It seems moms are taking to social media as they begin to post breastfeeding selfies as a way to show off their joy of motherhood along with relating to other mothers.
Whilst breastfeeding selflies may come to serve as permanent reminders of motherhood and identifying with other moms, the rising social media trend also seeks to provoke reaction against those who find breastfeeding in public a faux pas.
Joining the trend is Connecticut-based Stacie Turner, mum to seven-year-old twins, who found it awkward taking selfies when she was nursing because of trying to juggle her baby on her breast and the camera phone.
Told the mother via the UK’s parent dish: ‘Even those bad pictures are pretty precious to me now. Because now they’re big kids who play Little League and have reading homework.’
These days the mother and avid photographer takes pictures of other nursing mums in a ‘conscious attempt to normalize’ the act of breastfeeding.
And although she’s for hire, she tells mothers that they too can capture permanent moments with selfies too.
Reiterates Turner: ‘Just get the shot. You’re gonna want it. Even if it’s not something you want to put on Facebook or hang on the wall, it’s a really important part of life for women for a really long time.’
Another photographer, Atlanta-based Heather Goodbreed, 27, told Today.com that she ‘took tons‘ of breastfeeding selfies when she was nursing her son, and now photographs other women doing so. She has now snapped more than 20 nursing portraits.
That said, posting breastfeeding selfies on social media outlets like instagram can be a fraught experience, even if instagram officially allows the posting of such photos.
Heather Bays, a photographer and Toronto-based mother-of-two, saw her Instagram account shut down, for just a few minutes, she says, after she received a negative comment about a black-and-white photograph that showed her nursing her 20-month-old daughter, reports TheGlobeAndMail.com.
A spokesman for Instagram said its security measures kick in when the site receives a number of complaints in a short time. And when questionable photos involve children, the site errs on the side of caution and quickly shuts down an account.
