The latest instalment from my ‘Mother Nurture’ project has me sharing these gorgeous breastfeeding of Alice and her daughter Millie. We created these images in the gardens of Abergavenny castle, with the rolling views of the Blorange behind us, I love living in this beautiful town!
Now the focus at a Mother Nurture session is very much on capturing beautiful breastfeeding pictures but this little girl had so much personality and such a wonderful smile….I had to grab a few extra shots too!
Of course this project isn’t simply about sharing breastfeeding pictures it’s also about giving nursing people the space to share their experiences of breastfeeding. So now you’ve seen Alices breastfeeding pictures please hear what she wanted to share about her journey so far.
“I am so grateful to Sarah for giving me the opportunity to have a voice on breastfeeding. What I would love to share is how important kindness is, in all circumstances.
I had my heart set on breastfeeding and did loads of research and reading up on how to feed (it’s all about the latch!) and the common problems you can run into. I chatted to lots of BF mummas and asked for loads of tips. After the slightly tricky birth we had I was even more determined to BF my Millie.
I was one of the lucky ones. Aside from a few occasions where I struggled to get Millie to latch and needed my mum, a retired health visitor, to step in and save the day (actually night) it was pretty plain sailing. The main reason I would struggle with a latch is because I could rarely sit down comfortably for the first eight months of her life.
The other thing I experienced was Raynauds of my nipples. I can’t begin to describe the pain, but aside from cwtching a hot water bottle for the few weeks that I had it, it had no impact on me or feeding Millie at all.
So back to my main point.... kindness. My personal experience of breastfeeding is that instead of celebrating that I was managing to feed my little one, that I should hide it in fear of upsetting those that can’t. Heaven forbid if I actually shared with anyone that my personal experience was straight forward and dare I say easy?!
With all the challenges that motherhood brings at any time, pandemic or not, I think it’s so important to celebrate our victories no matter how big or small they are. Everyone’s journey is different and I’d be here all day telling you about the other challenges I’ve had, but let’s create a culture where we celebrate each other no matter what.”
If you would like to find out more about this project then please head here. You’ll find lots of information there and of course more breastfeeding pictures too!
If you are smitten with these images and would like to create your own breastfeeding pictures then I’d love for you to get in touch!
And finally you can head over to Instagram to come see lots more of my work and what I’m all about. Please say hi!