Taxpayer-Funded Breastfeeding Group Faces Questions Over Controversial Conference Speaker

28.08.2026

Serious questions are being raised over the decision by the Association of Lactation Consultants in Ireland (ALCI) to invite US-based lactation consultant Jacob Engelsman to address its annual conference in Galway this October.

Engelsman is scheduled to speak on “lactation support for gender-diverse families” and creating “gender-affirming clinical spaces”. He specialises in induced lactation among non-gestational parents, including transgender people and men.

Writing about the controversy, columnist Brenda Power argues that an organisation established to support breastfeeding mothers has lost sight of its priorities.

Power highlights Engelsman’s previous presentation entitled “Inducing Lactation for Kinksters” and writings discussing motivations for induced lactation including “curiosity, fun or sexual gratification”.

She stated, "An Irish breastfeed-ing NGO has invited a man who promotes male lactation to speak at its conference here in October. That's right, this is a bloke who believes newborn babies can be fed male breast milk, a chemically-induced pus-like nipple discharge also known by the lipsmacking name of galactorrhea, and that's all perfectly normal and wonderful. Oh, and you're subsidising this particular NGO to the tune of €100,000 a year."

“You will note this is all about the feelings of the ‘non-gestational parent’,” Power writes, arguing that the central consideration should instead be “the newborn infant’s entitlement to the best nutrition available”.

Ms Power outlined, "According to Engelsman, it is 'seems reasonable to believe' men might want to breastfeed 'for the same reasons as anyone else. Which is to say, usually to feed and bond with their baby and, to a lesser extent, for curiosity, fun or sexual gratification'. Anyway, you read that right - that's why he thinks we do it. Apologies for being a dumb female who has only breastfed five kids, but it seems to me Engels- man's entire understanding of the practice is inspired by pornography. He doesn't have a clue about the un-fun and definitely un-sexy real- Lities of breastfeeding, of leaking breasts, cracked and bleeding nipples, painful engorgement and feverish mas- titis, of exhausted small-hours feeds, colicky infants and baby vomit. His sole knowledge of the practice, as far as I can tell, is based on watching women nurse their babies and concluding that it looks sort of kinky."

The controversy is particularly significant because ALCI receives significant public funding. Taxpayers are entitled to question the organisation’s choice of speakers and whether public resources are being directed towards the priorities most urgently facing mothers and babies.

Power puts the issue starkly: Ireland continues to struggle with comparatively low breastfeeding rates, yet a publicly supported organisation dedicated to improving breastfeeding is providing a platform for a deeply contentious discussion around male induced lactation.

Her conclusion is withering: “Isn’t it a comfort to know your hard-earned tax money is being so well spent?”

The controversy raises a straightforward question for ALCI: should the priority of breastfeeding policy and professional education not remain the health, nutrition and welfare of babies, and practical support for mothers who want to breastfeed or must the pander to this international woke lobby undermining women and in this case particularly mothers?