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Dad Tries to Stimulate Lactation in Hopes of Breast-Feeding Future Babies
Filed under: In The News, Weird But True, Breast-Feeding

A Swedish dad is using a breast pump to stimulate lactation. Credit: Photodisc
Yes, you read that right: Ragnar Bengtsson, 26, will bust out the breast pump at three-hour intervals, and he's even pledging to do it in public, according to the Web site The Local. As a full-time student at Stockholm University, he told The Local, he's "going to have to pull the pump out during class."
"But it doesn't really bother me if it makes people uncomfortable," he said, according to the story. "If they have issues with it that's their problem."
Bengtsson, who has a 2-year-old son, is chronicling his adventures in lactation on a blog, The Milkman - One Drop at a Time, hosted by Swedish TV8, according to The Local. The experiment will also be documented by the television station.
So just what would inspire a 26-year-old man to try and produce father's milk?
"Anything that doesn't do any harm is worth trying out," he told The Local. "And if it works it could prove very important for men's ability to get much closer to their children at an early stage."
He added that he did not attempt to breast-feed his son, but has not ruled out giving it a try with any of his future offspring.
Shocked? You're not alone. Bengtsson told The Local that his quest for lactating breasts has generated some pretty strong reactions. "Some people think it's completely sick," he said.
One Swedish endocrinologist said that if Bengtsson sticks to his plan, he may be able to produce enough of the hormone prolactin to cause lactation.
However, she suggested that perhaps he and other men like him could instead offer their children a breast just for comfort.
"Men often have trouble finding things," Sigbritt Werner, professor of endocrinology at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, told The Local. "And if the mother is out, the child is screaming and they can't find the pacifier I'm sure there are a lot of men who give their baby their breasts."
We'd like to see the look on that mom's face when she gets home.
No word from the mother of Bengtsson's child. Maybe she's already cried over the spilled milk. Or lack thereof.











ReaderComments (Page 1 of 4)
9-04-2009 @ 12:08PM
Lisa said...How UDDERLY ridiculous
Reply
9-07-2009 @ 10:25PM
Kate said...A man should be a man and leave the breastfeeding to the woman. Is it any wonder why children are so messed up these days? Their parents don't know their heads from their @sses. Girl and boys are being raised with the idea that everything they do must be done with complete equality. Not in our home.
9-04-2009 @ 2:10PM
Single Mom Paying Off Debt said...OMG This is too funny !!!!! Only a man would be crazy enough to dream up this !!
Reply
9-04-2009 @ 2:19PM
Inger said...This is just wrong. Seriously. Does he really think he's the first guy to try this anyway? I can't imagine this being a first, just the first to admit it...
Ick
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9-07-2009 @ 11:40PM
anthony said...yes its different but if its for the right reason like bonding with the child, theres no difference to women playing certain sports like boxing, fighting, football and the like. it was also wierd when women first starting getting rights. and women doing a mans job and physical work they were all wierd when they started and some of its still wierd. this guy is not a pervert just wants to try something different and if it doen't hurt anyone who cares, the kids these days are mess up because of different reasons but thats a whole nother story.just remember before womens rights seems wierd now but not to the thousands of generations before it
9-04-2009 @ 2:21PM
Kimberly said...I don't have a problem with it. My hubby often joked about how nice it would be if he could feed the baby too (minus using bottles). He said if there wasn't a social stigma on it, he'd consider it.
This man isn't being a pervert, just like mom's aren't being perverts for feeding their babies.
Reply
9-07-2009 @ 8:41PM
Revelation said...Yeah...pervert and disgusting is the only way to describe it. Its so disappointing that the US had lost a large majority of its morals and allow this sick type of thing to occur. A mans upper body is designed for strength and physical labor. A females upper body is designed for the nurturing of her AND her husband's offspring. God created a women's body for bearing reproduction and a man's for fertilizing a WOMAN'S egg thus initiating reproduction. Its soo sad that animals have more respect for God's plan than these sick humans. No wonder the world is in such turmoil. This is unjustifiable and wrong. I can't believe some are ignorant enough to state something as silly as "a man wanting to help his wife" thats just plain stupid. Thats why there are pumps and bottles and similac!! These sick actions should be banished how can we live under out pledge "One nation under GOD..." if no one is respecting his will..... This is sick, and should be stopped.
9-07-2009 @ 10:44PM
Katirlina said...This happened in SWEDEN Revelation, not the US, you should read more carefully before posting.
9-04-2009 @ 4:40PM
Michele W said...sorry but if GOD intended men to do that then it would be that way. Women are the mothers of the earth not men. That is just sick and how do we know he isnt some sick pervert that gets his joys out of it. Men were not created to breast feed.
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9-04-2009 @ 6:02PM
Jenny said...There are naturally occurring instances of male lactation in nature. Male goats have spontaneously sprouted udders and lactated, even when they are fully intact males. There is a Cat in europpe that is nursing a litter of kittens spontaneously, and he is genetically male. And, there are instances of male lactation in ancient history. If he can do it naturally with no chemicals or drugs then it is perfectly fine. There is a tribe in South Africa that regularly has male members breast feeding their babies...whether they lactate or not is questionable, but it calms the babies. Go to google and type in 'male lactation' and you will find a bunch of stuff on it.
