So...this whole parenthood thing is one awkward fascinating bit of learning after another, but Isaiah's most recent doctor's appointment takes the cake.In preparation for his one month visit with the pediatrician, Jo-Elle asked me for a list of questions for the doc. Among the things I wanted to know about was the seemingly odd shape of his rib cage. I had noticed it had changed, flaring slightly. The answer was not what I expected...
At one month of age, babies are awash in hormones that are being offloaded from their mother through breast milk. And the most abundant hormone, not surprisingly, is estrogen. But there is so much estrogen flowing that even little boys are feminized. So feminized that their bone structure temporarily changes...
And they develop breasts...
And they lactate...
Yup. Baby boys eating only mother's milk have so much estrogen in their diet that they themselves also produce milk. To prove the point, the doctor squeezed one of Isaiah's little boobies and got a drop of white! Its normal. And it passes quickly. In fact, the photo above is a couple weeks old (and not that cute, but it shows his bumps---which are now less prominent).
The human body is fascinating.
This all makes the frightening research around endocrine disruptors and chemicals like pthalates, BPA, and atrazine all the more scary---if boys are already squirting milk and this stuff puts them further over the gender-bending edge...yikes...
And it brings the issue of depuration (chemical offloading through lactation) in nonhumans, like dolphins, even more clearly into focus.
