Doctor: father breast-fed baby

Press, 21 February 1980, Page 7

Doctor: father breast-fed baby

NZPA New York A 40-year-old married man breast-fed his infant daughter with the aid of a female sex hormone producing lactation, the physsician who treated the father has said. The man, a transvestite who apparently lives in the New York metropolitan area but was not identified, suckled the infant for three months, said Dr Leo Wollman of Brooklyn. It happened six years ago, he said. He said it was the only instance he knew of in which a man had breast fed a baby. The method was based on laboratory work that produced lactation in male laboratory animals, said Dr Wollman, a psychiatrist, endocrinologist, and gynaecologist. The infant turned out to be very well-adjusted and she fared well phyiscally, said the doctor. Dr Wollman said the father had orignially came to him for female sex hormones to develop his breasts 18 years ago. The man married and he and his wife, who knew about his sexual orientation, de-

cided to haVe S I s C 1 nr Wollnwn, affiliated WithM 3 h plt als a nd Coney, islg* g,ve hispXnt ® A a J t e er h tf?S(" Dr Wol!ffian fl waS thought _ the eq n he “kind of way ou ’ " gave the parent | tuitary horn V"? e s the se>. J which stl^ a neces-f, cretion of pro ’ sary for "milk, and He developed m« thij b . y nur f‘milk was stimu-I How ot nyiK ' . .. {foe lated, and so b had mother and^., 1 Taid Df. nursed the baby, sato ... Wollmam refused t Q The tnan , ..* d jn a have the nilUc .. te D r Wolllaboratory said J R ?nd man, who taste 1. ht jy judged it to be shgnuy, different from ica n v milk. It appeared climcauy,. Sa Dr Wollman refusedlto disclose any detail might help sdentl £’ o sa y. patient other thani to . he held a responsible job. He said he was stiU treat ing the father with female sex hormones. .