When I took my prenatal breastfeeding class, I was less than thrilled by the video we were shown. It featured a mom in 80's hair and makeup, with soft focus images of babies, and lullabies playing in the background.
I didn't want to think about myself this way - that somehow in the process of having a baby I was going to become a baby. I wanted to be a strong, empowered mom. Demi Moore's nude, pregnant magazine cover had turned the woman-under-tent image of pregnancy on its head. Where were the breastfeeding role models?
Well, they're on their way, thanks to Best for Babes, a new non-profit that seeks to change the image of breastfeeding, and to eliminate "Booby Traps" - the cultural and institutional barriers to breastfeeding that trip so many of us up.
Best for Babes promotes images of breastfeeding like the one to the left of model Jessica Hebert, which was featured on the cover of Stork Magazine.
The foundation also has its first celebrity role model: Gabrielle Reece, professional volleyball player, sports announcer, and model. In her interview on the Celebrity Baby Blog, Gabrielle says that "It just feels like, in a sense, when [I’m breastfeeding], that on
an intellectual level, on a cellular level, on a spiritual level, it
makes a lot of sense to me."
Co-founder Bettina Forbes says: “I didn’t really want to breastfeed, and by the time I changed my mind, I was having difficulties that could easily have been avoided. When I realized how close I had come to not breastfeeding, I started wondering, what were the cultural factors that were tripping moms up? Why were women getting turned off or throwing in the towel? What could be done to motivate and inspire women to breastfeed?”
Stay tuned for more celebrity role models, and other projects to give breastfeeding the make-over it deserves.
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