15 raw photos show the realities of breastfeeding, from biting to engorgement
Eleanor Goldberg Fox
- Breastfeeding offers numerous health benefits. but it's also time-consuming and can be painful and frustrating.
- On top of the physical demands, women face other barriers to breastfeeding, including a lack of maternity leave and the right to pump at work.
- Insider collected photos from readers and professional photographers that reflect the realities of breastfeeding, from carting around a pump and tandem breastfeeding to dealing with infections.
According to Instagram, breastfeeding is mostly a blissful bonding experience, where the baby snuggles in closely to the mother to drink up a perfect food that offers numerous health benefits.
But Instagram influencers tend to omit the less photogenic parts of the process — the bloody nipples, struggling to produce enough milk, getting engorged from having too much milk, facing painful medical issues like mastitis, stressing about a baby who can't latch, or never getting a break from a baby who solely feeds from the breast.
There's balancing a feeding baby on one arm while taking a work call in the other and having to lug around pump parts while trying to find a private room with a working lock.
Many mothers who endure the physical discomforts still can't continue breastfeeding due to widespread societal barriers. Across the globe, only 41% of babies were exclusively breastfed throughout their first six months of life in 2018, which is the recommendation of the World Health Organization. It's one of the few positive health behaviors that has higher rates in poorer countries than rich countries. That's due in large part to a lack of maternity leave policies and protections in the workplace for lactating mothers.
Insider collected photos from readers and two photographers — Sophie Darwin and Justine Curran — who captured the pain and frustration that often comes with breastfeeding, along with the glee a mom can experience from being able to feed her baby from her own body.
"What I love about capturing real life scenarios of breastfeeding is that it shares all the challenges that may arise with breastfeeding," Justine Curran, a Sydney, Australia-based photographer, told Insider. "Women need to know they are not alone."
While breastfeeding is natural, it's still an acquired skill that requires guidance, practice, and space.
It takes time to learn how to position a baby, identify hunger cues, and encourage a proper latch.
In order to successfully breastfeed, a mother needs to be able to directly feed her baby every few hours, or pump milk while apart.
Just 40% of women with newborns worldwide have basic maternity leave benefits. (The US remains the only developed country without mandated paid maternity leave). Even when pump breaks are supposed to be protected at work, women often face discrimination for exercising that right.
Many mothers say balancing a job, breastfeeding, and parenting is like trying to manage three full-time jobs.
In this photo taken during the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Chana Ovitz was breastfeeding her six-month-old daughter while seeing her dermatology patients virtually.
Many breastfeeding mothers loathe their breast pump, but also depend on it to get out of the house.
Research suggests that 85% of babies in the US who get breast milk are fed from a bottle at least some of the time.
In the US, very few breastfeeding mothers exclusively pump and feed their babies breast milk in a bottle.
Some women choose this route after experiencing pain while nursing, or if a baby has difficulty latching. Other mothers decide to exclusively pump so they can know for certain how much milk their baby is imbibing, while still others prefer to share the feeding responsibility (though it also means scheduling pumping sessions about seven times a day).
Mothers who have children close in age may choose to "tandem" nurse, which means breastfeeding more than one child at a time.
While pregnant with her third child, Brittni Scott continued to breastfeed both her preschooler and toddler. "I love the way they'd naturally gravitate towards holding hands while nursing," Scott told Insider.
An older child may struggle at the beginning while their mom breastfeeds a new baby.
A mom can help an older child get through it by validating their feelings, breastfeeding on the floor so the older child can sit nearby, and by reading a book or playing a game while nursing,
Breastfeeding can lead to a number of painful conditions, including engorgement, which is when a mother has an oversupply of milk.
Nursing mothers can also develop a condition called lactation mastitis, which is when milk gets trapped in the breast, a duct gets clogged, or bacteria gets into the breast.
In addition to feeling pain, a mother can develop flu-like symptoms. A gentle massage and continuing to feed from the affected breast can bring relief.
A nipple shield can help ease pain from breastfeeding.
Some babies may bite when they start teething.
When this happens, Kelly Bonyata, a lactation consultant, recommends giving a baby a teething toy, or removing the baby from the breast and reminding him that a baby should be gentle while nursing.
Breastfeeding mothers often have to figure out how to multitask while feeding a baby.
Jenny Tamas, a blogger, did the math in 2017 and concluded that she spent 1,825 hours breastfeeding her baby over the course of a year. That means many moms have to find a way to multitask to get something as simple as shaving done.
Some mothers will keep breastfeeding even while on the go.
While breastfeeding in private in a cozy chair is preferable, that's not always possible. That was the case when Becky Hulse went to the zoo with her six-week-old and she fed the baby under a blanket while walking.
"I would never have done this with my first," Hulse told Insider. "I was way more comfortable and confident with the second."
Stopping breastfeeding can lead to delayed postpartum depression in some women due to hormone shifts.
When babies get older, they can get more restless while breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding babies often show their moms that they're satisfied when they fall asleep on the breast after feeding or when they have a "drunk milk face." In this photo taken by Sophie Darwin, a baby gave his mom a sweet thumbs up.
- Read more:
- I thought I would feel free after I stopped breastfeeding. Instead I fell into a deep depression.
- I spent a month cleaning diapers by hand and confiscating toys, and learned why it's nearly impossible to be a plastic-free parent
- Women who've been pregnant during the pandemic are advising others to wait: 'I don't think I would have had a third kid. Period.'
- Pregnant women and new moms are facing 'shocking' rates of anxiety and depression during the pandemic
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