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Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Images of Breastfeeding

Two weeks ago, I got into a discussion with a colleague about the Philippine Daily Inquirer headline below showing breastfeeding moms at Fabella hospital with the caption "Too Many Mouths to Feed".
She was quite bothered by how the images of breastfeeding in the Philippines was always linked with poverty. It was ironic how that banner photo was matched with a headline on the controversial RH bill. I typed "breastfeeding" and "philippines" in the image search of Google and check out the photos I got. Most were actually photos of mothers at Fabella Children's Memorial Hospital, such as the photo below of a nursing mom taken on 24 September 2008.
L.A.T.C.H. is currently working on a project to change the image of breastfeeding. Meanwhile, I came across this project by the United States Breastfeeding Committee. They have been contracted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention "to create a library of images of how communities across the U.S. support breastfeeding mothers and babies." Once completed, I think this will be an excellent resource for images for breastfeeding promotion.
I've never thought about the images of breastfeeding in the Philippines. I have always encouraged my husband (who takes maternity/newborn/children's photographs) to always ask his breastfeeding clients if they'd like a breastfeeding shots. I feel that getting this shot is a excellent memento of each mom's breastfeeding relationship with her child. But most of these photos are private - although L.A.T.C.H. has used some photos in our projects (with permission of course).
How do you think breastfeeding has been portrayed in the Philippines? Would you or do you have a breastfeeding photo of you and your nursling?