Although breastfeeding is a protected right, there are still many people who feel that mothers feeding their babies should hide in shame. One man saw this mom feeding her baby while having a meal herself and decided to take her picture and post it online, disguised as a public opinion poll. When the mom in the picture saw herself going viral, she had to respond.
In the past few decades, the public opinion landscape on public breastfeeding and breastfeeding as a whole has changed considerably. In the United States, the overall percentage of infants being breastfed increased from 60% in the early 1990s to 77% in 2013. This is attributed in large part, to much more aggressive public health messaging about the benefits of breastfeeding over formula and greater support in hospitals and via non-profit organizations such as the La Leche League.
As the message that breast milk is the best nutrition for infants spreads, mothers have begun to also push back against the stigma of public breastfeeding. The days of being pushed into a bathroom stall to feed an infant are over. At least legally. It would seem that there are still many who quietly tolerate or approve of barely-there bikinis and underwear ads, but find the sight of a mother nurturing her child simply abhorrent.
Read how this mom responds to her would-be shamer (click the "See More"link at the bottom of her post) . I found it ironic that while he thought she was inappropriately over exposed, he thought the same image would be okay to post on public social media sites. I hope that as his daughter grows into a woman, he begins to gain more perspective on how women's bodies are treated in our society.
If you found yourself cheering for this mom share her response with your friends.
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