BREASTFEEDING NORMALISATION CAMPAIGN

THREE CHEERS! Well done to the New Zealand Ministry of Health for their new breastfeeding normalisation campaign. I understand that it still seems to be social unaccepted to breastfeed in public in most of the Northern Hemisphere. There are plenty of discrete nursing guards for those mothers who are a bit more reserved about breastfeeding in public, but they can be quite pricey. I found when breastfeeding my son that a light blanket or muslin tied around my bra strap and draped over the back of his head often did the trick. None-the-less, for those women who are more comfortable breastfeeding in public I say GO FOR IT! It is certainly the best option for feeding your child. And while I won’t go into the million plus reasons why here, I feel that if you opt to breastfeed your child you should be able to do so, the same as any mother who opts to bottle feed a child.

While we are on the subject of breastfeeding I will mention this one fact that impacted me the most while I was making the decision to breast or bottle feed my son– hardly ever do you see little girls while growing up trying to breastfeed a baby. To compound the fact, everywhere you look baby dolls are sold with bottles. While it is true that you can still feed your child expressed milk from a bottle we should really think what type of message we are sending our children at such a young and impressionable age.  Perhaps these breastfeeding noramlisation ads would not be necessary had we instilled these values in most people from a young age.  It’s just something to think about.