Men have nipples to sooth crying baby until it can be fed

[HuckleB]

Men have nipples to sooth crying baby until it can be fed

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=26042#

"A father's nipple is perfectly suited to soothing a crying baby until it can be fed, according to a major report published for Fathers' Day (June 19) on fatherhood across five continents, which identifies the world's best dads.

FatherWorld, published by Fathers Direct, the UK national information centre on fatherhood, details a worldwide increase in active fathering. It names as “Best Dads in the World” the Aka Pygmies, a hunter-gatherer tribe from northern Congo, in central Africa. When the mother is not available, the father calms his baby by giving him a nipple to suck.

Aka Pygmy men do more infant care-giving than fathers in any other known society, finds the report. On average, they hold or are within arms' reach of their infants 47 per cent of the time. They beat Swedish dads, the number ones in the Western world, who average 45 per cent of parental childcare. In typical British families, dads now average a third of the parental childcare, according to latest research from the Equal Opportunities Commission. Worldwide, fathers are estimated in today's report to contribute between a quarter and a third as much time as women to direct childcare. However, FatherWorld, springing from a week-long summit at Oxford University of the world's academic experts on fatherhood, reports that, of 156 cultures studied, only 20 per cent promote men's close relationships with infants, and only 5 per cent with young children.

Aka fathers often take the child along when they go drinking palm wine. They may hold the baby close to their bodies for a couple of hours at a time, says the report which highlights findings by Barry Hewlett, an American anthropologist, who has studied the tribe for more than 20 years. The dads, rather than mums, are often the ones who settle the babies if they wake at night.

..."


Very eenteresting...

[Kraklen]

1. That's great.

Now if they'd just explain appendices, the blind spot, and lower back pain...

[Bucky]

116. And bald spots. What the hell is it with bald spots?

Actually I thought the pinky finger was what calmed babies until mama finishes her nap.

[48pan]

2. This is the dumbest thing I have...

read this week.

[HuckleB]

4. ?

:shrug:

The headline?

[48pan]

19. Yup.

[HuckleB]

48. ?

?

:shrug:

[Name removed]

53. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HuckleB]

55. ?

:shrug:

[Proud2BAmurkin]

58. Anyone who had Bio 101 knows men have nipples because

all humans start out with the same standard options and when the hormones kick in the fetus develops or doesn't develop boobs

[HuckleB]

59. What about 1st grade level reading comprehension?

Where one learns that the title of the story doesn't give all the information needed to pass the test.

[Guaranteed]

73. But I have hair around my nipples.

????

[HuckleB]

79. I'm a nurse practitioner.

Sorry to say it, but men ain't the only ones with that issue.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

117. so do i

;)

[MadisonProgressive]

84. That's blasphemy!

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

101. No kidding

I won't be suckling any kids any time soon.

For Christ sakes, if mommy ain't around get the kid a fucking bottle.

[Guckert]

3. T.M.I

[Career Prole]

5. Try that on a park bench here and see how long you can go

before you're sporting an electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.

[Blue Belle]

10. :-)

:rofl:

[MissB]

80. Bwahahahaha

:rofl: too true.

[ibegurpard]

6. Wouldn't that give them a lot of gas?

They'd be sucking away with nothing coming in but air.

[HuckleB]

51. You mean, like they do with pacifiers?

No. They do breathe, just like you and me.

[Oreo]

7. As a new Dad of a 3-week old.... all I can say is

NOOOO!!! For the love of God no!!!

My baby has tried to a couple times... not something I want to experience.

Thanks for posting this... I know my wife will love it.

[RBHam]

14. It's a conspiracy!

To get the heat off Barbara Walters...

[gollygee]

23. My daughter latched onto my husband once when he was holding her

he didn't expect it, and his reaction was probably partially shock as well as pain. It was a big enough reaction to lead me to believe that men's nipples are probably not intended for baby sucking.

[Occulus]

25. So wtf ARE they for?

The fact we men have nipples does not make sense. They're not really all that sexual, either. So :wtf:

[mondo joe]

29. They're there because it's easier to have them than not have them

Men and women come with the same body parts - they're just shaped differently in each. We all get the same basic body - some just get tweaked one way and some another.

