- Are you breastfeeding?
- [Man] Yes.
(upbeat music)
- My name is Colette Wiseman.
I'm a ER physician
and also a lactation counselor.
I go out to new mom's houses
and help them with breastfeeding.
Most of it's really just reassuring moms
that they're doing it right
and that the baby is getting enough milk
and answering some basic questions about timing
and what's normal in a newborn.
I'm here today to assist and guide
two men who are gonna try out Mamabreast,
even though they're men
they're gonna be simulating what it's like to breastfeed.
- I feel like I know a decent amount about breastfeeding.
I know that there's a lot of nutrients in the milk,
I know that there's actually no age
to ever stop breastfeeding,
it's just a societal thing that people make you
feel like you need to stop
drinking breast milk at a certain age.
I mean you can't be like 35 and be like,
"Gimme some of that breast milk."
- What I know about breastfeeding is that
it's a necessity for the baby,
and I know that it could be uncomfortable for women
because, you know, your breasts are on large.
- Woahoho!
This is what I'm gonna have to wear?
- Yeah, this is gonna simulate breastfeeding.
- I have to wear this the whole day?
- And I just throw this up over my--
- Yep, just goes on--
- Should I turn off the valves?
- No, leave them on. - Leave them on? Okay.
- It's fine, they don't leak.
(laughs)
- It already feels weird on my neck and on my back.
- If you're going to simulate expressing milk,
like if your baby is having trouble
actually latching on to the breast,
what you need to do is cup your hand under the breast,
you're not gonna cover the area under the nipple,
but you're gonna cup under kind of in a C-shape
and express gently, like it's a water balloon.
- [Curly] Oh-ho-ho!
- [Colette] Yeah, see you have to hit that magic spot,
it's not just a matter of grabbing and squeezing.
You're gonna actually move baby
so that it's nose is at the nipple
and baby is gonna move his head back, or her head back,
and latch on like that.
- I have to feed a baby every few hours now.
- Well, after newborns will feed more than every few hours.
If they're getting formula,
they'll usually feed every three hours,
but if they're breastfed they might wanna go on every hour.
- [Zach] That's a lot to remember, but
I'm ready to do this.
- And so it begins.
I'm actually wearing my
blazer the opposite way
because I don't wanna look (laughs)
- It's cold, guys. - Cold.
- It's real cold.
- I kept bringing them up to kind of relieve my neck
of the weight of it
and that's what helped,
And the ladies next to me were cracking up
'cause they were saying sometimes that's what they do.
- Is it heavy?
How much do they weigh?
- [Curly] It is heavy.
It definitely feels like
you can kind of rest it on something.
- See, I do that all the time!
- [Woman] Are they heavy?
- Yeah, I've noticed like my neck,
the back of my neck is hurting.
- [Woman] Wow, welcome to womanhood.
(laughs)
- [Woman] Does it feel weird having to, like,
do it every so often?
- It feels weird having to do it a lot,
'cuz I'm like in the middle of something and I forget
and I'm like, oh, it's time already?
- I couldn't get into a work rhythm.
Every time I would finally get into a flow of
doing whatever I was doing at work,
my alarm would go off telling me I have to breastfeed,
or I'd have to dispose into a cup.
It's now 3:15, and I have to extract milk from my breast.
Fun times.
- Is that bad that I skipped two feedings?
- Yes!
- I don't have a problem with somebody else breastfeeding,
but I did feel weird about people looking at me.
I actually avoided leaving the studio.
I was scared to be stared at.
I was worried that if my alarm went off
and my baby got hungry
that I would not be in a place
that was private enough to breastfeed.
- Is this wrong to be eating while he's eating?
Came down,
saw Curly sitting here.
Boobies out, no baby.
(laughter)
This was a dark awakening into a future
I feel if I have like a daughter.
Like I don't think I'd want to have a daughter.
Like I'm hoping I don't, for her sake.
'Cause I don't think this is a good look
for a female me.
- How does this experience make you feel?
- Can I be honest?
It's really bothersome.
I haven't got-- - I feel that way about boobs.
- Yes, well the boobs is a separate issue.
- [Woman] How you feelin', Talita?
- I feel good. - Yeah?
- I was talking about earlier,
how I didn't feel really comfortable going out
because I feel like I'd get anxiety
about just going to the market.
Like, I'm like, oh, I gotta go to the market
and then I get anxious and I'm like,
I can't imagine having to then
think about breastfeeding at the market, too.
You know, like, I can't imagine
what that anxiety must be like for women to just be...
They can't just go to the market,
they have to worry about feeding somebody
and they can't not feed their baby,
they have to feed the baby,
so this is already,
it gave me a little bit more self-conscience
in the way that I imagine a lot of women feel.
- I think this was an interesting experience
to something that I had no idea experience
of like what it's like,
you know, because I'm obviously not a woman,
and I'm never opposed to a woman breastfeeding in public,
but this just made me feel
the trials and tribulations to go through.
- People don't like seeing boobs for their function,
because they are sexualized.
So, I think if they can somehow understand that
it's, you know, it's a little bit of both.
You know, if you like boobs, you like boobs,
but boobs also do more.
They act as more than just something that turns you on.
Like, they bring life.
They're part of a human being as well.
I commend women all the time, like,
y'all make things look easier than they actually are.
I mean big ups to you,
you birth life and then you nurture it, like,
that's girl power.