Breastfeeding Selfies Are All The Rage, Apparently
This could get awkward.
There's a new photo trend: breastfeeding selfies. That's right. Intimate breastfeeding moments are making their way to social media. Moms are using the selfie trend to document the intimate mother-child bonding moment (or just to challenge the off-limits status of breastfeeding in public).
Even further, photographers across the country are offering to snap breastfeeding portraits. Heather Goodbreed, a photographer in Atlanta, told Today.com that she "took tons" of breastfeeding selfies when she was nursing her son and now captures the naturally beautiful moment for other women — with an artistic spin.
Goodbreed has photographed more than 20 breastfeeding moments in the past year. One of her clients, Meredith Jacobsen wanted to capture something that meant so much to her after a struggle with infertility before eventually conceiving and a difficult delivery. "I couldn't get pregnant, I couldn’t birth my baby — my body [w]as broken," she says. "But breastfeeding fixed that. I didn't feel broken anymore. I wanted to have something tangible to remember that time."
Connecticut-based photographer Stacie Turner recognizes that taking a breastfeeding selfie can be an awkward angle, "but even those bad pictures are precious to me now," she says. In a "conscious attempt to normalize" it, Turner, like Goodbreed, has been taking photographs of other breastfeeding moms. However, she still advocates for the selfie, saying that hiring a professional isn't necessary. Long live selfies!
Turner urges new moms to "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."
Breastfeeding photos are officially allowed on Instagram, but there are some limitations when security measures kick in. Heather Bay's Instagram account was shut down after the mom-of-two from Toronto posted a black-and-white breastfeeding selfie. According to a spokesperson for the famed app, when they receive a rapid number of complaints on a photo involving children, they don't take any chances and immediately shut it down.
Either way, breastfeeding selfies are all the rage. How do you feel about this new trend?
Breastfeeding mama