Nipples are just there because they're part of the package. Evolutionarily we'd have to do some real acrobatics to have part of the species NOT have nipples at all. More economic by far to just leave them there in a sort of vestigal state.

[Bunny]

60. Yes, the default position of the embryo is female.

All embryos start out with "female" parts: clitoris, labia, nipples, etc. If the embryo has the XX chromosome, it develops into a female. If it has the XY chromosome, a rush of testosterone early during gestation causes the original "female" parts to develop into a penis and testicles. The nipples remain, but breasts do not develop in men.

[MadisonProgressive]

85. Oh, bunny, that was great!

Could we maybe chat offline sometime?:toast:

[RBHam]

30. Why do some men have boobs???

Riddle me THAT!

Remember that Seinfeld episode...

yeeeeeee....

[Julius Civitatus]

89. Too many cheetos and twinkies

and sitting around reading NRO's "The Corner" and FreeRepublic.

That would make men grow man-boobs.

:hi:

[tabasco]

91. Hahahaha! The "bro" or the "man-siere"

What do we call this bra for men?

[im10ashus]

93. Is that the manssier episode.

eom.

[midnight armadillo]

119. It's a hormonal problem

There's a condition called, I think, gynomastitis or something, in men that's caused by hormonal problems. Basically, an excess of estrogen (or other 'female' hormones? or is it a lack of testosterone? my memory fails me) causes breast tissue to start to develop. Once that happens, the man is phsyically capable of nursing if there's a suckling baby... It's a rare condition, although it can happen due to side effects from things like testicular cancer or steroid abuse. This is different from just being overweight and having excess fat on the chest.

You may recall that Meatloaf's character in Fight Club had 'bitch tits' due to testicular cancer.

[One_Life_To_Give]

33. I hear they can actually work

Maybe part of an old emergency backup system or something. We start off witrh the same basic mammary tissue as women. ut without female hormones they never attain the size. But apparently in some cases they will actually work. Not as well as the female perhaps. But if mom dies and dad is the only one available?

[Vanje]

104. Some male mammals CAN produce milk

I work at an agricultural veterinary teaching center. We get some unusual cases.
Last week a breeding stud dairy breed goat came in with mastitis. He was producing just under .5 gal of milk a day. This isnt that unusual in dairy goat males.

[Pacifist Patriot]

69. Congratulations!

[FreedomAngel82]

78. Hehe now you know why! (on the baby)

I think it's a sweet story. Especially how the dad's were in the child's life a lot. I don't think you could get away with taking a baby to a bar in this country. But then again I didn't think we'd have a certain moron in the white house so eh. Stranger things have happened!

[Cleita]

8. I always thought that's what pacifiers were for. n/t

[mondo joe]

9. I thought they were to sooth gay men until they can be fed

Or something like that.

[Occulus]

27. .

:rofl:

[lukasahero]

11. Seems only logical to me

We give babies pacifiers that offer no milk but give the baby comfort. Isn't a man's nipple basically the same thing as a pacifier?

[mondo joe]

24. A pinky fingertip serves the same function and is more convenient

I don't think male nipples need anything like this convoluted explanation.

[Oreo]

114. Amen

My daughter won't take a pacifier. My pinky has gotten a workout over the last month

[norml]

12. Ouch!

I think I'll let them use one of those plastic pacifier things instead.

[RBHam]

13. Shut Up!

I don't care IF it's true...

Christ, once we could smoke and drink in the freaking waiting room...

I mean...

they're hairy...

y'know?

shave?

What are you trying to do to me!!!

The Crying Game meets Three Men and A Baby...

I'm very conflicted...

[HeeBGBz]

35. Embrace your maternal manlihood!

Give a nipple to the cause.

[blindpig]

15. OK, what about bulls?

or my male dog? Geez what a piss poor understanding of how evolution works.

[HuckleB]

52. Did you even read the article?

[sui generis]

16. makes me positively want to lactate

I'm milking this for all it's worth. . .

