# Can a woman's daughter breastfeed her baby? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 27, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610 "2003-11-27T19:07:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/1 "2003-11-27T19:07:48Z")
Is it possible for a woman’s teenaged daughter to breastfeed her baby? Does anyone do this? What exactly induces lactation in a woman who is not pregnant (i.e. how does the woman start producing milk?) ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/2 "2003-11-27T19:38:14Z")
I believe that there are drugs that can induce lactation. Otherwise, only pregnancy (or maybe false pregnancy?) should kick it off. One bizarre thing I’ve come across is a mongrel bitch, who had been spayed before she could ever become pregnant, lactated and fed a litter of orphans–kittens. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/3 "2003-11-27T19:38:58Z")
Giving birth results in a big flood of oxytocin, which makes a woman lactate. Or maybe the flood of oxytocin induces contractions. In either case, it’s all about the oxytocin. Link: [http://www.babyzone.com/features/content/display.asp?TopicID=6&ContentID=203](http://www.babyzone.com/features/content/display.asp?TopicID=6&ContentID=203) It’s about adoptive mothers who want to breastfeed their babies to feel closer to them. It says that the hormone therapy involves pumping the lady up full of estrogen, to the level that is as high as a pregnant women, and then the estrogen is abruptly withdrawn to simulate birthing. Eh. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/4 "2003-11-27T19:39:31Z")
A silly wild ass guess would be that becoming pregnant starts the lactation process. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/5 "2003-11-27T19:39:46Z")
I have heard and dismissed that some non-pregnant (or some non-recently pregnant) women can lactact a little due to nipple stimulation. Again I don’t know how true it is, I am posting this really to see if anyone can confirm this one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/6 "2003-11-27T19:46:39Z")
Thanks for that link, it does appear that nipple stim alone can do it: > [@](#): > > While there are now several regimens that use hormone therapy to assist in bringing in milk, many women have induced lactation with only mechanical stimulation. This consists of breast massage, nipple manipulation, and sucking – either by a baby or a hospital grade electric breast pump. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/7 "2003-11-27T19:53:26Z")
Are there any families that do this? Have a daughter or some younger female relative breastfeed a baby? ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/8 "2003-11-27T20:44:34Z")
Also is there any strange sex practice to get a woman to lactate? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/9 "2003-11-27T21:20:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Incubus \* > \*\*Are there any families that do this? Have a daughter or some younger female relative breastfeed a baby? \*\* Why younger? _One_ of the problems with teenage birth is difficulty in breastfeeding. Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Primaflora](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/898d66/32.png) [@Primaflora](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Primaflora)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/10 "2003-11-27T21:39:29Z")
Cite please mangeorge? I’ve never come across any info which says there’s a physical reason that teenage mothers have issues with breastfeeding. Theoretically a daughter with enough motivation could possibly act as a wetnurse but I don’t think it’s all that likely to happen in reality. We’re not a society which is enthusiastic about wetnursing. The kind of stimulation needed to induce lactation is hard work – why would a teenage girl choose to do this for her mother? ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/11 "2003-11-27T21:55:01Z")
Cite? Maybe later. I’m going for a late lunch. I saw a program on TLC, I think it was. They were discussing the disadvantages of young mothers whose bodies haven’t fully developed yet. It had to do with hormones. Other problems were pelvic and utererine maturity, IIRC. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention, as usual. Guess I shouldn’t have brought it up. I just wondered why “younger”. Older would likely be better. Especially if the wetnurse were already a mother. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2003, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/12 "2003-11-27T22:03:22Z")
Are we talking 13, or 19? ---
**Author:** ![lauramarlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a5b964/32.png) [@lauramarlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lauramarlane)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/13 "2003-11-28T13:18:49Z")
Relactation or induced lactation is entirely possible (and you can find out more about that here: [http://www.fourfriends.com/abrw/](http://www.fourfriends.com/abrw/) ). But I, too, have heard that young girls have difficulty breastfeeding their own children so I’m not sure how successful they’d be inducing lactation. Sorry, I don’t have a cite for that, just a cousin who’s a nurse in the maternity ward at the local hospital. ---
**Author:** ![Turpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Turpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turpentine)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/14 "2003-11-28T16:26:31Z")
Yeah, I’m still having a hard time picturing why someone’s teenage daughter would _want_ to breastfeed her mother’s infant, though. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/15 "2003-11-28T17:10:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Turpentine \* > \*\*Yeah, I’m still having a hard time picturing why someone’s teenage daughter would _want_ to breastfeed her mother’s infant, though. \*\* Well, it depends on the situation. Much of the World does not live in the US or Western society (where there might be more social stigma), and a large portion of the world is poor enough that it might make the most sense for keeping the child alive. Historically speaking I believe I’ve read of the practice of older sisters helping to raise infant brothers in this manner in Western literature as well. ---
**Author:** ![A\_Curious\_Writer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@A\_Curious\_Writer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A_Curious_Writer)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/16 "2003-11-28T17:39:02Z")
Yeah, I wondered, too, about that, but…helping to raise them is one thing, that was done all the time out on the frontier 100 years ago I’m sure whent he mom died. But, there’s a difference between changing diapers, snuggling in the morning & putting to bed, entertaining more, even discipllining, and breastfeeding. A mature enough girl might be willing to do all the others and even do them very well, but breastfeeding’s one thing I think almost any girl would say “Let’s just useforumla.” However, in non-Western societies, maybe it is more comon. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/17 "2003-11-28T18:40:20Z")
> [@](#): > > While there are now several regimens that use hormone therapy to assist in bringing in milk, many women have induced lactation with only mechanical stimulation. This consists of _breast massage, nipple manipulation, and sucking_ – either by a baby or a hospital grade electric breast pump. Is this a viable career for a young guy to work towards? I could out-perform some cold un-loving pump machine (at least I’d like to try) 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-womans-daughter-breastfeed-her-baby/215610/18 "2003-11-28T19:08:40Z")
I read some thingy addressed to adoptive mothers once that said that women who adopt babies can at least partially breastfeed if they are willing to pump their breasts for a few hours a day for several months to get started. How anyone out there would have the time and desire to do this is beyond me, but apparently it can be done.