Is Breast Milk Just for Babies?

A full grown man sucks from his mother’s teat in this episode of Little Britain.

Why is it that when most of us see a person over the age of 3 drinking human breast milk, we are astonished, aghast and generally disgusted by the idea and the act? When it comes to adult’s drinking breast milk, it’s generally categorized as a fetish, but as an actual food source, breast milk is still low on the food chain.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot, especially as a lady who’s currently lactating (note: no milk is dripping out of my nipples as I type this, but my boobs are the only food source for my 4 month old daughter). We are humans and yet we drink cow’s milk instead of milk from our own kind.

Yes, I’ve tried my own breast milk, and actually thought it tasted as good as the best vanilla milkshake I’ve ever had. But I can’t get myself to drink it on a regular basis. It’s not just that it comes from my body, but that’s a part of it. For me, I don’t drink any milk straight, and I don’t drink warm milk unless it’s being served to me in a latte or hot chocolate. And even then I choose cow’s milk from the type of bovine not treated with rbST.

I’m trying to think of a good reason why cows milk is totally cool and breast milk is totally not, but seeing how good it is for my daughter, I can’t think of many reasons… except that our own culture has a fucked up idea around drinking breast milk. They see it as only for babies (which, yes, it primarily is for babies) or only as a sexual fetish (which would mean that the adult was being breastfed and not necessarily just drinking the breast milk from a glass).

You may be able to find breast milk in cheese or in ice cream (but probably not), and if you can, as long as you think it’s safe, indulge away. You can always buy your own breast milk too.

And even though I still have a difficult time wrapping my head around drinking something that came from my own teat, when I read of the wonders of my womanly non-juice (like in this recent Cosmo article), I think that I am literally sitting on my own Fountain of Youth. This young guy says it not only helped his dust allergies, but drinking the breast milk of healthy mamas has also upped his endurance and increased his stamina. So, why aren’t I gulping it down by the ounce?

Sure, cows produce a lot more milk per day than humans can, but if mothers who are producing milk used it to feed our own families, or certain “friends with benefits,” wouldn’t we all be doing bodies good?

Pass it on….

Have you ever tasted breast milk in adulthood?