Swedish dad in bid for breast milk....

[Damjan]

Swedish father Ragnar Bengtsson, 26, has entered into an experiment that he hopes will help him breastfeed his future children.

On Tuesday, the Stockholm family man began stimulating his breasts with a pump in a bid to produce milk.

"Anything that doesn't do any harm is worth trying out. And if it works it could prove very important for men's ability to get much closer to their children at an early stage," Bengtsson told The Local.

His efforts are to be documented by Swedish TV8, with the first instalment scheduled to air at 9pm on Wednesday on the Aschberg show. Bengtsson also maintains a blog on the station's website, the title of which translates as: 'The Milkman - One Drop at a Time'.

Bengtsson is preparing to pump his breasts at three-hour intervals every day until the beginning of December. As a full time economics student at Stockholm University, he is not always going to be in a position to pump in private.

"I'm going to have to pull out the pump during lectures. But really it doesn't bother me if it makes people uncomfortable. If they have issues with it that's their problem," he said.

Male lactation is a relatively common side effect of hormone treatments, but Bengtsson has no plans to chemically induce the process.

"If it works and the milk turns out to have a high nutritional value it could be a real breakthrough," he said.

Bengtsson has a 2-year-old son who is in no way involved in the experiment, but the Stockholm dad doesn't rule our breastfeeding any future kids. Not everybody has acclaimed his quest for fathers' milk, however.

"There have been a lot of strong reactions. Some people think it's completely sick," he said.

Sigbritt Werner, professor of endocrinology at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, told The Local that it could be possible for Bengtsson to produce "a drop or two" after three or four months.

"Women breastfeed after they've been bathing in estrogen during a nine month pregnancy, so obviously it takes some time. But if he works on it regularly he'll likely notice a layer of tissue forming beneath the areola and it should be possible to produce enough of the hormone prolactin to cause lactation," she said.

But Werner stressed that while she was interested in the subject, she was more keen for men to use their breasts to comfort their children.

"Men often have trouble finding things. 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.

"Healthy children know instinctively that the breast has a dual function. One gives them milk, the other gives them warmth and a cosy bond. Men don't need to strive to produce milk but they should take the opportunity to get closer to their child by offering them their breasts in the same way as women," she said.

[mrwilkerson]

where is his wife

[TG187]

Women have this duty, not men. This is from the start of human kind. This is against Law of Nature. Next step is to see men giving birth to babies, even though I heard a guy did that.

And some say that the world isn't going crazy...God...

[Butters!]

Where have I seen this before...?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OkcucXIuVI

Edited September 3, 2009 by Butters!

[Chris]

Seems like quite a serious issue here, the article could have done without the sexism.

It's pretty weird though, not sure I'd want to breastfeed (with my own) any future children I have :/

[Bulletproofboy]

lol at stewie

this is disgusting jeez where is his wife or partner/or mother of those kids

[Little_Chestnut]

Good for him. I already informed Spaz that he would be doing half the breastfeeding if he got me knocked up.

[Bear]

Men should take on more responsibility with their offspring. So why not breastfeed? Make womens lives easier.

[MrLlamaLlama]

Men should take on more responsibility with their offspring. So why not breastfeed? Make womens lives easier.

It's

not

natural.

[Spaz The Great]

Men should take on more responsibility with their offspring. So why not breastfeed? Make womens lives easier.

It's

not

natural.

Well, technically, neither are fast cars or blow jobs. Will you turn those down because they aren't natural?

[Connor]

I'm imagining it doesn't take sewing breasts onto some guy to make a fast car.

[Little_Chestnut]

I'm imagining it doesn't take sewing breasts onto some guy to make a fast car.

And it doesn't take sewing breasts onto guys to make them lactate. XD

[Red_91]

Steam, where do you get these stories from?

Got to agree with TG on this, its a woman's job to do breastfeeding.

The science part of this is though actually interesting (even though I am against Man Breastfeeding).

[Connor]

I'm imagining it doesn't take sewing breasts onto some guy to make a fast car.

And it doesn't take sewing breasts onto guys to make them lactate. XD

What does it take then?

