PHOENIX - A Glendale photographer shared a photo of 27 mothers breastfeeding their children against a classic Arizona backdrop to Facebook in an effort to normalize breastfeeding.
"This is for everyone that says to cover up," photographer Alicia Samone said in a Facebook post. Attached to the post, a photo of moms breastfeeding their babies has garnered almost 500 reactions in less than 24 hours.
"STOP shaming moms," Samone said in her Facebook post. "THIS is natural. We were made to do this. It is not okay to make a mom feel bad about feeding her baby. Its just not okay."
The photo shows moms with babies, toddlers, moms who pump breast milk and moms who feed their babies with bottles. Even tandem nursers are seen in the photograph.
A mother herself, Samone says she breastfed for a total of 5 years. She continues to say, however, her intention for sharing this photo is not to put down moms who don't or can't breastfeed.
"I support you as long as you feed your baby," Samone said in her Facebook post.
The intention for the photo is to normalize breastfeeding because "it IS normal," Samone says.
The photographer ends her Facebook post with a call to action. Samone asks people to share the photo for two reasons: "Because you support breastfeeding. We need your help making this normal. And because everyone should see how not only normal this is but how BEAUTIFUL it is!!"
