SF Department of Public Health Celebrates World Breastfeeding Week
This past week was World Breastfeeding Week.
The San Francisco Department of Public Health celebrated in several ways, including a breastfeeding photo competition and a luncheon for the finalists. My friend and client, Martha, submitted this image of her feeding her newborn son while her toddler mimicked along with her from her newborn session late last year, and we ended up in the finals!
She attending the luncheon, and learned about all that San Francisco is doing to help promote breastfeeding and make the lives of those who breastfeed easier. One of the efforts San Francisco has made is introducing legislation to require employers to have a space for breastfeeding. Another, as Martha and I discussed at length, is the important step of requiring employers to read a pregnant woman her rights as a lactating mother at work so she doesn't feel obligated to approach that conversation with a potentially supportive boss on her own.
As a woman who has had to breastfeed and pump in the strangest of places, this legislation is so exciting for the mothers of San Francisco, and I am hopefully that other cities across the country follow suit. The luncheon concluded by announcing the winners, and I am thrilled to say that our image took second! The winner was a woman breastfeeding at the front lines of the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, and while I definitely wanted to win, I'm going to have to say I've never been prouder of someone who won. You'll be able to see her image, along with this one and the third place winner around San Francisco being used in PSAs this year, so keep an eye out!
While this is World Breastfeeding week, and I am endlessly supportive of a nursing mother and the incredible tools and professionals we all now have at our disposal to help women who want to breastfeed do so successfully, I have to provide a caveat to this post.
One of the biggest things I've discovered as a newborn photographer is the mutual struggle we all share about feeding our babies. The joy we get when breastfeeding and bonding come naturally, the hardship of months and months of latch/supply/infection issues, the logistical hurdles of exclusively pumping, and the simultaneous guilt and relief of formula feeding. Everyone is deeply connected to how they feed their babies, and as someone who has experienced both formula feeding and exclusively breastfeeding my babies, I know the roller coaster my clients are on day-in and day-out to make sure their babies are growing, happy and healthy. That's why, no matter how you feed your babies, I will always get a picture of it at each session. I don't typically share breastfeeding images, but I am happy to have a moment to share and discuss this important part of child-rearing thanks to Martha.
Fed is best, guys. Fed is best.
For your very own newborn session, complete with images of all of the important aspects of raising your sweet child, click here.