My breastfeeding days didn’t look anything like the soft-focused pictures of moms nursing in magazines.
While they’re always at ease in a lovely living room, I was sweating profusely on the couch with pillows strewn everywhere. On the coffee table was an icy water bottle, a burp cloth and nipple cream, along with a half-eaten meal frustratingly just out of reach. For me, breastfeeding wasn’t a “pretty” picture.
It’s heartening to know I’m not the only one who’s noticed the disparity between how nursing is usually presented and reality.
Susie Blake, an artist, photographer and mom of two has begun to ask, “What Does Breastfeeding Look Like?” while traveling between Melbourne, London & São Paulo.
“I feel there is a distinct lack of authenticity in images of women breastfeeding,” she explains on the project’s Facebook page.
“In the media most photos are highly stylised, sexualised or unrealistic; many are sheer fantasy. Whether it be the angelic mother in her clinical white perfection or some model on the front of a fashion magazine. I’m tired of images that fail to show the realities of breastfeeding.”
Take a look at some of the images she’s captured so far.
Michelle
(All images shared with permission from photographer Suzie Blake.)
Susan
Kathryn: "I don’t particularly enjoy breastfeeding, but it fits with my path of least resistance approach to parenting. Sad baby? Hurt baby? Bored baby? Awake in the middle of the night? Too sick to eat solid food? It’s very easy to offer her some milk and she quickly gets over whatever is bothering her.
It wasn’t easy to start with but once we both got the hang of things, I was glad we persevered."
Sherrilyn
Jacqui
Mariah: "My breastfeeding experience has been a rollercoaster. The first 4 weeks of breastfeeding my children were not pleasant. Having cracked bleeding nipples, sweating trying to get a good position and the correct attachment and not forgetting the very sore engorged breasts. Both my children have a lip tie, making it very difficult to get the correct attachment.
Nonetheless, I persisted with both children and fed my first until 14 months (only stopping as I fell pregnant and was nauseas each time she fed), and still feeding my second child at 8 months."
Anna
Suzie's self portrait with Xavier and Maximiliano
Tahnia: "I grew up in a pro-breastfeeding extended family and it has a very special meaning to me. My mother breastfed me and my four siblings. When I became a mother, breastfeeding just seemed like the natural thing to do.
As a Muslim, breastfeeding has an added dimension to me - it is an act of obedience and a way to express my love for God. In the Koran, God recommends that mothers breastfeed their babies 'for two whole years' and requires that the father 'pays for her food and clothing equitably' (The Koran, 2:233)."
Rachel
Sophie
Nicola: "My mum breastfed me, so I suppose I always just presumed I would too. I probably expected it to be more simple than it was, but then as soon as I’d got to know each of my babies’ ‘styles’ and needs, and got through the early challenges, it got a lot easier. They’re all individuals, and having breastfed two has taught me that general guidelines don’t mean much when you’re dealing with your own unique baby."
Kylie
Susan: "I avoid breastfeeding in public as much as I can. My first experience was when my baby was 6 weeks old and I was feeding her on the plane before takeoff next to a man who wouldn’t stop talking and staring - it was really intimidating and stressful. I’ve also had a man stood right behind me in a park watching, and a bunch of guys staring and giggling with each other while I fed discretely in the back corner of a cafe all covered up.
What some people don’t realise is that breastfeeding mums really don’t want the attention - we just want to feed the little human we are caring for and we want you go about your business, without even looking at us."
Jannique
Kate
Emma: "My breastfeeding relationship has been all about learning and working.
With my daughter I was in agony for ten weeks. We never really worked out why. But I kept going and suddenly it became pain free. So we carried on to three months, then six, then a year and then I couldn’t see a point in stopping when it was now so easy and such a great parenting tool. It calms tantrums (toddler and beyond!) so quickly and easily, offers comfort, and is a space to just be for both of us.
Now she’s six it’s infrequent. Her adult teeth are coming in, her jaw shape is changing. She actually can’t get milk any more. But still asks to nurse to reconnect, chill out, and just be close. She will stop when she’s ready."
Jolene
Climpsons Cafe Girl
Hazel
Mel
Lisa: "Ella is my second child. With my first, Gracie, I wasn’t particularly bothered about breastfeeding. I thought I’d give it a go, but figured I’d just do formula if it didn’t work out. But then she was born 10 weeks early and I had amazing support to help me breastfeed her. I felt helpless in so many other ways, breastfeeding became important to me.
I ended up feeding her until her 4th birthday, so when I had Ella, there was no question that I was going to breastfeed her. I’d also done a breastfeeding Peer Supporter course, so I was ready. We’re still on our journey and I’ve no idea when it will end … we’ll see."
