Breastfeeding
Woman breastfeeding their babies during the "La Grande Tétée" event backed by La Leche League in Nantes, France on October 14, 2007.
Alain Denantes/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
  • A breastfeeding charity has caused controversy online for allowing transgender and non-binary parents to attend meetings. 
  • La Leche League’s website says: “LLLGB supports everyone who wants to breastfeed or “chestfeed” in reaching their goals. We do not discriminate based on sex, gender, or gender identity. 
  • LLLGB explain the methods in which transgender and non-binary parents can provide milk for their baby on their website. 
  • Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.

A breastfeeding charity has caused controversy online for allowing transgender and non-binary parents to attend meetings. 

La Leche League’s British website says: “LLLGB supports everyone who wants to breastfeed or chestfeed in reaching their goals. We do not discriminate based on sex, gender, or gender identity. 

“Trans men, trans women, and non-binary individuals may choose to breastfeed or chestfeed their babies. You do not need to have given birth to breastfeed or chestfeed, as we can also see in the experiences of those nursing adopted babies.”

Chestfeeding is a term that tends to given to non-cis males who ‘breastfeed’ their babies since the word ‘breast’ can often be uncomfortable for them after their personal experiences.

Some Twitter users expressed concern about the use of hormones while some went as far as to call it “a form of child abuse.” 

Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine shared an image of the article on Twitter and said: "Yet more erasing of the female experience."

"Also, as a WOMAN with actual BREASTS that fed two babies, I find the term 'chestfeeding' insulting, reductionist and demeaning. It denies my experience and that of countless other women."

LLLGB responded by releasing a statement on Twitter that reads: "Our approach to supporting families has not changed. We have always respected the word choices of those we support.

"In supporting families, we will always use the language preferred by the individuals we're talking to. If for any reason a parent prefers to refer to chestfeeding, it would be disrespectful to insist on another term."

LLLGB explains the various methods in which trans men, trans women, and non-binary parents can provide milk for their babies on their website. 

The charity was founded by a group of mothers in Illinois in 1956 and currently has branches across 89 countries worldwide.

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