Sunday, July 30, 2006

That's What Breasts Are For!!!

**Updated** I found 3 more photos!!

Last Friday my lovely husband emailed me the link to this CNN news story and I wish we didn't have to drive to Maryland in the afternoon so I could have blogged about it earlier. My friend Kateri, a fellow lactivist and also a La Leche League Leader wrote an awesome and timely post last Friday. She has updated it with links to other bloggers who went ahead and posted pictures of their breastfeeding babies (or, in AfrIndieMum's case, pumping milk). She ended her post with these words:
Want to make a statement? Leave this indecency where your children might see it. Want to be a real rebel? Post your own indiscreet nursing picture.
I am "a real rebel" so I am gleefully joining her and these other great mothers here by posting some pictures of my sons breast-feeding. I wish I had more, but I don't. In my case, however, "little" is usually quite a bit, so you get four (three are variations on the same pose)! :)

My dad took this photo back in 2002 (I had to scan it - hence the slightly strong colors) a few days after my older son had finally learned to latch on and effectively breastfeed at 1 month and 2 days - this statement is a summarized version of the outcome to our breastfeeding troubles that I have posted about in detail here. We were absolutely thrilled that I could stop pumping and using an SNS (supplemental nursing system) to feed him and my mom and dad marvelled at how perfect and beautiful his latch was and my dad couldn't resist taking a picture. I'm so glad he did!! I was wearing a very discreet nursing bra (from Brazil), but I hardly ever used that particular one again, since it was cumbersome.

When my second son was born in 2004, things were much easier. I nursed my older son throughout the pregnancy, so I hadn't fully stopped producing milk. As a result, my son passed his birth weight when he was only 5 days old. I took these pictures myself when my son was 1 month old and he seemed to enjoy them:













1) Looking at me 2) Looking at the camera!

Maybe the more prudish would prefer the one below because you see less of me (probably not, given the current uproar!). If I cropped the photo, it would actually look pretty similar to that in the magazine cover (except for the smaller boob and tiny bit of nipple :)
So here I register my protest against the negative reactions to the LOVELY photo in the cover of Baby Talk Magazine (which I received for over a year when I had my first baby).
**** more photos!!***
These were taken in December 03 when I was nursing my 21 month old son while pregnant. They are pretty dark because they were taken without a flash - my husband was experimenting. I like the first shot in the mirror - it's pretty creative!












The crib in the background, in case you're wondering, doesn't have one of the sides and was right against our bed (still is). Oh, and you can see that we have a very worn out copy of Dr. Sears' The Baby Book (we bought it new, but we really used it a lot)- it actually broke in two later...

11 comments:

Jim Cooper said...

Ahhh..the uptight Victorian Puritans on the march again.."a breast is a sexual thing"...what total nonsense (i was going to say what utter nonsense but didn't want to invite the obvious snickering comments)...this shouldn't even be a debate...

Aliki2006 said...

Beautiful pictures!! I'll have to go back and dig up some of mine. Sadly, I think I only have one of myself nursing Tessa, which is odd since she nursed for 21 months! I also only have one with Liam--I regret not having more. How wonderful that you have those special pictures!

P.S. I'm working on that "accountability" stuff--I have been busy this morning writing and have actually made some progress.

Alice said...

Beautiful! I agree with Jim that this shouldn't even be a debate...like you said, that's what breasts are for!!

Emily said...

Hi Lilian

Nice pix! While I've said before that I think breasts are sexual AND functional, what the hell is the fuss about seeing a bit of breast and nipple these days? Dear GOD! Have people not been in a newsagent and seen the near porn content on the front of "non-porn" men's mags? Breasts are everywhere. Clevage is everywhere. You only have to turn on MTV to see a million breasts all sweaty and bouncing in dance routines.

What the hell is the matter with people that they find seeing a photo like that as obscene? What morons! I take it these people don't engage in visiting art museums as those renaissance dudes where really dirty - NAKED BREASTS EVERYWHERE SCREAM!!!

Juliet said...

Awwww....such sweet photos! I wish I had some pictures of me nursing William.
I really do miss nursing. I can't wait to have another child to nurse!
Thank you for your continued advocacy of breastfeeding.

Gabriella said...

What wonderful pictures! Breastfeeding is truly an amazing thing and I am in envy of mothers who can do so successfully! I did bf my daughter but with limited sucess, due to a whole bunch of factors.
And the controversy over the pictures, that's outrageous, they turn something so natural into something unatural. I wonder if the reaction would be the same outside of North America, or is it just our culture?

grumpyABDadjunct said...

I'm breastfeeding as I write this!

I can't believe these debates still happen, totally ridiculous. I feed wherever we happen to be and so far I haven't been hassled at all. Of course I liv e in Ontario, where women are legally able to go topless if we choose to!

Overwhelmed! said...

I think these pictures are wonderful, not at all offensive. It's too bad that some people are so prudish that there's even a controversy raging.

kate said...

Oh, what sweet pictures! And I find it profoundly sad that any woman could find a woman in the act of breastfeeding "gross." What a sad statement about our society...

Caroline said...

What a great idea, and such sweet pictures!
And this reminds, Eli's 14 months old and we don't have any nursing photos of him! I'd better get to it before we miss our chance...

Birth Junkie said...

Absolutely beautiful!

Thanks for sharing!