The start of August brings the start of World Breastfeeding Week! Each year, from August 1st–7th, the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action promotes WBW as a worldwide, week-long celebration dedicated to providing support for mothers and advocating for breastfeeding education.
As this year’s WBW theme is Protect Breastfeeding, we thought it would only be right if we highlighted some of the amazing mothers who are protecting their right to breastfeed—in the Olympics, in businesses, and even in Hollywood.
Your Breastfeeding Newsfeed
Oh, Baby! Olympians Fight for their Families
During a pandemic, breastfeeding may be more important than ever. Through breastmilk, antibodies and other protective bacteria are delivered to the baby to help protect against airborne illnesses such as COVID-19, and many other harmful diseases.
When the organizers of the Tokyo Olympics passed a ban preventing athletes from inviting their family members to the games, breastfeeding Olympians were vocal about their disagreement. The athletes argued that they should be allowed to bring their breastfeeding infants to the Games with them. Realizing the importance of allowing these mothers to breastfeed their children, Olympic organizers lessened the restriction and allowed nursing Olympians to bring their babies to Tokyo.
Caution: Breastfeeding Handstand Ahead
On the topic of breastfeeding Olympians, Australian Olympic snowboarder Torah Bright recently shared a photo on Instagram showcasing her breastfeeding talents—nursing her son while doing a handstand! Torah captioned the photo, “Becoming a mother has unleashed something inside of me. 💖 It’s deeply spiritual. 💖 It’s primal. 💖 It’s raw. 💖 it’s fierce. 💖 It is pure.” After receiving backlash from commenters about her post being too revealing, she shared a video discussing the post and the challenges of motherhood, saying: “Let’s find the village of motherhood to grow and support each other.” She’s continued to share her new motherhood journey on her Instagram, including photos of her breastfeeding while skateboarding, in the snow, and on the beach.
Supporting Athlete Moms
Another Olympic mother, Allyson Felix, has partnered with her sponsor, Athleta, and the Women’s Sports Foundation to create a $200,000 childcare fund. This program was created to help support athlete mothers as they compete while still tackling the challenges of raising children. Nine female athletes have been named grant recipients this summer, with many more to come in the future. Each recipient will be receiving $10,000 to go toward childcare and financing their needs as mothers. Felix feels very passionate about this project. In an op-ed for the New York Times, she wrote about the maternity discrimination against female athletes and the need for protection for all mothers. Felix says “These grants are about showing the industry that all mom-athletes need this same comprehensive support to be able to participate in their athletic endeavors."
Commemorate the Bond Between Mother and Baby
Did you know that there is now a way for you to create a tangible representation of the love you shared while breastfeeding your baby?
Breastmilk jewelry company, Milk + Honey, was founded in 2018 and has been giving mothers all over the world a tangible representation of the loving bond they have with their baby. Milk + Honey uses a unique process to encapsulate mothers’ breastmilk into jewelry. Mothers send Milk + Honey a small quantity of breastmilk, and the company preserves it, crushes it into a powder, and turns it into a resin.
They have many different designs to choose from. If breastmilk isn’t available to you, they also will encapsulate a baby’s ashes, hair, or placenta. To learn more about their process of stone-making and how you can order from them, you can learn more here.
Celebrity Moms Celebrate Breastfeeding
Tia Mowry-Hardict feeding her beautiful baby girl Cairo Tiahna in a loving mother-daughter moment.
Alanis Morissette breastfeeding her beautiful baby girl Onyx as she is latched on to Mommy (now isn’t it ironic?)
Famous singer Gwen Stefani is holding her baby for a breastfeeding moment with a scenic background of Switzerland behind her
Real Housewives of Atlanta star Kandi Burruss breastfeeding her baby while in the middle of a ‘poo and rinse
Let this World Breastfeeding week be a commemoration to all of the role models we have that show us their bravery and honesty in supporting breastfeeding.