The realities of breastfeeding today

As a breastfeeding mother, the desire to share the realities of breastfeeding —the good, the bad, and the painful— led me to begin this project where I ventured into over 50 Boston-based families’ homes and lives to document their typical breastfeeding routines . I’d strap my baby boy into a wrap (often nursing him while I photographed) and would talk with families about how breastfeeding fit into their lives. Below, you’ll see the highlights of our days and will hear directly from the person in the picture about what breastfeeding means to them.

It was my overall goal that these photographs could empower families and make the barriers of breastfeeding more manageable. It is my hope that this project will continue to normalize breastfeeding and, in turn, help new parents feel more prepared, more informed and more supported throughout their breastfeeding journey.

As I began to nurse my second child, I found breastfeeding to be a great deal easier for me due to my experience with having already breastfed my older child, but also because of the confidence and support these families gave me. I am forever grateful to them and this body of work.

Monica, Marlin, 16 months and Simona, 3 years old

the realities of breastfeeding today a photo essay 0 Motherly

Gina Marie Brocker

Monica: “As I sit here multitasking at afternoon pick-up with my older daughter occupied and my baby Marlin happily suckling in my lap I realize that breastfeeding isn’t always ‘beautiful’ in the aesthetic sense.

“What I love about it is the raw immediacy. A procrastinator and unplanner by nature, breastfeeding fits my lifestyle perfectly. Nothing to remember, nothing to clean just my ladies and my baby. It’s not uncommon for me to have Marlin in the wrap or sling feeding while playing with big sister Simona at a playground or while running errands.

“Breastfeeding provides me with that sort of freedom and also empowerment. I don’t think it was by mistake that God designed our bodies to be sufficient. When all is stripped away I am still enough for my babies and that is powerful. That feeling of empowerment is what continues to propel me through the unknowns and trials of parenthood with confidence.”