?iob=124079&meeting=13672
Scottish Trans submission:
Redhead prevalence:
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/percentage-of-redheads-by-country
Redhead pain:
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/study-finds-link-between-red-hair-pain-threshold
Breastfeeding in Scotland:
Lactation and gender:
García Acosta, Jesús Manuel & Juan-Valdivia, Rosa & Fernández-Martínez, Alfredo & Lorenzo, Nieves & Castro-Peraza, Maria-Elisa. (2019). Trans* Pregnancy and Lactation: A Literature Review from a Nursing Perspective. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020. 44. 10.3390/ijerph17010044.
Breastfeeding facts:
https://womenshealth.gov/its-only-natural/addressing-breastfeeding-myths/incredible-facts
https://www.who.int/news-room/facts-in-pictures/detail/breastfeeding
Calorie difference between breastmilk for girls and boys:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0889157522005075
Breastfeeding value:
Male lactation:
https://theparadoxinstitute.org/read/the-ugly-truth-of-male-breastfeeding
Mother/baby dyad:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6875823/
https://www.carryingmatters.co.uk/2019/04/29/mother-baby-dyad/
Grief after chest masculinisation:
Barriers to breastfeeding:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6835226/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877575624000089
https://momab.org.uk
Lactivism, Courtney Jung:
Why the politics of breastfeeding matter, Gabrielle Palmer
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25098225-why-the-politics-of-breastfeeding-matter
I have written extensively about men breastfeeding/male lactation/mother to mother support groups catering to the sexual fetishes of men. I wrote, "Birth and breastfeeding the next generation of human beings is not an equal opportunity employer. All those calling for more support for male lactation and the general right of trans women (men) to breastfeed babies are ideologically captured and are proving that they place more value on the feelings and egos of cosplaying men, than on the health and wellbeing of babies."
https://lucyleader.substack.com/p/some-things-are-not-up-for-debate
There are right things and there are wrong things and any support given to men's desires to affirm their "womanliness" by using babies as props is wrong.
Brillaint, Elaine. And thank you for sharing MoMa Breastfeeding's work. We're not in Scotland yet, but we're working on it.