Hockey Player Breastfeeds Baby in Locker Room, Slays Social Stigma

While majority were supportive of her act, few netizens slammed Small for promoting vulgarity in the public sphere.

Fetishisation of breasts is not new, but when breastfeeding a baby in public becomes a taboo, it weighs on new mothers who besides dealing with postnatal woes are also compelled to deal with breastfeeding jitters in public.

Remember the social media uproar over a Kerala magazine’s cover photo of an actress breastfeeding? Or when a woman was breastfeeding her one-year-old son at Victoria and Albert Museum when a staff member asked her to ‘cover up’ during the act? To this day, something as natural as breastfeeding has been stigmatised, and associated with shame. And many women have often fallen prey to narrow mindsets.

One such woman is Serah Small from Grande Prairie, Canada. Small, who is an elementary teacher and a hockey player, had given birth just eight-weeks ago to her daughter Ellie in Alberta, Canada, Indiatimes reported.

Back on the Hockey rink just eight weeks after giving birth, Small has been feeding her baby at frequent intervals during game breaks. However, during one of the games, Small realised that she had forgotten her breast pump at home.

Left with no choice, she stripped down in the locker room and breastfed her baby during the game breaks. Small who then sent the photo to Milky Way Lactation Services posted it on Facebook, the Indiatimes report added.

She later shared the photo on her Facebook wall promoting body positivity. “Being a mom is absolutely amazing. And I’m so happy I got to do something I absolutely love while still meeting my [baby’s] needs,” Small said in one post. “Our bodies are amazing and this weekend was the first time I truly appreciated mine.”

The photo quickly went viral and since then has garnered praise on social media. "I don't think I've done anything different than millions of moms before me," Small told CNN. Many lauded her effort to shatter conventions and de-sexualise the act of breastfeeding.

While many were supportive of her act, few netizens slammed Small for promoting vulgarity in the public sphere.

(With inputs from Indiatimes, CNN)