Is it true that men in the olden days used to breastfeed?

Question

Breastfeeding advocates insist that long ago, men used to breast feed infants. They say that if you try hard enough, men can produce milk!

Answer 1

Margaret Mead documented a culture in Polynesia where men did routinely breastfeed their infants.  It seemed to be more of a bonding/comfort thing - obviously, the infants were not getting nutritional value from the practice.

Biologically, men CAN produce milk if they are stimulated enough.  However, it takes an extreme amount of effort (think breast pumps almost 24/7), and only trace amounts of milk are produced.

So - there is SOME truth to what they are saying, but it's been twisted quite a bit.  A single cultural example does not mean that everyone did it "in the old days."  AND it was never really possible for the men to nourish the infants.

Answer 2

Lactation takes 4 hormones to work: prolactin, oxytocin, estrogen, and progesterone.  All 4 of these are present in men's bodies though some in lesser amounts than in women.  It is possible, as said, through proper stimulation for a man to lactate a few drops, but men have much smaller mammary glands than women.  They could never sustain a child on what small amounts of milk they can produce.

I agree with the poster that said that in some societies, it is a bonding ritual for men to try and lactate so that they can feed their child.  The oxytocin, alone, indicates that for both sexes it is part of bonding rite (oxytocin is the hormone that is secreted during o****m, for example, which is why it is often called the bonding hormone).

Answer 3

No.

Answer 4

A man mothering a child? That's incredulous! We men simply don't have what it takes to do the job. The answer is no. We haven't the physiology, the glands, the chemical make up, nor the body for such a deed.

Answer 5

I don't think it was all that common. It takes female hormones. We'd have to go way, way, way back before bi-pedal locomotion to consider such an idea as lactating from both sexes, if then. Now, it is true they used to kill male infants for lactating. It was called witches' milk, a clear liquid emitted from the male teats before the thyroid and hormones starting the growth of the person.

Answer 6

um... no

Answer 7

u r weird.

Answer 8

"Olden days"???    Wow, you have quiet an effective vocabulary.  But to answer this very intelligent question......yes, in "olden days" men were not physically the same as they are now in "modern times."   Back then, men had very large b*****s, and were able to breastfeed babies when mom was chewing leather to soften it, or when mom had been killed by a sabertooth tiger.  Then slowly when the women spent less time softening, and sabertooth tigers were extinct, men had no need for large b*****s, and they gradually evolved to have flat, hairy chests.  I hope this helps.

Answer 9

They taped cans of evaporated milk to their chests.

Answer 10

You need to read up on how mammals work.

Answer 11

They can, but usually not enough to breast feed a child. If male nipples are stimulated enough, they can produce a form of milk, though its usually only a few drops.

So yes, men can produce milk, but I really doubt its possible for a man to breast feed a child unless he has some sort of unusual  condition.

Answer 12

I find that hard to believe men are not equipped with the glands to produce milk to feed a child,how would we accomplish something like that?i looked it up and its just some speculations of a few crazy people saying that ,u know some people still think the world is square well they are people like that.its proberly all a gimmick to make them selves popular.

Answer 13

I have never heard about men breastfeeding long ago.  However,  sucking action stimulates milk production.  I wasn't aware that men had the hormones to aid in producing milk.

There are cases of women who have adopted a baby and are able to breastfeed.