Ragnar Bengtsson is the Mjölkmannen, the Milkman. He's a 26-year-old dad and grad student who just began trying to produce breast milk for some Swedish TV show. He'll be pumping every three hours all Fall. You can follow his progress on his Mjölkmannen blog. [Here's a Google Translated link.]
If you think you've seen this before, you're right. Twice.
The Swedish media has a mild fascination with male lactation going back at least to 2005. That's when the SVT show Faktum, aired a 20-minute "Male Breastfeeding Documentary" titled, suitably enough, "Män kan amma!" ["Men can breastfeed!"] It took me about four months, but I finally finished downloading "Män kan amma!" just a couple of weeks ago. And I finally watched it tonight. It is 100% true, every word of it.
Ragnar's pump is also nearly identical to one that appears in a British documentary about a top-secret research program run by MI5. Though the intended use is nominally different, they are both Swedish-made:
Swedish news in English: Swedish dad in bid for breast milk [thelocal.se via dt reader jason]
Manlig amning och Göran Skytte/ Male lactation and Goran Skytte [tv8.se, google translate]
Mjolkmannen's blog [tv8.se, google translate]
Nov 2005: Män kan amma! [svt.se]
Yeah, baby :)
I thought the bicycle pump style was bad for you or something. The show can't afford an auto pump?
Perhaps the Swedes have a very different standard of masculinity. I like to think of myself as an enlightened guy, but this is testing me.
that breastfeeding man is totally hot.