9-04-2009 @ 9:53PM
Rebecca said...If you must bring God into this (or nature vs. nurture), the equipment is there for some reason. There is not a single part, crevice, or orface on the human body that hasn't served a purpose (maybe some were more important in earlier times than now). God gave nipples to men, with ducts in tack, for some reason. Do you think that they were placed there because he had spare parts? Is it for decoration, a place to hang your hat? If you get beyond the sexual views of the female breast, and actually look at for the purpose of feeding children, than a male doing the samething would be no different. Yeah its different than what were used to, but a man placing their child's needs first is not weird, odd, or gross...he's a father. Plus he's giving the child the best food on the planet. Look at the possibilities, for all those women that want to breastfeed, but for one reason or the other can't. Now if daddy can and will step in, the mother is likely to feel less guilty. Then the whole family benefits. There is nothing ungodly in that. If you really have a problem with it, then you probably aren't very comfortable with breast feeding in general, but are afraid to admit it, especially since it not very pc to talk against reast feeding. Grow up!
5-04-2012 @ 7:12AM
the milk man said...I love you guys! Sorry if my english is a bit of. Hihi, funny that some one would think i´m some pervert. I´m 26 and have a 2 year old son that i love (in a only possitive way). When we got him I felt that if I could i would have liked to brestfeed aswell. I´ts a very possitive way of beeing close to ones kid and i wanted to cheer that. Now, we have a professor at one of europes most prestigous medical acadamies that claims that it should work. WHY NOT TRY IT? Im an atheist but if gor din´t intended men to brest feed, wy did (it) give us nipples? And the cells behind them that produces the milk?
if you have a hard time picturing me, enter my blog
http://www.tv8.se/blog/mjoelkmannen
/ragnar
9-06-2009 @ 6:16PM
the milk man said...sorry
http://www.tv8.se/blogg/mjolkmannen
is the correct adress
9-07-2009 @ 8:48PM
B said...amen sister!!
9-07-2009 @ 11:32PM
Robert said...Sort of like "Tits on a Bull" and I do mean BULL!
9-08-2009 @ 2:02AM
Jenna said...Ok, so he wants to breast feed his child? I can understand why, as a 38 year old female with teens and no hope of having any other natural children of my own, I can tell you I miss that time in my life. But I can't say as a man I would feel the same way, but who knows, I'm not a man so I can't really say. My point is, men don't produce that hormone naturally for a reason. Has he really thought this through? Does he think he is going to get to produce this hormone, feed his future children, and get to keep his nice PECKS? NOPE, not going to happen. If it actually works, then he will be stuck with boobs like a woman, and eventually, as it does for women, gravity will win and his boobs will go south. So if he truly wants to go through all of that, that is his choice. But, there is an alternative that if I was a guy I would totally do. Didn't any of you see the movie Meet The Fockers? Why not make your own Mannary Gland, and profit off of it? So many men, from the sounds of it, would totally buy it. Sure you don't get the physical sensation of the child feeding, suckling, whatever you want to call it, but you still get the closeness as the child looks up to your eyes and eats. Not that you don't get that with the bottle, but hey, I would think this would be a great alternative as you at the very least get to hold the child closer to you. And the plus is you don't have to deal with the leaking breast, the sore nipples, the sagging breasts and stretch marks! Ok guys, ready, set, go, let's see who develops this product first! But I do have it on record that I told you to do it, and practically pushed you into the concept, so I am making a legal stance now, I want 40% Why only 40, and not half, because I don't want to do any of the manual labor that will go into it, but I have no problem helping you sell it and market it. So on record, any of you come up with it, and I, pugzly007@msn.com, get 40% of all profits!
9-08-2009 @ 2:39AM
Keith said...This man is not using drugs to try to stimulate milk production. If it works it is natural!!! and "as God intended". I think your femininity is just threatened. This is what I hate about so many women. They want equality until it threatens them or their beliefs of what should be. If males can lactate with just stimulation of the nipple then that is what nature or “God” intended. How do we know that males didn’t breast feed children in ancient times before we became “civilized” and made women the keepers of the home and the men the providers? You’re just trying to put your own beliefs and fears on men. Men deserve equality too, and that just may mean staying home and breast feeding the baby if they want while the women go out to work.
9-05-2009 @ 1:17AM
MamaBlingBling said...Sorry...but that is kinda wierd....just can't picture men pumping breastmilk! Hmmmm....
Reply
9-05-2009 @ 2:31AM
Pau1sr said...Although this is strange, it demonstrates the type of love a father can have for his children. Now lets see if DYFS or some other anti-father group will use this against him. I would not have thought of this, but he should be free to try it , "U-Go-Guy"!
Reply
9-08-2009 @ 4:02AM
Boardemt said...I agree. Not something I would have thought of, but with all the women in todays society wanting mens roles... why is it so strange for a man to want a womans role. I wonder if the equal rights activists will back HIM....