The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) has announced the 10 winners of its annual breastfeeding photo contest. This year the contest centered around the 2009 theme of “Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response. Are You Ready?”

Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response

The photos are fascinating but heart-wrenching in some cases, like the image of the woman who was a victim of domestic violence. Here I am grateful to be nursing my baby through a simple case of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease, and there are women breastfeeding in relief camps, in war zones, in areas severely damaged by an earthquake. You can view all of the photos in WABA’s 2009 World Breastfeeding Week Action folder (large PDF download), or you can view them temporarily on the WABA WBW home page.

Today I feature a gorgeous photo of a four-month-old baby nursing. I think the tags for this breastfeeding photo say it all: baby, infant, newborn, davey, nursing, breastfed, breastfeeding, eat, milk, love

Photo courtesy of jessicafm

In light of the controversies about breastfeeding photos on Facebook, MySpace and LiveJournal, I am wondering how you feel about the appropriateness of having breastfeeding pictures taken of you and your nursling. Do you have them taken?

Leave a comment!

If you have had breastfeeding photos taken, what do you do with them? Have you shared them with friends, posted them on a blog, or used them for avatars on web sites? Is there an age of the nursling after which breastfeeding photos are no longer appropriate? What about this news story (via Blacktating) that tells how a family’s children were taken away by child protective services when the photo development service saw pictures of the baby nursing?

Poll removed; please leave a comment!

Once again the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) is running a breastfeeding photography contest for World Breastfeeding Week (WBW). The WABA WBW theme for 2009 is “Breastfeeding: A Vital Emergency Response. Are you ready?”

Entries are due March 24, 2009 by submitting this entry form (Word document) to WABA. Ten lucky winners will receive $100 each and have their winning photos featured in the WBW materials distributed to 120 countries! Good luck!

It has been over a year since Facebook began removing breastfeeding pictures and threatening users with being banned from the site. At last check, the Facebook group “Hey, Facebook, Breastfeeding is not obscene!” had over 57,000 members (including me). Now organizers of that group have planned an event for Saturday, December 27, 2008, the M.I.L.C. Mothers International Lactation Campaign.

Virtual Nurse-In

Organizers explain:

Facebook continues to classify breastfeeding photos as obscene content. They continue to arbitrarily remove these photos from member albums and profiles, accompanied by warnings of account termination. This is highly discriminatory and an affront to nursing mothers everywhere. In protest of this, Mothers International Lactation Campaign (M.I.L.C.) has planned a virtual day of protest.

Not only is human lactation responsible for the very survival of our species, it is in no way a sexually explicit, lewd or despicable act. It is also protected by law in most countries, including specifically the state where Facebook is headquartered in the USA.

In protest to the discriminatory and unjust policy of Facebook administration classifying breastfeeding images as obscene content, on December 27th, 2008 M.I.L.C. is asking all of you to change your profile picture for one day, to one which includes an image of a nursing mom.

This could be a picture of you or someone you know nursing a child, it could be a painting or image of a sculpture of a breastfeeding woman, it could also be a photo or image of any nursing mammal….We ask that you include the status line of “Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!”

In addition to this ‘virtual nurse-in’, there will be other events planned around the globe. Please check this page often for regular updates and added information. We will also be including images that you can use for your profile picture on December 27th.

Live Nurse-In

If you are in the Palo Alto, California area, consider attending the live nurse-in at the Facebook headquarters!

When: Saturday, December 27, 2008, at 11 a.m.
Where: Outside the Facebook office at 156 Uni­versity Ave., Palo Alto, California

MSNBC Media Coverage

Coverage of the planned events has hit mainstream media with this video story from MSNBC.

Time for this year’s round-up of breastfeeding calendars! You can have your 2009 calendar shopping make a difference for mothers and babies around the world by purchasing one of the following calendars:

~ Check out the 12 full-color pictures from the IBFAN Breastfeeding Calendar 2009. The calendar is available from Baby Milk Action for £7, £6 if ordering 10 or more. Add £2 per calendar for shipping and handling outside the United Kingdom (although you might be able to order a calendar from your national International Baby Food Action Netork group). The 2008 Calendar is also available for £3.

~ The 2009 Australian Breastfeeding Association Calendar features 16 breastfeeding pictures selected from thousands of submissions. It sells for AUD $15 plus postage.

~ The 2009 Mothering magazine calendar features a variety of photos and includes resources on breastfeeding and other helpful topics. It sells for U.S. $18.95.

~ You can watch the slideshow of the breastfeeding images from the 2009 Sonoma County Breastfeeding Calendar. The calendar is due out in November.

~ The New Mexico Breastfeeding Task Force held a contest for pictures for its 2009 Breastfeeding Calendar. Watch the task force home page for announcement of the 2009 release. The 2008 version is still for sale.

Photo credit: rabble

By: Daquella Manera

Required attribution: Raphael Goetter