Whether you breastfeed exclusively, prefer to use formula, or have adopted a mix of both methods, we can all agree that nursing is a beautiful, natural moment between a mother and child. It’s a shame we still live in a society that shames and sometimes even criminalizes parents for trying to feed their babies in public. Check out these pictures of parents of all kinds that remind us whether we breastfeed or not, it’s a loving, natural act we can all get behind.
just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not a family
oh they’re here
they’re here
and they’re feeding
right behind that tree
under the water, the children feed
just out of sight, a mother is
behind, behind, behind
breastfeeding invisibly is a perfectly valid choice for any parent
there they are. do you see them? there
breastfeeding in the mist
any minute now
do you see them?? they see you
[Images via]
Tags: beauty, breastfeeding
Mallory, I come to The Toast for Ayn Rand parodies and dirtbag teens, not this base pornography! You and all women everywhere should be ashamed.
MALLORY
Is there a word for laughing while trying to quell frissons of mild horror? Because that is this article. Also, I think Gwyneth Paltrow’s Girlfriend is one of these mothers, poor thing.
Gwyneth Paltrow has a girlfriend?
http://the-toast.net/2015/07/08/if-gwyneth-paltro…
Ooooooohhhhhhhh.
Why is this so funny? But it is. Especially breastfeeding in the mist.
I want to post this link in comment to every time someone shows up on my facebook feed with a photo of themselves breastfeeding wearing a flower crown and a gauze skirt in a field in a soft-focus or black-and-white shot. I see a lot of them. I don’t know why.
Motherhood is a Lana Del Rey video.
I feel like someone could write a convincing paper on “the new iconography of breastfeeding” and talk about how the flower crowns symbolize a connection to nature and the “natural” way of feeding a child, while the diaphanous clothing represents the ephemeral nature of infancy. Something something sociology, I guess? Or hell, maybe even art history if you want to get fancy.
“Something something sociology, I guess? Or hell, maybe even art history if you want to get fancy.” might need to be my new professional headline.
Most of my facebook friends don’t have kids yet but given the photos they’re already posting— oh god, it’s going to get so much worse.
“Yeah just a typical Wednesday for me. Hanging out in a field of daisies looking sad.”
Because I know that as mother of a newborn, what I’m going to have lots and lots of time for is weaving daisy crowns and artfully positioning myself.
And the positions look so uncomfortable! Like, half those kids are tugging painfully on those perky boobs! Not to mention how the inevitable spitup would damage those fancy gowns…
I was just about to say this
So glad to see real representation of the diverse backgrounds represented in the ninja mother community here. I love that I can always count on The Toast for these things.
Excuse me? Parents of all kinds? When you haven’t even represented mothers of changelings invisibly breastfeeding their faerie charges inside a circle of salt and iron?
And you call yourself a feminist.
That prickly feeling on the back of your neck as you walk through the cloaking fog is the unbroken stare of the breastfeeding mother. Can you feel her whispering just behind your ear? “He doesn’t like nursing under this cover,” she is saying.
“under the water, the children feed”
This one is a bit creepy!
I can’t believe you didn’t think “JUST BECAUSE YOU CAN’T SEE THEM DOESN’T MEAN THEY’RE NOT THERE” was creepy too!?!?!
Did you find all the breastfeeding mothers? Check your answers below.
sǝuo ssǝןǝʎǝ ˙11 xoɟ ʎɐɹƃ ˙01 ʞןǝ uɐɔıɹǝɯɐ ˙9 ʇoɯɹɐɯ ˙8 ǝıʞןǝs ˙7 ƃoɥ punoɹƃ ˙6 dǝǝɥs ןןɐp ˙5 ɹǝʇɐʍ ǝɥʇ uı ɹǝɥɔʇɐʍ ˙4 ɹǝǝp pǝןıɐʇ-ǝʇıɥʍ ˙3 ןǝɹɹınbs ʎɐɹƃ uɹǝʇsɐǝ ˙2 ǝsnoɯ ʇǝʞɔod ʇɹǝsǝp ˙1
how did you make the letters like that
was it a spell
are you a witch
Even more perplexing is that the numbers are right-side-up, but the periods are not.
might be in league with the eyeless ones
This comment is everything.
WHOA. Tell us your HTML trick!
This is exactly how breastfeeding was for me, except this is missing the moonlight coven fire circle dances
That gif is deliciously creepy.
Giselle, Act II! Right before the group of vengeful women abandoned before consummating their marriages who subsequently died get their revenge on the peasant man by dancing him to death!!!!!!!!!!!
Breastfeeding, always sneaking up on me like that when I’m trying to enjoy a sunset.
That branch looks like an Octopus and I approve.
