# Male lactation

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-lactation/152462>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [February 3, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-lactation/152462 "2003-02-03T07:50:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![BritPopTart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@BritPopTart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BritPopTart)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-lactation/152462/1 "2003-02-03T07:50:35Z")

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The Classic Straight Dope question [“Why Do Men Have Nipples?”](http://www.straightdope.com/classic/a1_093.html) has the comment:

> [@](#):
>
> (Incidentally, don’t start thinking that at one time our human male ancestors must have suckled their young. So far as anybody knows, male lactation has never developed in any mammalian species.)

but (and this is **not** to contradict Our Cecil, by any means ;)) I got a set of scary links of (probably bogus! :dubious:) pictures and articles the other day that I figured I’d share with the rest of the Teeming Millions, just for amusement’s sake.

[“Milkmen”](http://freebirth.com/milkmen.htm)  
[“Sri Lankan Man Breastfeeds”](http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_700634.html)

(Why, you ask, did I get sent these things? Short answer: “My friends are weird.”)

And yes, Cecil also added:

> [@](#):
>
> In the adult male, the dormant glands can still be revived by a sufficient dose of estrogen. Actual lactation is rare–only a couple cases have been recorded. But at least one writer (Daly, 1978) has suggested that the “physiological impediments to the evolution of male lactation do not seem individually surmountable.” Meaning we may yet see the dawn of the truly liberated household.

…which does cover all bases nicely, in any regard. 😛

Comments?

Love,  
Milla

P.S. For your amusement, I include also [this link](http://www.science-frontiers.com/sourcebk.htm).

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**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\
**Post date:** [February 4, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/male-lactation/152462/2 "2003-02-04T07:37:08Z")

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And, witness my sig.