Seeking Lesbian and Trans Families for Co-Nursing Research

December 16, 2011

Hello, all. This winter I’ll be wrapping up my research project for my BS in Midwifery. This means I’ve done all the preliminary work, and I’m ready to do the actual research!

My project is on co-nursing, also called shared breastfeeding/ chestfeeding, in queer families. To participate, families need to have two parents actively nursing the baby. Sometimes this happens naturally, when the non-gestational parent is still nursing an older sibling and just adds in the new baby. But it can be intentional, with the non-gestational parent inducing lactation using a combination of pumping, herbs, and medications.

Have you and your partner shared nursing of your little darling? If so, I’d love to hear from you. I have a questionnaire you can fill out! And if you’re looking for extra credit, I’m also collecting short essays/ stories from parents about their experience with shared nursing, with the goal of publication in the future.

Most of the participants I have found are lesbian couples, although I would like to include families wherein one or both parents identify as transgender or genderqueer. I have gotten several responses from folks who shared nursing with someone other than a partner, like a sibling or friend, and while I think that’s awesome, my research is looking at how co-nursing affects the relationship between the parents, so I’m really only looking for LGBTQ+ families. Okay, I’d also include a family in which a cisgender male daddy induces lactation!

If you think you might be eligible, or to find out more, please contact me via email.

And please check back in the future: I intend to post the results of my research right here.

Update! The results of my research can be read here: Two-Parent Co-Nursing in Queer Families.

Tags: Academics, Lactation, Queer Families

Author Bio: Jasper Moon, CPM LMT (they/ them)

Perinatal care specialist. Parent of two. Hosted three fetuses: my big kid, a surrogacy in the middle, and my little kid. Vegan; drinks a lot of tea. Board game (and general) geek. Goat hugger extraordinaire.

Read more about Jasper here.