(NYP) – UK health officials ordered nurses at two hospitals to substitute the term “breast milk” for “human milk” — part of a first-of-its-kind effort there to be more inclusive to trans and non-binary parents.
The terms “breastfeeding” and “breast milk” should be swapped for more “gender-inclusive” phrases in prenatal units of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, the health care center said in a 19-page document cited by Sky News Wednesday.
Instead, health professionals were advised to use the phrases “breast/chest milk,” “milk from the feeding mother or parent” and “human milk” to be more “inclusive of trans & non-binary birthing people without excluding the language of women or motherhood,” the guidelines state.
The hospital system announced the new language advisory Monday. “Today we are launching the UK’s first clinical and language guidelines supporting trans and non-binary birthing people,” the hospital system tweeted. “We are proud to care for trans and non-binary people.”
Nurses were also urged to avoid the terms “mothers” and “women” on their own — unless called for in specific cases. They were instead asked to use gender-neutral terms such as “parents” and “people,” according to the hospital system. READ MORE
