Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine: Facebook Flack Regarding Breastfeeding Mothers

January 12, 2009

For immediate release 
Contact: Karla Shepard Rubinger, Executive Director, Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, (914) 740-2100, ext. 
2153, abm@bfmed.org

Facebook Flack Regarding Breastfeeding Mothers 

New Rochelle, NY, January 12, 2009—The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine
feels that the social networking website, Facebook, would be well advised to review
its policy banning photographs of breastfeeding mothers. Such a policy perpetuates
the notion that breastfeeding is an unseemly bodily function best kept from public
viewing, a misguided and antiquated concept that has no place in contemporary
society. It further perpetuates the idea that formula feeding is normative when
breastfeeding is, and should be considered, normative infant and young child
feeding. Health professionals widely acknowledge that breastfeeding is biologically
unique and appropriate for the mother and infant.

Throughout most of history, breastfeeding, whether performed in private or
otherwise, has been regarded as a natural and wholesome aspect of daily living. In
fact, some of the greatest works of Renaissance art dealt with the theme of the
Virgin Mary breastfeeding her infant son (the Madonna Lactans).

So important is breastfeeding for the well-being of infants, mothers, and society at
large that no less than forty four states have enacted legislation safeguarding the
right of a mother to breastfeed in public. The Surgeon General’s Blueprint for Action
on Breastfeeding encourages “images of breastfeeding as the normal way to feed
infants in most places women and their infants go.” Facebook should certainly be
considered one of those places.

The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (www.bfmed.org) is a worldwide
organization of physicians dedicated to the promotion, protection and support of
breastfeeding and human lactation through education, research, and advocacy. An
independent, self-sustaining, international physician organization and the only
organization of its kind, ABM’s mission is to unite members of various medical
specialties through physician education, expansion of knowledge in breastfeeding
science and human lactation, facilitation of optimal breastfeeding practices, and
encouragement of the exchange of information among organizations.

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