[RBHam]

18. groaning

still

[JaneQPublic]

17. Next they need to find a purpose for Ann Coulter's Adam's Apple. (n/t)

[jus_the_facts]

20. Bwahahahahahaha....

:rofl:

[Pacifist Patriot]

72. Classic

:rofl:

[SalmonChantedEvening]

81. A metronome?

:D

[Horse with no Name]

21. Wow

And gee, I thought men had nipples for intelligent design so that a woman wouldn't end up nipple-less--thus unable to feed a baby.
(You do know that is their original function--not playthings?,lol.

[uppityperson]

22. cool. If you suckle long enough you can make milk too.

outsourcing nursing. Of course, having babies suckling while they drink palm wine might not be the brightest thing to do. Hey guys, give it a try. Remember to get the nipple far enough into the baby's mouth, otherwise it hurts. It is one of those non-intuitive things-if it hurts, put more of nipple into mouth.

[KurtNYC]

32. Male lactation is becoming more common (?!)

The phenomenon of male lactation in humans has become more common in recent years due to the use of medications that can stimulate a human male's mammary gland. It is common knowledge that human males have nipples. It is not so often understood that they also have mammary glands. Ordinarily the mammary tissue is low in volume and cannot be noticed. Under the appropriate hormonal stimulus, the hormonal stimulus that nature provides to human females when they become pregnant and give birth, the mammary glands of human males can also produce milk. The volume of milk produced will be small relative to the amount that a female can produce.

more: http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/encyclopedia/m/ma/male_lactation.htm

[Jose Diablo]

47. I bet the use estrogen in chicken farms

will pay-off with future men being able to nurse children.

[ihaveaquestion]

26. My daughter preferred to fall asleep in her Dad's arms as a baby.

So this statement rings very true for me "The dads, rather than mums, are often the ones who settle the babies if they wake at night. "

I think maybe she associated me with food and relaxing with her Dad to fall asleep.

[mopaul]

28. yeah well my dad chewed my food for me and even wiped my

mouth, now there was a great dad. but no nipples.

[RBHam]

31. Chewed your food?

That explains your famous ostrich image("What? Bush did 9-11?")

It was a self-portrait.

[mopaul]

34. what, your dad didn't chew your food? guess i was one of the lucky kids

[HeeBGBz]

37. Last of the Bird Tribes

Lucky.

[uppityperson]

41. I did this too

Chewed my youngun's food. Way easier to chop and chew (front teeth here, not mash into mush and spit) than to buy canned food which I figured was a scam anyway. Hey, feed them real food. It was just as easy for me. Did nipples too, but am female. And I babysat when the dad wanted to have time off. (that's a joke)

[Xithras]

36. No we do NOT!!!

When my 7 year old was a baby my wife used to constantly bring him to bed with us. One night he apparently found my nipple while I slept and decided that he was hungry.

YYYYEEEEOOOOOWOOWWWWWWCH! :cry:

That was one of the MOST painful experiences of my life (and I was once impaled by a 10" nail, so I know what pain is). Male nipples are a biological leftover...they are NOT meant to be used and are NOT functional.

[Lex]

38. Biologically left over from what?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

40. left over from the Biological Buffet

:popcorn:

[Xithras]

45. They are evolutionary deritus.

Evolution doesn't make us efficient or streamlined, it just culls out bad changes, rewards good ones, and has no effect on the indifferent.

Men do not have functional breasts because mammalian females raise the young while males gathered food or were wholly absent. In that situation, males having functional mammary glads was a biological disadvantage...it slowed males down while providing no boost to the species. So breasts went away.

Nipples are a different story. Nipples provide no evolutionary disadvantage for males, so they were never removed from our genes. Unlike breasts, nipples don't get in the way or slow us down, so there was no evolutionary imperative to remove them from the male body. That doesn't make them functional, it just makes them an evolutionary leftover from some distant early mammal ancestor that probably DID have males with functional breasts.

[Jose Diablo]

46. Plus, evolutionary wise

nipples are perfect for storing rings of gold. Thats advantagous.

[Danieljay]

65. now THATS funny! eom

[phylny]

68. Imagine how weird men would look

with no nipples?

;-)

[MisterP]

83. technically, from women's, since the genders evolve together

[HuckleB]

54. Thanks for the opinion.

[marions ghost]

39. could u please post

peripherable nipple use topics in The Lounge????

Female breasts topic got moved over there today and this one should too. Or maybe male nipples rate more attention and status?

