We need more polls.

[ladydreamer]

Poll So. Mpreg

ETA: Generally, I don't have a desire to give Kurt or Blaine pendulous breasts, no matter what is happening.

Comments

[geeky_ginger]

Yeah....never been a fan personally. Lol

[ladydreamer]

Yeah. I think I would avoid it if possible in almost every mpreg I write (and I write a lot of 'em). My greater worry right now is the baby starving or getting sick.

[geeky_ginger]

Ah, guessing this is for your zombie mpreg? Well, I'm sure in the hospitals and camps they'd have SOMETHING for a newborn to eat.

[mimiheart]

To me, breastfeeding is the default. In an mpreg, obviously the mechanics of, well, everything are going to be a bit different, but men have mammary glands too. Actually, I find the idea of men breastfeeding less weird than men giving birth*. Yeah, don't give the guy huge pendulous breasts... that's unnecessary, but breastfeeding is SO beneficial and easy and it helps the bond with baby and parent so much, that breastfeeding just makes sense. /me on soapbox

Small-breasted women don't produce less milk than large breasted women**. No reason to think that a man who gives birth would produce less milk than a woman. (Given the way hormones work anyhow.)

*It's been done, IRL, no mpreg involved
**at least on average, there's a curve...

[kiera81487]

I like your point about women with different sized breasts… interesting way to turn the conversation. Never thought of male breastfeeding from that angle.

[mimiheart]

I just brought it up because ladydreamer was talking about pendulous breasts. No reason to make them grow at all. For TMI, mine may have gotten a little swollen, but not really enough that anyone would have been able to say, "Well, now, that's a breastfeeding woman vs. a non-breastfeeding woman." A man who's breastfeeding doesn't need to have any bigger breasts than he normally has. He just needs nipples, which... men have.

I know people are scratching their heads and saying, "Well, I like boobs, so why don't I like breastfeeding?"

That you like boobs is probably why you don't like breastfeeding. Or at least a part of it. Breasts, at least in the way you probably like them, are sexual. They're fun to play with and look at touch... and they're erogenous zones. If you're talking about nipples in a slash fic, you're probably not thinking of a baby

[ladydreamer]

I mentioned that because I've read fic where the man (okay, Spike, a vampire) grew breasts, and I know others sometimes do that. I hardly ever include breastfeeding, but I wouldn't include breast growth. I agree it's unnecessary.

[shighola]

Personally I just say no to men breast feeding. That is squicky to me. Not anything else about mpreg, just dudes lactating. I have no idea why. I have breasts and I love them. Other people's, I mean, although mine are fabulous as well, lol.

[ladydreamer]

This is a divisive issue!

I have breasts and I love them. Other people's, I mean
Haha. Yes.

[kiera81487]

Great poll topic!

I can't access the poll, but I don't have a definitive opinion anyway: I'd NEVER turn away from a mpreg because of breastfeeding, but I don't use it myself.

The few mpreg I've read with breastfeeding have worked well for me =). Even though it's not a caveat I put in my own mpreg, I find it adds to that "birth parent and baby" bond I respond warmly to it. Makes for very sweet moments, even involving the other parent.

[ladydreamer]

I've read far (FAR) less than I write. So I don't know what "most" do or don't do. Ultimately, I'll have to decide what's right for the fic and hope people don't run away screaming.

[kiera81487]

Typically, breast-feeding is a "NO" in mpreg audiences. Too many people identify the act as "ultra female".

Debate and intrigue aside, my most practical suggestion for your plot would be to introduce a, newly discovered, indestructible plant that's in abundance post-zombie-apocalypse. It can be dried and crushed into a powder, mixed into any liquid, then fed to the baby-if breastfeeding isn't a route you use. Accessing clean water is a concern, but babies require a few ounces. I agree with hospital supplies comments I see posted too.

Good luck deciding =).

[ladydreamer]

The NO seems to be really outnumbered in the poll so far. I was surprised.

I think they'll manage, somehow.

[stangerine88]

I'm personally not a fan for reasons I can't even rightly explain. I do think that breast feeding doesn't mean that the baby is going to be perfectly fed just because the source is there. It's hard to even figure out how much milk the baby is getting and a lot of the babies in my family just simply didn't take to breast feeding.

That's without the strain it puts on the person with the feeding responsibility. They have to watch what they eat, there's sore nipples ans after a c-section it can be painful to hold the baby for so long while keeping track of boob placement and milk flow.

Either way I'm wondering how they'd get the baby food. Since they're in a hospital I do know that the birthing ward is usually stocked with everything the mother needs for her stay in the hospital.

[ladydreamer]

I do think that breast feeding doesn't mean that the baby is going to be perfectly fed just because the source is there.

A big problem in this particular fic.