Readers, don't forget that I collect breastfeeding pictures of women of size. This collection is important because almost no breastfeeding resources routinely include pictures of breastfeeding women of size.
We need to remind the world that many "obese" women can and do breastfeed just fine.
Sadly, there are far too many care providers who believe that fat women can't or won't or shouldn't breastfeed. We need to show them that there are fat women who do breastfeed quite successfully.
If you'd like to share your picture, you can email it to me, kmom AT plus-size-pregnancy DOT org. Don't forget to give me formal permission to use your picture and say how you want it attributed.
I welcome shots from all women, but would especially welcome breastfeeding shots of high-BMI women of color (who are even more under-represented in breastfeeding resources).
In the meantime, enjoy these nursing photos of various well-rounded women!
The two pictures above are from a mom who is "morbidly obese," yet had a wonderful natural vaginal birth in a birthing center, something you might think would never happen if you listened to some care providers.
Some care providers also think that women of that size should not be allowed to birth in a birthing center, or are too "high-risk" to have access to low-tech alternatives. Yet many women of size have found that going low-tech was the key to their best chance at a vaginal birth, not to mention a more gentle and supportive birth experience.
Nursing also went well and is still going nearly 2 years later, a nice anti-dote for the commonly-held belief among some providers that larger women rarely breastfeed for very long (when they breastfeed at all).
I especially love the first shot. Beautiful!
The baby in the above pictures was born somewhat premature (but was a VBAC!).
Although preemies face many challenges in establishing breastfeeding (and no mom of a preemie should beat herself up if breastfeeding doesn't work out), this does show that preemies can often learn to breastfeed with time and patience. It's not easy, but it's extremely beneficial to a preemie's health so it's definitely worth pursuing if circumstances permit.
Don't you just love the second shot? What an adorable little face!
Here are a few other nursing shots from my files. Enjoy!
1 comment:
Aww, those made me smile. I actually just weaned my second daughter a couple of weeks ago. She had just turned three. My older daughter was past the age of four when I weaned her and I was almost 30 weeks pregnant as well. I remember being worried that I wouldn't be able to nurse due to my large breast size (G cup or larger) and weight (which was around 300 lbs or more when each child was born). There were some tricky issues with both of them but we made it through.
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