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New Hormone Kit Designed 'To Allow Men To Breastfeed'

New Hormone Kit Designed 'To Allow Men To Breastfeed'

The kit, which comes complete with a pump and compression vest, 'makes men lactate - but you might grow moobs first'

Rebecca Shepherd

Rebecca Shepherd

So, the question of all questions: you could have the potential to breastfeed your baby but it comes with the consequence that you've got to grow moobs, do you do it?

Well, you might find yourself making that decision at some point because one day it might become a reality all thanks to a new invention which claims to help men lactate.

According to The Sun, the 'chestfeeding' kit could assist new mums struggling to breastfeed and help dads bond with their newborns.

Marie-Claire Springham

The idea could be a while away yet because the kit is only at the concept stage and is yet to be tested.

Guys would need to take hormones while their partner is pregnant to 'grow ducts' but doctors warned that it's not known whether men can grow milk ducts - or what effect the hormones will have on their body.

The 'chestfeeding' kit designer says that the side effects could see men growing 'moobs' - up to a size B cup - as a result of taking female hormones.

Marie-Claire Springham

Designer, Marie-Claire, a product design student at Central Saint Martin's in London, hopes it will break down barriers of fathers feeling left when it comes to looking after their baby - and could be available in five years.

The kit involves taking the hormone progestin once a day which will be started as soon as the couple find out they are expecting.

Progestin helps stimulate the production of milk-producing glands which are needed to breastfeed.

The Sun reported that in the final six weeks of pregnancy, the dad-to-be would take another hormone, domperidone. It's often prescribed to mums struggling to breastfeed, and stimulates the production of anything hormone prolactin, which tells a new mum's body to produce milk.

PA

The kit comes fully equipped with a pump and compression vest which acts as the 'male equivalent of the maternity bra'.

Marie-Claire, 24, said that the idea is that when the baby is born, a dad-to-be's body could be ready to release milk.

She told The Sun Online: "I was trying to create an empathy tool, something that could really help when a mum was struggling to breastfeed and could help a dad be of practical use.

"Those two drugs put together create three of the four hormones necessary for a man to product milk.

"The last one is oxytocin which is what triggers the 'let down reflex' and that's naturally produce when a man or a woman holds their child.

The drugs and breast pumps are already available on the NHS so Marie-Claire said there's 'no reason' the kit can't be ready in the next few years.

It's not known how much milk a man could produce or whether it would be as nutritious as a mother's milk.

GP Dr Sarah Jarvis said: "I'm not sure anyone has tried this and, personally, my concern is when you mess around with someone's hormones you never know what side effects you're going to get.

"I would urge extreme caution before suggesting this."

Featured Image Credit: Marie-Claire Springham

Topics: Breastfeeding, News, Weird