This is timely because someone started a “free the nipples” hijack on a friends’ FB post this morning. I am quite literally sitting on my hands to keep from sharing this link in the thread.
Did the FB post have anything at all to do with boobs, or was this a completely non-sequitorial nipple hijack?
It mentioned nipples but in like, someone said the word nipples to indicate how long their hair was. And the reply was OMFG LET’S DESEXUALIZE THA NIPZ BREASTFEEDING MY BABEH IS THE MOST REWARDING THING IN THA UNIVERSE
If you haven’t already submitted the post to STFU Parents, you really need to do so. Blair would enjoy that one.
this site and its commenters are the only source of my hope for humanity. i fucking love you. boob on, one and all.
This is glory and wonderfulness. I mean, I am pro-let’s-not-shame-mothers-for-breastfeeding-in-public-jesus-people, but “oh it is so beautiful and connecting and here are glamour shots of me with a baby hanging off my tits because I guess I have no other day-to-day responsibilities and also breastfeeding is easy-peasy and painless” GAG ME
This post has resulted in “Do You Hear the People Sing” being transformed in my brain to “Do You See the Babies Feed.” So that’s my fun ear worm for the day.
I hate you.
😀 😀 😀 😀
No one should have to endure such misery alone.
This is Where’s Waldo for feminists.
I love you
I was really afraid this site had turned serious and annoying – phew! I should never have doubted. Also this is one of like 3 safe spaces on the internets for me, the others being makeup shopping sites.
O YE OF LITTLE FAITH
Me too! But we should trust. Have faith.
Want to know what the other 3 safe places on the internet are…please.
The fight to destigmatize breastfeeding is a long-overdue and necessary one, but I wish we could divorce it from this idea that “breastfeeding is natural.” A lot of women cannot breastfeed, for a variety of reasons, and oftentimes face stigma and shame in their inability to produce something society insists should be “natural.” It also marginalizes mothers who did not give birth to their child, and therefore cannot breastfeed their child. All these women still enjoy strong and unbreakable bonds with their babies. That we are trying to destigmatize breastfeeding based on its naturalness steers the discussion away from the real problem: society at large is still not comfortable with women’s reproductive choices and women’s health. Let’s try to be more inclusive! There’s nothing unnatural about women who cannot and choose not to breastfeed their babies, and by saying that breastfeeding is natural, we are further encouraging that particular stigma.
Hi Kate! This is a big joke post, which is why none of the pictures actually include breastfeeding in it; it’s just a goofy knock on the type of article that includes a lot of hazily-shot parents gazing beatifically at their children. It is not a serious opinion article about the relative merits of bunging nutrients into an infant’s throat via titflesh versus plastic tube, so fear not!
brb starting an all-lesbian metal band called Titflesh
But there is something unnatural about mist babies and feeding children underwater and children that you cannot see, but are certainly there. So.
The third one is definitely photoshopped. I’ve seen the original, and that behind-the-tree mum erased all the circles under her eyes and changed the pattern of her dress to hide all the infant effluvia.
I really hope this works with SEO to be the first link that shows up whenever any unsuspecting person googles “breastfeeding photos.”
These could be done like Subtle Dildo (find it at subtledildo[dot]com) — there's breastfeeding in every picture if you look hard enough. Or a dildo, it's 6 of one half a dozen of the other.
[SCENE: MOTHER and DAUGHTER walking together on BEACH made of FLOWERS. AMBIGUOUS BACKGROUND MUSIC]
DAUGHTER: Mom, have you ever had that… too-bountiful feeling?
MOTHER: (laughs KNOWINGLY) At your age? All the time. Is this about the recent change in your life?
[BACKGROUND MUSIC becomes more VAGUE]
DAUGHTER: It’s just that lately I’ve been faced with…. so many choices…
MOTHER: (WARMLY, WISELY) Sweetheart, sometimes it isn’t the choice we make, but the reasons that we choose. And the best reason for that special choice is transitive poiesis.
[BACKGROUND MUSIC even more ELUSIVE now, barely even recognizable as sound]
DAUGHTER (lifts and cradles INDISTINCT OBJECT, which might be alive) Transitive poiesis? But how can I be sure?
MOTHER: (appears to be made of FLOWERS and SUNLIGHT) Darling, the truth is inside you. The fullness that gives. The love that unites. Transitive poiesis. The orotund refrain of life and time.
[MUSIC swells, all INDIVIDUALITY melts and dissolves into SOFT RADIANCE]
NARRATOR: Transitive poiesis may be contraindicated by certain conditions. Consult your doctor to find out if transitive poiesis is right for you.
I can’t read your script.
All the lens flares are in my way.
I want to make these photos into my Windows desktop theme.