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Breastfeeding and Chestfeeding Experiences of Cisgender Sexual Minority Women, Transgender, and Gender Diverse Parents.

Breastfeeding and Chestfeeding Experiences of Cisgender Sexual Minority Women, Transgender, and Gender Diverse Parents. Journal of human lactation : official journal of International Lactation Consultant Association Tordoff, D. M., Lunn, M. R., Ariel, D., Crowe, S., Lubensky, M. E., Flentje, A., Obedin-Maliver, J. 2025: 8903344251391163

Abstract

Sexual and gender minority adults are increasingly growing their families and having children, yet there is limited information on the lactation experiences of sexual and gender minority parents.Using data from The PRIDE Study, a national cohort of sexual and gender minority adults in the United States, we examined patterns and correlates of lifetime breast/chestfeeding among sexual minority (i.e., lesbian, bisexual, queer) cisgender women, transgender women, transgender men, and gender diverse individuals who were parents.Our analysis included 1,562 parents aged 19-83?years with a median of two children (IQR 1-3). Among this population, 941 (60.2%) were sexual minority cisgender women, 232 (14.9%) transgender women, 199 (12.7%) transgender men, and 190 (12.2%) gender diverse parents assigned female at birth. Among 962 parents who had ever carried a pregnancy and delivered a child, sexual minority cisgender women were most likely to have ever breast/chestfed (91.7%), followed by gender diverse parents (88.8%) and transgender men (83.3%). No other demographic factors were associated with ever breast/chestfeeding. Few participants (6.7%) had ever breast/chestfed a child from another person's pregnancy. Ever having delivered a child and having an increasing number of children were associated with ever breast/chestfeeding a child from another person's pregnancy. In addition, seven (3%) transgender women had ever breast/chestfed a child.In our cohort, rates of lifetime breast/chestfeeding were high among sexual and gender minority parents who had ever carried a pregnancy. Breast/chestfeeding provides important health and infant-parent bonding benefits in families where one or more parents has the interest in and capacity for lactation. Co-lactation and/or lactation induction may be particularly beneficial for sexual and gender minority families.

View details for DOI 10.1177/08903344251391163

View details for PubMedID 41277793