Breastfeeding is Beautiful.
It is the ultimate expression of femininity and being a woman. It is a magnificent, selfless act of love that nourishes one’s newborn with perfect physical nourishment and strong emotional bonds that will last a lifetime.
You can imagine my surprise when I learned about a couple of military Moms who caught some serious flack when tasteful, professional photos of themselves breastfeeding in uniform on an Air Force base began circulating online.
Washington Air National Guard spokesman Capt. Keith Kosik said that a formal military response to the photos which have gone viral since being posted at BreastfeedinginCombatBoots.com was necessary as they were a violation of regulations against using the uniform to promote a civilian cause.
I beg your pardon, Captain, but breastfeeding is not a civilian “cause”. It is the simple act of feeding your baby, something that has been performed by Mothers far longer than armies have roamed the earth in fact!
Would pictures of women feeding their babies with bottles while in uniform have gotten a “formal response” from the military if these photos had been posted online?
Ahem. I don’t think so!
What’s really surprising is that some breastfeeding Moms were also critical of the photos with one commentor on BreastfeedinginBoots.com posting the following:
“I would never nurse in uniform. I took my child to the bathroom or a private office when her nanny brought her to me …. Not because I was ashamed of nursing, nor of being a mother. All the guys knew I pumped. The military is not a civilian job. We go to combat and we make life or death decisions, and not just for ourselves but for those we lead. The same reason I would never nurse in uniform is the same reason I do not chew gum, or walk and talk on my cell phone, or even run into the store in my utility uniform. … We are warfighting professionals. Women before us have worked too hard to earn and retain the respect of their male peers. I don’t want my Marines to look at me any other way than as a Marine. When I am asking them to fly into combat with me and do a dangerous mission, I do not want them to have the mental image of a babe at my breast. I want them to only see me as a Marine. Let’s be a realistic folks. We give up many freedoms being in the military…Breastfeeding in front of my fellow Marines was one of them.”
With all due respect, but would you like to eat in the bathroom?
Nursing is not akin to going to the bathroom and therefore should not be relegated to this type of atmosphere where airborne germs and other potential threats to a nursing baby may abound.
We clearly have a long way to go in this country when it comes to understanding the role of Mom as both protector and nurturer.
A Mom nursing in uniform is a proud display of both in action and the military would be well advised to support this activity rather than reprimanding it.
What do you think? Should a Mom be able to breastfeed anywhere at any time even when on duty keeping our country safe?
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources: Military Mom Proud of Breastfeeding in Uniform Despite Criticism
Breastfeeding Moms in Uniform Photos Were out of Line: Military
The pictures were taken specifically for National Breastfeeding Awareness Month. That is considered by most to be a cause: a cause to make it as common and mainstream as it should be. It went against regulations regardless of the normalcy of it.
The right to eat anything HEALTHY is a political cause. It’s ridiculous!!
These days it seems the right to eat is a political cause 🙁
The Captain quoted in the post said that they were being reprimanded not because their breasts were exposed but because they were promoting a civilian “cause”. How ridiculous! Breastfeeding is not a cause! It’s feeding your baby!
Sarah, the cause the Captain is referring to isn’t breastfeeding in uniform. Everyone is getting so fixated on WHAT they are doing in the picture. These photographs were taken for a civilian organization called Mom2Mom, to be used in an ad campaign. The Captain never said they can’t breastfeed in uniform, they just can’t allow photographs of them doing so to be published. To try and illustrate the difference, imagine I was their supervisor and arrived at work to find them sitting in the grass breastfeeding their babies. Having been a breastfeeding mother myself, I would have praised them for taking the effort to give their babies the best possible nutrition. However, if I arrived to work to find photos of these two Airmen in uniform plastered all over the media because they decided to participate in a photo shoot for an ad campaign I would have reprimanded them. It doesn’t matter what they were doing in the photos, it is just not allowed. They had time to put on makeup and dress their babies in cute little outfits like most moms do for a photo shoot with their kids…they could have changed into their civilian clothes for the photo shoot as well. I feel sorry for them, because I don’t believe they did it for attention and I doubt they anticipated the backlash. I also am sure they thought it was for a noble cause. However, I can’t understand how they missed the fact that you can’t support anything outside the military with your uniform, military members are reminded of this very often. They should not have participated in the photo shoot in uniform, that’s the bottom line. I do know of males that have been disciplined for appearing in uniform unauthorized, and I bet those guys you speak of on You tube were punished. Those You tube videos didn’t receive the large amount of publicity these photographs did, so there wouldn’t be an official statement.
