Breastfeeding is actively promoted as the best way to feed a baby. But it is still not customary to flaunt it. A mother who decides to attach her baby to her breast in a public place will meet a lot of judgmental glances.
So did photographer Melina McGrew, who posted on Facebook a picture of her breastfeeding her baby.
Melina McGrew feeding a baby
Going to wean her second child, a mother of three, who lives in Brooklyn, decided to capture the last moments of such an intimate process. “I wanted to have a tangible memory of those cherished moments,” Melina told The Huffington Post. – This portrait expresses in a concise form love and motherhood in those smallest details that I would like to remember. But more importantly, it symbolizes strength and perseverance in the name of new challenges. “
Imagine her surprise when a comment appeared under the posted photo: “I would be very ashamed if my mother had a photograph where I was attached to her breast.” He then initiated an extensive discussion, where many negative opinions were expressed.
As the photographer recalls, during the discussion, one commentator wrote: “This is great, but definitely not for table conversations.” To which McGrew replied: “Someone may argue, but the remark is very accurate, one might say literal. Should a nursing baby eat at the table where the whole family rests? Or have we started to introduce a new kind of relationship in which he sits in the corner with his mother, hiding behind a blanket on his head, while the rest of the family laugh at jokes, eat chicken and pilaf? “
Following this online debate, the photographer felt the need to take a number of such portraits in order to “glorify and raise awareness of a topic that, unfortunately, is still as taboo as it is completely natural.”
McGrew announced the casting, inviting nursing mothers from all over the world to take part in her project.
I wanted to show a diverse and at the same time unifying series of photographs
For Melina herself, breastfeeding was a very difficult task in the beginning. Now the photographer has a seven-month-old son and two daughters, 4 and 5 years old. “Before my children were born, I was confident that the ability to breastfeed would come to me effortlessly,” she recalls. “I was preparing for the difficulties of pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum recovery, but I never expected to struggle with the closeness and unsubscriptions from pediatricians, the painful and harsh reality that accompany breastfeeding.”
Feeding the eldest daughter was not easy. “My battle scars include several clogged ducts, mastitis with inflammation, and many sleepless nights filled with feelings of failure and guilt,” McGrew says.
Feeding the second child was much easier, and she managed to get the experience of pleasure and connection that Melina so desired.
Now she is feeding her third child and realizes that breastfeeding is not necessarily easy and simple.
“It often presents you with a series of challenges from physical to emotional. It is not for every mom and every child. Sometimes it’s not even a choice. I know the difficult decisions mothers have to make in order to give the best to their children, and I believe that they deserve respect and support whichever way they go. “
After the images were distributed, McGrew received many negative reviews. But more importantly, there are no less beautiful messages in which women thanked the photographer for covering this topic.
“Mothers all over the world who were ashamed of breastfeeding in public, long-term breastfeeding, breastfeeding in general, squared their shoulders. My pictures made them powerful, ”said the photographer.
She achieved her goal. “I hope my portraits continue to remove some of the shame that envelops breastfeeding. They will remind you that breasts were biologically designed for this, they will contribute to the ongoing movement for the establishment of breastfeeding, they will glorify mothers everywhere. “