Background 
Lactation support in transgender women is increasingly recognized as clinically important yet has limited clinical precedent. While previous case reports describe successful lactation induction their protocols involve domperidone, a galactagogue unavailable for this purpose in the US and recommended against by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We present a case of successful lactation induction in a transgender woman using a protocol not involving galactagogues. 
Case Presentation 
Our patient was a 36-year-old transgender woman, a United States military veteran 
receiving care through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), who was planning on having a child with her partner and wanted to breastfeed. Her partner, a transgender man, carried and delivered the child and wished to return to testosterone use shortly after delivery. Her primary goals included sufficient milk production to allow bonding, even if not the sole source of infant nutrition. Our multidisciplinary team included a clinical pharmacist with gender-affirming hormone therapy expertise and a lactation specialist with gender-affirming therapy expertise. Our patient was status post orchiectomy with an initial testosterone level of 27 ng/dL, and on a dose of 4mg PO 17-beta estradiol. We began the patient’s lactation induction 98 days prior to her partner’s pregnancy and 377 days prior to her 
partner’s eventual due date. Our protocol involved 1) increased estrogen and 
progesterone to mimic physiologic levels during pregnancy; 2) physical nipple stimulation using a breast pump; and 3) reduced estrogen and progesterone shortly before delivery to mimic physiologic levels after birth. We opted against a galactagogue due to FDA recommendations against domperidone as well as patient concerns of side effects with other galactagogues. Interestingly, our patient’s estradiol levels remained under 200 pg/mL throughout the lactation induction process, even at higher levels of 17-beta estradiol dosing. This is in consonance with other published case-reports on lactation-induction in transwomen. 
Discussion 
Working with a multidisciplinary team including pharmacy and lactation specialists and using a protocol involving (1) initial increase of estradiol and progesterone, (2) nipple stimulation, and (3) eventual reduction of estradiol and progesterone, our patient was able to lactate without the use of galactagogues, allowing her to meet her goal of bonding with her baby. This is the first reported case of successful lactation induction without galactagogues for a transgender woman to our knowledge, and provides an example protocol modeled on physiologic lactation stimuli that other clinicians may adapt with their own patients in similar circumstances.

Inducing lactation in a transgender woman without galactagogues: A case report

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