Experts say transgender inclusive breastfeeding booklet does not help mums

The Australian Breastfeeding Association is running a class in July using terms like “chestfeeding” and “human milk feeding” in an effort to include trans men who give birth.

Female medical experts have urged women’s health organisations not to marginalise new mums as they attempt to accommodate trans men who give birth by renaming breastfeeding as “chestfeeding” and “human milk feeding”.

The call comes after it was revealed the Australian Breastfeeding Association spent the past two years helping Sydney organisation Rainbow Families develop a book for new gay, lesbian, transsexual and non-binary parents.

That book has not yet been published but Rainbow Families said participants who sign up to a July “breastfeeding, chestfeeding and human milk feeding class” will be issued with a copy, according to their website.

There is a push to rename breastfeeding as chestfeeding or human milk feeding.

But University of Western Sydney Professor of midwifery Hannah Dahlen said female health organisations should retain their core focus on helping women.

“The vast majority of breastfeeding is done by women and women are still not well supported when it comes to breastfeeding, whether that be at home, at work or in the community,” she said. “Let’s be inclusive but let’s not overlook and marginalise women in the process.“

One member of the Australian Breastfeeding Association, who did not wish to be named, said there was intense political pressure to obliterate gendered language.

“It is quite a small group but it is a growing number of people and the pressure to accommodate trans and non-binary parents is not just coming from them, it is coming from others,” she said.

“The pressure is quite intense, organisations have struggled with it, particularly when you’re talking about stuff to do with ­female reproduction.”

She said it could be particularly confusing for new mothers who did not speak English as a first language and struggled to understand how someone who gave birth would not be called a mother.

The push to remove references to women follows similar moves by Brighton and Sussex university hospitals in the UK which issued gender inclusive guidelines to staff that instructed them to use phrases such as “human milk” instead of breastmilk, “birth parent” instead of mother and “second biological parent” instead of father.

The country’s National Health Service also faced a backlash last week after referring to “pregnant people” rather than pregnant women in a social media post.

The Australian Breastfeeding Association and Rainbow Families declined to comment when contacted by The Daily Telegraph.