[HuckleB]

49. No.

This is a report about actual social and anthropological matters in regard to fathers.

The story is not just about nipples, by the way.

I know that few around here bother to actually read the story before responding, but, if you're going to make such a suggestion, you certainly ought to have done so first.

[marions ghost]

96. whatever

:beer:

your intentions, LOL, this still feels like The Lounge.

Especially with people suckling kitten stories that abound. In some countries women suckle pigs. Babies latching on to fathers is a humorous and cute subject, which is fine, but let's not pretend we are having a social and anthropological discussion here. I bet if you talked about women's nipples, this subject would hit the lounge pretty quick. No harm done...do your nipple sucking thing anywhere you like HuckleB. But it's not apparent that you have any point to make--should we interpret that you are suggesting this is useful or something? Are you making a sociological point?

[HuckleB]

105. Whatever, indeed.

Clearly you didn't read the article, even now that I've pointed out that the article isn't just a baloney piece. Just because some others followed suit, and, therefore, posted nonsense responses, doesn't make this a Lounge piece. Look at the source. This is a serious science and health news outlet. Not some junk news found anywhere on the Internet.

This is far more appropriate than the majority of junk being discussed under General Discussion. So, how about before you jump up and down with false criticism, you learn about what you are criticizing first? And how about when you are called on your false criticism, you go "oops" and actually apologize instead of digging an even bigger hole?

Unbelievable.

:eyes:

[marions ghost]

108. and how about you might answer my criticism...

and give us a clue of what the sociological and anthropological point is here?

I mean this is all great fun, but so what?

[HuckleB]

110. What criticism?

You can't criticize what you haven't read. And you clearly didn't read the piece. I mean, are you posting this same "critique" on every other thread in General Discussion? 'Cause if you're not, and you've actually, finally, read the piece, then you've got a lot explaining to do. Not to me. But to that "old monkey on yer back" called hypocrisy.

Look. You and I both know that this piece is perfectly acceptable for General Discussion, with far more interesting things to offer than the normal fare. So let's not continue to pretend otherwise.

[marions ghost]

111. yada yada

:boring:

Are you just using this exchange to kick your thread?

Or are you venting on me because the discussion didn't go in some direction or other you might have had in mind (which you don't reveal).

This is a dead end. Logging off.

[HuckleB]

118. You're right about one thing.

This exchange is a dead end. It never should have begun. I replied to your ridiculous venting about nothing. So let's not continue the games and pretend that it's me who's venting here.

Get a mirror. It's easier.

Sheesh.

[Ms. Clio]

42. Probably not the primary reason men have nipples

But I love this story just the same. Although I don't have any children, I think one of the sweetest and sexiest things in the world is a man holding and playing with and talking to a tiny baby.

[Arugula Latte]

43. My babies would've been frustrated with the "dry" nipples

They liked their milk, and, damn, those kids liked to nurse!

[Jose Diablo]

44. what we men are forced to endure with raising children <sigh>

AND we get very little thanks for our efforts. The women just say, "so what, the baby is still hungry". Even when our nipples are sore, it's do this or do that.

A mans work is never done.

[Arugula Latte]

50. Here ya go:

:nopity:

[izzybeans]

56. I guess I better take these clamps off then nt

[HuckleB]

57. How many of those who posted actually read the story?

Please be honest.

[Joacheme Misrahe]

66. Look at the time stamps

Note exactly two minutes after the article was posted it was already responded to as "dumbest thing ever". That's some pretty fast reading.

[TahitiNut]

70. Give up. It's a losing battle. Just call yourself "SuckleB"

:silly: :silly: :silly: :silly: (Yes, I read it. I almost always do.)

[Pacifist Patriot]

75. I did and found it very interesting, but...

couldn't resist anyway. Sorry!

I'm a blessed mom with fortunate children. Their dad is very involved and was incredibly nurturing when they were infants. I'd bet he blew the Swedes away. Never latched though. *grin*

[burythehatchet]

61. I can't believe I'm the first to nominate this thread

[HuckleB]

63. Me either!

:hi:

[donheld]

62. So this is the substitute for the male nipple?

:crazy:

[tallahasseedem]

64. Nominating...

I have been laughing my ass off at this since it was first posted. I cant wait to see my Husband's face when I show him this.