[TG187]

Probably this will annoy some...but women are starting to get lazy with raising children or what? This is the best example.

Firstly it completely crushes the human nature and Law of Nature. Why we have to destroy what is on for millions of years just cause some scientists say so. Not everything scientists say is true. Back then, in Stone Age for example, there weren't scientists and still things were going fine.

Secondly, I don't see no normal man with some intelligence really doing this. It is just not normal. I saw something about fast cars. You put on a car a bigger engine and haha a faster car. That's normal. What's not normal in that? But you cannot consider a man breast feeding a baby something normal. I know I would not.

This is the continuing of what I said few posts earlier. God dammit the World is going worser with each day that passes.

Edited September 19, 2009 by TG187

[MrLlamaLlama]

Spaz, nah, I'm not saying that... I do want fast cars, and blowjobs...but I don't want to suck a man's tits.

[Connor]

ZING

Anyway, I'm objecting to having my nipples torn to shreds by hungry kids.

[MrLlamaLlama]

Also, now I've overcome the initial comic impact stage, I've realised that fast cars are natural. They're a way of satisfying man's need for adrenaline, serotonin, or 'thrills' in a modern society where we don't get chased by sabre tooth tigers or mammoths. Blowjobs, still a mystery...but I can't begrudge them that.

[Connor]

Cock -> Mouth

How is that unnatural?

That's two things that are already there.

[Ivan]

Probably this will annoy some...but women are starting to get lazy with raising children or what? This is the best example.

Firstly it completely crushes the human nature and Law of Nature. Why we have to destroy what is on for millions of years just cause some scientists say so. Not everything scientists say is true. Back then, in Stone Age for example, there weren't scientists and still things were going fine.

Secondly, I don't see no normal man with some intelligence really doing this. It is just not normal. I saw something about fast cars. You put on a car a bigger engine and haha a faster car. That's normal. What's not normal in that? But you cannot consider a man breast feeding a baby something normal. I know I would not.

This is the continuing of what I said few posts earlier. God dammit the World is going worser with each day that passes.

Lazy?

They still do all the hardwork, it's JUST BREASTFEEDING.

And you prefer to live in the stone age or something? Things were going fine?

If you got some disease or the flu, you'd be most likely dead, but nowadays, all this unnatural things like modern medicine would save your ass.

And Oh My God, men breastfeeding, this is truly an awfull world.

[MrLlamaLlama]

Modern medicine is based on man's will to survive, just like ANY OTHER LIVING THING. And just like ANY OTHER LIVING THING, humans' respective genders perform different and specific tasks based on most efficient use of their anatomy. Women are designed to birth, nurture and care for a child until it can fend for itself, that why they have breasts, vaginas, a certain disposition, and the ability to breastfeed.

[Iconoclast]

Uh, I dunno... It is un-natural, but who cares? If it helps the baby in someway or another, then let it be. And some mothers can't breastfeed their children, so this is a great alternative.

[MrLlamaLlama]

I just think that it's not right to put a child in that position. Children often have a different way of loving their mother and father, and for a child to bond with their father in this way might affect it psychologically some way down the line.

[Iconoclast]

Well yea, that's the down-side of it.

[Little_Chestnut]

Men do have the ability to lactate in certain circumstances so it is not completely unnatural.

Why is it that women are always shit on? I really hate to sound like a feminist, because I am everything but one. However, women have to bleed out of their vaginas once a month, and many of them get cramps that feel like someone took a bite out of your uterus and it is just sitting there bleeding. They have to go through childbirth ... fucking ouch. (They usually tear open and need reconstructive surgery down there if you men still want more than a hot dog in a hallway afterwords). On top of it we need to breastfeed until we bleed? That is some bullshit if you ask me.

The only upside is it is okay for us to be touchy and feely, but even then we are just looked at as pansies. No one ever takes us seriously.

Why is it so hard to comprehend that if a man should be able to breastfeed that he could help out a little bit? We are not being lazy, look how much we have to go through to have/be able to have a child, the man could do a little more than pop a boner and knock us up.