Until now, it is the mother who takes care of a baby in the initial months after the birth. A mother is responsible for growing the fetus inside her womb for more than nine months, and later nourish the little one with healthy breast milk. But now, a new technique which is under development by a London University student could make dads also involved in the process of growing up an infant in the initial days.
Marie-Claire Springham, a product design student at Central Saint Martin's is apparently in the initial stages of developing a male breastfeeding kit, which she calls 'chestfeeding kit'. Even though the chestfeeding kit is still in its conceptual stage, Marie-Claire Springham believes that she will materialize the device soon, so that dads can also help mums who struggle to feed their babies.
The chestfeeding kit mainly focusses on developing milk ducts on the male body. The male partner will take this hormone kit when his better half becomes pregnant, and by the end of the ninth month, he will also start secreting milk just like a female body.
The main hormone present in the 'hormone kit' will be progestin. It should be noted that progestin is a basic form of progesterone, a female sex hormone, and it is responsible for stimulating the production of the mammary glands. Later, domperidone will be given to males to increase the production of prolactin.
Interestingly, the chestfeeding kit also comprises a pump along with a compression vest, which is very similar to the maternity bra of women.
"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," Marie-Claire told thesun.co.uk.
Even though the move from Marie-Claire Springham is receiving widespread acclaim from all corners, medical experts argue that chestfeeding kit could bring about various difficulties and medical issues in the lives of the users. As per these experts, production of female hormones on men will make them grow their chest like boobs, and will finally result in a condition called gynecomastia.
These experts also believe that this product will never reach the market, as it is impossible to grow milk ducts on men.