[Greyskye]

67. Family Guy?

Anyone see the Family Guy episode where Peter had Stewie (his infant son) latch onto his 'man-tit'? The expression on Stewie's animated face as her sucked, sucked harder still, and then looked up at Peter's face with look that changed from exasperated confusion to horrified realization was hysterical!

[Pacifist Patriot]

71. Dad's pinky finger works just fine for that too.

My husband's chest is way too hairy for a baby to confuse his nipples with mine. However, he was great about snuggling up to them and letting them suck on his pinky. (Always washed of course!)

Nurturing goes beyond the chest region. LOL!

[Bouncy Ball]

74. They were discussing this story on a radio station this morning

and I was cracking up at all the clenched up butts over this.

Who cares? One dad called in that I liked. He has three kids. He said two of them accidentally latched on to him as newborns (he was holding them, no shirt on), mom was gone, she had the milk with her, LOL, and the baby was extremely fussy and he noticed he stopped when he found his nipple. He took him off his man boob in just a few seconds, but he said it was no big deal. It's not like the kid knows any different.

I think people that get totally freaked out by this have just hyper-sexualized nipples and breasts. Sadly, I've even known women who refused to breastfeed because breasts were just SUCH a sexual thing for them that they were GROSSED out by the idea of feeding their babies with them.

Eh. Whatever. Men: it's just a nipple. Who cares? If the baby finds it and says hey this is cool for a second or two, what's the big deal?

[Pacifist Patriot]

76. Hell, I've had a kitten try to nurse on me.

Bought himself a quick trip across the room through the air but that's because the time he chose, not the place. Don't wake a woman up at 2:00 by nibbling on her nipples if you aren't expected there. After that, nursing your own baby doesn't seem so strange.

[Bouncy Ball]

77. LMAO!!!!

Oh my God. Sweet Jesus. The visual on that.

Yeah, who hasn't had a cat suck on a wadded up bit of your t-shirt?

I just don't get all the hubbub, I guess. :shrug:

[Pacifist Patriot]

82. The kitten had been taken from its mother too soon

and I was nude. Can't blame the cat I guess, but it was a bit of a shock.

[EFerrari]

90. One of our six week old rescues latched onto our Lab.

Poor Buddy was okay with it until the little needly teeth started comeing in.

Just like all the rest of us. :)

[IndyOp]

94. I can't stop laughing!!! The order of these posts is fantastic...

Dad testimonials...
Kitten flying through the air...
Dog in pain...

And look who is just below!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[mondo joe]

86. Ah yes - very soothing!

[tuvor]

87. This is bullshit. "Scientific explanations" drive me fucking nuts.

Men have nipples because they have nipples. To say there's a "reason" means that someone/something had to do the reasoning.

So far, science hasn't announced the existence of a designer of humankind.

[IndyOp]

97. "Reason" in this context means explanation in terms of

evolutionary adaptation.

I probably agree most with the characterizations above of male nipples as 'exaptations' - traits that males of our species have because males and females share fetal developmental stages in common.

It is possible though that male nipples are 'adaptive traits' that the reason for males nipples is that, in generations long ago, children of males with nipples were more likely to survive and give birth to children who carried the genes for male nipples to the next generation and the next. This makes sense if, in fact, men can provide milk to infants in extreme situations.

It isn't true someone/something had to do the reasoning - evolution is a 'passive design' process.

If you walked through a forest and saw that the types of mature trees that are growing in sun differ from those that grow in shade you would not think that someone must have planted the two types of trees in different areas. The seeds for both types of trees will germinate in either location - but tree saplings will die if they receive too much or too little sun. The 'sorting' is passive and undeniable.

:kick:

[HuckleB]

106. Ah, yes, exploration is abominable.

How dare humans learn and think and suppose.

How very terrible.

:shrug:

[tuvor]

88. Nipples are erogenous zones. This "explanation" is too damned creepy.

[IndyOp]

99. You do know that breastfeeding women can become sexually

aroused by suckling... Right?

Just because nipples are an erogenous zone doesn't mean that they don't have a practical use -- fun, pretty, and practical!

