When Jade posted her original group photo of nursing moms, some commenters felt she was endorsing only breastfeeding and not bottle-feeding.
Image: Jade Beall Photography
The point of this photo isn't to celebrate one kind of feeding or another. "The women in this photo posed for me because they trust me and desire freedom from self-loathing and are searching to heal their stories of not being good enough," says Jade.
Now, thanks to Jade's outreach toward moms who bottle-feed, her important images of mothers' bodies are even more inclusive.
The result is a fantastic photograph that's healing in nature. Here we see four mothers who are proudly feeding their babies. They gaze into the camera confidently, free of judgment, free to feed their little ones as they wish.
Image: Jade Beall Photography
"I took this photo because sisterhood is more beautiful and epically more powerful than judgment," says photographer Jade Beall. "I took this photo because we all came to have a heartbeat inside of the sacred and precious body of a woman and took our first inhale after exiting from the bare body of a woman."
It wasn't the first time Beall had captured moms breastfeeding and formula-feeding. Two years ago she took this stunning photo.
Image: Jade Beall Photography
"Let's be kind to ourselves so that we can be kind to one another," she says. Her attitude is exactly what mothers need to hear, whether they feel judged for the way they feed their children, the way they look or the choices they make as a parent. We all could use kindness, and that kindness often has to start from within.
Image: Jade Beall Photography
Despite her efforts to censor out nipples and genitals, Jade's Facebook page has been disabled repeatedly for the authentic images she shares. She has a backup page for those occasions and always bounces back to continue sharing her work. It's a welcome sight every time she shares one of her projects. As moms, it's so critical for us to see the natural shape of bodies.
Most of us will never pose nude, but we will be confronted by the bathroom mirror every day. Next time you study yourself, don't seek out flaws and imperfections. Look at a body that nurtures life, that bears the signs of living. Give yourself the freedom to view yourself without judgment. It feels so good.
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It's not selfish not to breastfeed