To start this series off I'm doing the boilerplate "I'm not an expert" statement. If you can please consult an actual expert. I know it can be expensive or even embarrassing for some but if you can definitely do. Some idiot blogger on the internet is a poor substitute for an actual doctor no matter what some will say.

Secondly while I will generally try to back my statements up with good references a lot of this can be kinda spotty when it comes to research. Health research not focused on balding, impotent middle aged cis men can be very sparse. Large, thorough, detailed studies exist for some things but there's gaps all over the place. That goes quadruply so for subjects like breastfeeding and when it comes to even more niche subjects like the efficacy of specific herbal supplements it feels like they're just having a laugh.

Considering that, some of this is going to be somewhat vibes based or anecdotal. But don't worry, I have consulted stars and they tell me things, deep dark secrets on how to maximise your milkiness. Which is to say you should probably take any unreferenced statement in this article with a grain of salt the size of a small car.

Lastly, I am going to try and keep my writing as gender neutral as possible. I have been struggling to find gender neutral articles about lactation and I think it'd be nice to push back against that. I also believe it doesn't really matter what gender you are, were or are going to be, getting milky is for everyone, it is even possible for cis men with a lot of effort. I am just that "woke" and that keen to make more people milky, if you don't agree with that you're welcome to leave.

I will note there is one exception to this neutrality which some of you may have noticed already. I am going to be using the words breasts and breastfeeding and not chest and chestfeeding in this article. I appreciate that some people see breasts as gendered but I do not and I don't think they should be. The chest is amazing but it's not the bit that makes and delivers the milk, the breasts are the bit that makes milk. I apologise to anyone that this upsets, I am really sorry. Honestly, I respect your stance and wouldn't try to change it but for my own writing I will not be using chest/chestfeeding. I hope this won't drive you away but understand if it does.

With that all covered off lets start with the class.

What will we be learning?

To put it simply, everything you need to know to both get started lactating and sustain it for as long as you want to or need to. To start with we'll be going through the basics of what your body goes through during lactation. After the basics of what is happening is laid down we'll discuss what preparations you need to make and then at the end we'll go through the actual process of inducing lactation. Before we start anything though there are some important questions you need to know the answers to.

Why do this?

The exact reason why doesn't matter but knowing why in your heart why you are doing this does. Having a clear end goal even something as simple "I want to see if I can" is important for keeping going. I'm doing it because sometimes accepting your body includes exploring what it can do.

Maybe you meant why am I doing this? and in turn why should you trust me at all?

The answer on that front is simple, I'm an autistic trans woman who just found a new fixation, I've got both the ability and motivation to see this through and do it well. I'm also putting my own body on the line. This isn't me talking about theory, I am doing the research for myself and I've already started putting what I have learnt so far into practice.

How risky is this?

There is risk to everything in life, lactating is no different. The scariest risk is that you will develop breast cancer, not due to lactating but during lactation. The telltale indicators of a cancerous growth like lumps and bumps can be hard to pick out while you are lactating and that can and has lead to people missing it. It however is worth noting that while this is a risk during lactation there is some data coming out that indicates that it may actually reduce your risk long term.

Other than the risk of missing cancer there are two other big problems that can happen during lactation - Infections and blockages. Both can have massive impacts upon your health and both have options regarding prevention. Overall however the risks of either are low for most people as long as you're taking care of your breasts and maintain some level of hygiene, both of which we will be discussing later.

Who can do this?

I said it in the disclaimer at the start but to repeat myself - anyone can do this. It may be harder for those of us who were born with testosterone as the dominant hormone but that doesn't mean much when it comes to our bodies, they are versatile and adaptive things. If you have breasts (which most people do unless they're removed), a human, an adult and are willing to put in effort, possibly a lot of effort for some, you can lactate.

This series is very intentionally going to be as gender neutral as possible and that's for that reason, everyone can lactate, even cis men with a lot of effort and some medical intervention. The science is still a bit spotty on whether hormonal and developmental differences prevent people from being able to lactate enough for feeding an infant but that may not be your goal. On the science, the references I use may not be as neutral because of the world we live in but we do what we can with what we have.

When can we expect updates?

Honestly, I don't know, I can write pretty quickly and I have a large amount of the whole series built out already. Even with that however I want to space things out and make sure I am properly referencing and researching things. Checking my work and getting good references will take time. I'll be trying to get articles out as quickly as I can but expect my output to be intermittent and be happy if it is not.

Anything else I should know?

Be ready for an emotional roller coaster. It may not happen to you but there are a notable amount of people that feel emotionally different during the process, mostly in a good way but sometimes in a bad way. If you feel that things are getting out of control emotionally know that in most cases you can stop even if you are feeding an infant, formula isn't great for infants but there are quite a few milk banks around these days to help balance that out.

With all of that covered off, welcome to Getting Milky 101. I hope that I do a good enough job of explaining everything that you walk away at the end of this series with enough knowledge to achieve whatever goal you want. In the next article we will start in on the true start of milkyness - your hormones.