Very well said. And I’m a breastfeeding mom.
@Kelly agreed. Breastfeeding is a normal activity. These Moms never would have been reprimanded if they had been feeding their babies with a bottle while in uniform. in a public place.
‘These Moms never would have been reprimanded if they had been feeding their babies with a bottle while in uniform’….Your opinion stated as fact based on what experience or research?
To clarify, they weren’t reprimanded for nursing in uniform. They were reprimanded for being photographed with their breasts exposed regardless of the reason. Seeing as how one in uniform can’t chew gum or walk while on a cell phone while in uniform I can understand how this could be viewed as breaking an unwritten code.
Kelly – So true, and it takes twice the time! I had trouble with my older son he wouldn’t latch properly and kept biting me, so i ended up pumping for a couple of months and fed him that way and let me tell you the last thing you want to do at 3 am is pump 🙂 But if you don’t you lose your supply. Its difficult!
It’s pretty ridiculous, we need to normalize breast feeding in this country. There are moms out there that will won’t even try to breast feed because they’ve never seen it, they are told that they should be hiding somewhere, and they are told that formula is ‘just as good.’ It’s very sad and frustrating. And before people even start to suggest that mothers should pump and bottle feed, keep in mind that there are women that have plenty of milk but are not able to get milk out when they pump and that there are babies that just won’t take a bottle.
You go girls. Babies need to eat no matter what we Moms might be wearing at the time!
So, I might as well use an American flag as a nursing cape. It’s sad to see that people don’t respect the symbols that make this country great!
symbols make our country great???? peices of cloth make our country great??
SYMBOLS?! Are you SERIOUS??? So, did the swastika (borrowed from an Indian peace symbol) make NAZI Gernamy great?
So sick of the uniform being pretentiously held in high regard by those criticizing these women when profound abuses in uniform are found all over u-tube as Sarah stated (including MEN), and have taken place countless ways for decades (Collateral Damage video, Abu Graib, murdering innocents, disrespecting their defeated and dead “enemies” and defiling the bodies with piss and sick props, or just plain dumbshits drunken stupidness on utube).
These women are FEEDING THEIR KIDS. NOT going to the bathroom. The uniform is NOT sacred. That’s like saying the Pope’s outfit is sacred. Really? Maybe to SOME Catholics, but really?
The soldier is NOT a AUTOMATICALLY a hero. These MOMS are heros. The woman quoted by Sarah in this article talks about what she “would never do” after women have worked so hard to gain respect of men in uniform. Psshaw!
Are ALL the MEN truly deserving of respect from that same woman? HIGHLY DOUBTFUL. What have the MEN in uniform done to maintain respect? Google some fun on utube to answer that question.
Drunken stupidity vs. Proud breastfeeding moms? NO comparison.
That’s ridiculous. Better reprimand every cop in uniform eating a donut then.
People have this all wrong. The issue isn’t breastfeeding. That’s how God designed us to feed our babies. I breastfed in an Outback Steakhouse right at the table for crying out loud. The issue is doing it in uniform. If these women are so into their motherly rights, then why not put on a skirt and top and go nurse on the parkbench. I don’t think as many people would have a problem with that. There is something sacred about the uniform that so many have died for.
Um…that’s not the issue, either. Not in this case. The author of this article implied with their editorializing that breastfeeding in uniform was the error made by these women, but the only quote from military personnel states that the issue was “promoting a civilian cause” in uniform. And all the author had to say about that was that breastfeeding isn’t a cause. But breastfeeding in public is a cause. It’s why websites like the one the pictures were posted on exist: so women who support breastfeeding in public can try to convince others to accept breastfeeding in public. The author of this article has completely manipulated the public into reacting to something that (based solely on this article) was never even said.