I think we were making our way past the vitamins and towards the stationary isle. I can't quite remember. It was all just too usual, too everyday, too normal.
And then it happened... grocery store nursing in public... by my 4-year-old:
My daughter, without a care in the world, lifted up her shirt and pretend-nursed her baby doll. It was all just so usual, so everyday, so normal.
Because my daughter is a breastfeeding advocate -- she is normalizing the normal without even trying to... since this truly is her norm. She nurses "baby Jack" countless times each day; in the kitchen, in the garden, at the shops, at the park. Wherever he is pretend-hungry, he will be pretend-fed.
Yet I had to take the picture. Even though this was standard behavior, I had to capture it to share... because these breastfeeding snaps hold real meaning amongst the breastfeeding community. Each time that a proud mom shares a glimpse of her nursing journey to my Facebook page, there is true celebration. Because these pictures speak volumes.
They seem to shout, loudly from rooftops, that we are united. That we are empowered. That we can damn well feed our baby in the vitamin isle, the stationary isle, or the freakin' beanbag isle if we so well wish to.
By sharing our pictures, we are spreading the word that breastfeeding is normal. By reaching out and supporting one another on our breastfeeding journeys, we are saying Yes to the wild and crazy notion that feeding human milk to human babies is actually a pretty sensible thing to do.
So here we are, nearing the end of World Breastfeeding Week and as ever, I am hearing the familiar rumblings of mumblings and grumblings ...
"Oh here we go again..."
Oh yes, here we go again. Here we will go, over and over again, until there is No Big Deal left to go over. Here we will talk and shout and sing about breastfeeding. Here we will share our pictures, stories and support -- with a view to encourage and empower each other along our unique-yet-uniting breastfeeding journeys.
Here we go again, over and over -- until nobody even blinks when they see a 4-year-old pretend-nursing her baby doll in the vitamin isle. Because we need to see it until we do not even think to notice it anymore.
Who is with me?
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This post originally appeared on Mama Bean Parenting.