Zena
Mel
Jacqueline: "I actually found my first week in hospital one of the biggest challenges. Having so many midwives and nurses handling you at all hours of the day and night with all different opinions and styles was probably one of the most overwhelming experiences I’ve ever had. By the time I left hospital I had no confidence feeding my son."
Marcella
Elena: "While I grew up in Sweden, my family originated from El Salvador and we ended up in Sweden due to my parents fleeing a civil war. For safety reason during the war, my mother chose to give me up to my grandmother when I was only a few months old and go into hiding. My own breastfeeding was cut short due to external circumstances, and thinking back, I believe this has made me more determined to breastfeed my son as long as he wants to."
“This project is about portraying breastfeeding in all its beautiful messiness,” Suzie goes on to explain.
“This is about tired eyes and no make up. This is about milk leaks and ratty hair. This is about giving in to all the demands of your 2-year-old while you try to feed your newborn. This is about dishes pilled up in the kitchen and dirty laundry building in the corner. This is about puke on your shoulder and toys on the floor. This is about let down milk sprays in cafes and engorged breasts at the park.
This is about empowering women.
This is about the amazing thing that only we, the women humans of this earth, can do; sustain another humans life with our own.”
More from Suzie herself, via a video she created for the project’s Indiegogo campaign:
What does breastfeeding truly look like for you?
Tell us about it -- or upload a photo below!All images shared with permission from photographer Suzie Blake.
More breastfeeding photography:
"I felt as though I had found my calling," says Munich-based photographer Tammy Nicole, recalling her first photo session with a breastfeeding mom and baby. Looking at this stunning collection of images, it's hard to disagree.
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Photographer Ivette Ivens' work has been featured by countless media outlets around the world. This ethereal series, she explains, aims to "depict the way each woman feels while nursing: pure, beautiful, saintly, celestial."
See more: Stunning photos show the beauty of breastfeeding toddlers
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This very talented group of photographers picked some of their most powerful and moving images to share with us in celebration of World Breastfeeding Week. We think you'll love them as much as we do.
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“I know there will be people who don’t agree with me nursing in uniform. There are no regulations forbidding me to do so. I am a mother. Both inside and outside of my uniform. Breastfeeding is part of motherhood for me,”says Jonea, the subject of this much talked about image snapped by photographer Jade Beall.
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"It’s hard, it’s a commitment, it’s a sacrifice. I’ve been frustrated, I’ve wanted to give up. I’ve been told I can’t do it. I’ve been asked why I don’t just give bottles," Ohio mom Brittany Yankowski tells BabyCenter of breastfeeding her triplets. She talked to BabyCenter to tell us how - and why - she does it.
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Photographer Erin White captures nursing as you've never seen it before. Her gorgeous, wild breastfeeding photo shoot proved to be quite controversial.
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Photo: Erin White Photography
These images by Suzie Blake, on the other hand, will look very familiar to many moms. "This is about milk leaks and ratty hair," she tells us of the candid shots. "This is about giving in to all the demands of your 2-year-old while you try to feed your newborn. This is about dishes piled up in the kitchen and dirty laundry building in the corner."
See more: This is what breastfeeding really looks like
Photo: Suzie Blake
Photographer Jade Beall is used to being behind the lens, but she stepped into the spotlight when she posted this image of her nursing her 3 1/2-year-old son. “I see that with my discomfort in breastfeeding my son in public these days that there is a whole new way for me to promote and support feminism,” she said of her decision to share her own breastfeeding story.
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This mesmerizing shoot by photographer Kyiera Jones is truly out of this world. These mermaid moms are unexpectedly unforgettable.
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It’s not something you’d expect to see smack in the middle of downtown Chicago: A group of 12 mothers gathered on a meridian at a busy intersection confidently, defiantly even, nursing their babies. That's exactly what happened, though, thanks to a jaw-dropping shoot staged by "Badass Breastfeeder" Abby Theuring and photographer Ivette Ivens.
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Angel Mickelle delivered her son at home, on her own. There was no doctor to catch the baby, no midwife to help her through the contractions. When baby Leo arrived, she immediately nursed him, and his big brother, too. “I wanted to tandem breastfeed as a way to introduce Paulo to his little brother," she explains. "To me it felt like the most gentle way for Leo to meet all of us and us to meet him.”
See more: Photos: Brave unassisted birth, immediate tandem breastfeeding
Photo: Earthside Birth Photography
Over the years, Jade Beall has turned her lens on expectant mothers, new mothers, survivors of abuse, survivors of eating disorders, survivors of cancer and mastectomies. Men, women, young, old. Her work is often controversial, and this breastfeeding shot proved to be no exception.
“We are so use to seeing hyper-sexualized images of women everywhere we turn, but when I want to celebrate a woman in an non-sexualized pose, nude, feeding a human that her body grew and feeds and calling her cellulite, curves or bones beautiful."
See more: The breastfeeding photo that sparked a backlash
Photo: Jade Beall