:rofl:

[Jack_DeLeon]

92. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

[IndyOp]

95. On a related note -- the more time men spend taking care of

infants and young children the lower their levels of testosterone; higher their levels of oxytocin (the 'cuddle chemical').

The lower the levels of testosterone in men, the lower levels of aggression.

Extrapolating the more time men spend taking care of infants and children the lower likelihood of war and warlike thought and action.

So - men, how about taking a bit of pain for the good of our common future? The next time baby latches on...

(Sorry, no link, time for bed, just couldn't resist!)

:kick:

[marions ghost]

98. Now THIS is a topic

for more serious discussion! "taking care of children lowers testosterone levels" I'd have to see a source on that, but if true then the implications are interesting.

OK the "men have nipples" thread did turn up something for contemplation after all.

[IndyOp]

100. Becoming a Dad alters hormones: Higher estrogen, lower testosterone...

<http://cms.psychologytoday.com/articles/pto-20020301-000025.html>

It seems increasingly clear that just as nature prepares women to be committed moms, it prepares men to be devoted dads.

--snip--

In fact, the second of the two studies, which was recently published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, suggests that fathers have higher levels of estrogen the well-known female sex hormone -- than other men.

--snip--

In the original study, published in Evolution and Human Behavior, psychologist Anne Storey, and her colleagues took blood samples from 34 couples at different times during pregnancy and shortly after birth. The researchers chose to monitor three specific hormones because of their links to nurturing behavior in human mothers and in animal fathers.

The first hormone, prolactin, gets its name from the role it plays in promoting lactation in women, but it also instigates parental behavior in a number of birds and mammals. Male doves who are given prolactin start brooding and feeding their young, Storey found that in human fathers, prolactin levels rise by approximately 20 percent during the three weeks before their partners give birth.

The second hormone, cortisol, is well known as a stress hormone, but it is also a good indicator of a mother's attachment to her baby. New mothers who have high cortisol levels can detect their own infant by odor more easily than mothers with lower cortisol levels. The mothers also respond more sympathetically to their baby's cries and describe their relationship with their baby in more positive terms. Storey and her colleagues found that for expectant fathers, cortisol was twice as high in the three weeks before birth than earlier in the pregnancy.

The third hormone, testosterone, is abundant in male animals during mating but decreases during nurturing. If bird fathers are given testosterone, they spend more time defending their territory and mating than taking care of existing offspring. Research has shown that human males experience a surge in testosterone when they win sporting events and other competitions.

In Storey's study, testosterone levels plunged 33 percent in fathers during the first three weeks after birth. Levels then returned to normal by the time the babies were four to seven weeks old. However brief the dip in testosterone, it may have effects that endure for the life of the child. According to University of California at Riverside psychologist Ross Parke, it may "let the nurturing side of men come to center stage." The dip may set in motion the more-cooperative, less-competitive enterprise of parenting. By encouraging fathers to interact with their kids, this brief hormonal change might actually induce the bonding process.

<snip>

[marions ghost]

103. good article--thanx indyop

Maybe men could handle the conflicting swings of their emotions better if they could accept that it was partly hormonal, and therefore normal.

from article:
"Parke believes that the research suggests something even more radical: "Men are much more androgynous than we think. We have the capability to be aggressive and nurturing. The traditional view of men as predominantly aggressive really sells men short and denies their capability to experience the range of human emotions."

[HuckleB]

107. If you're so into contemplation,

why didn't you read the article?

:shrug:

[Pacifist Patriot]

113. More nurturing definitely leads to less aggression.

Check out Joseph Chilton Pearce's book, The Biology of Transcendence. He does an excellent job of explaining exactly how this works.

[Ouabache]

102. Earlobes can serve the same purpose

as well. And it looks hilarious. Great for an easy laugh at a family gathering.

[Jade Fox]

109. Men: also known as human pacifiers......n/t

[CoffeeCat]

112. Didn't Shrub try this on a horse?

Maybe our pResident does read, after all!

:)

[Love Bug]

115. A guy once told me male nipples were decoys

to attract female nipples. Who knew?

:evilgrin:

[AspenRose]

120. Printing to give to my husband NOW!!!

Ha ha!