Labour MP Calls For TOWIE Mums To Breastfeed On TV
Sharon Hodgson says reality stars like Billie Faiers could help break down the ‘middle class’ reputation that breastfeeding has
The shadow minister for children and families is calling for celebrity mums on reality TV programmes, such as 'The Only Way Is Essex' (TOWIE), to breastfeed on screen.
Sharon Hodgson says that this movement would help change the public perception of breastfeeding – that it’s largely middle-class mums who do it.
If mums such as Billie Faiers, who gave birth to her daughter Nelly last July, were to breastfeed in public then it would help break down the myth that it’s only for ‘middle-class, professional, older mums, says Hodgson.
Speaking at a Westminster debate, Hodgson warned that a ‘growing cultural obstacle’ is stopping new mums from breastfeeding – especially those from traditionally working class backgrounds. She believes that reality TV stars should ‘get to it’ to make a change.
“In some communities today, there seems to be an anti-breastfeeding culture among young mothers, which we need to challenge and reverse,” says Hodgson. “National Breastfeeding Week and this debate are great ways of starting to do that.”
“Breastfeeding must be seen as normal and natural, and new mothers should feel utterly comfortable doing it. We need to focus on the areas and communities in which new mums do not even consider starting to breast feed because it seems so strange or even repulsive to them. Government support is required.
“Role models must come forward to extol the virtues of breastfeeding and we need more mums on TV - honourable members may laugh. We need mums in our soaps and even on The Only Way is Essex, breastfeeding naturally and happily.”
Hodgson continued to say that “we rarely see breastfeeding” and those that do breastfeed in public tend to be middle-class mothers.
“[This] reinforces the image in some young mums' minds that breastfeeding is something for a certain type of people, not for them and their friends,” she says.
“We need to work to reverse that image and let new mums and young mums know that breastfeeding is not only good for their health and that of their babies, but it has immediate benefits, such as helping them lose their pregnancy weight much faster.”
While the class divide (and whether it even really exists anymore) is a whole other debate, plenty of celebrity mums are working to raise awareness of breastfeeding – and to normalise it.
Famous parents, including the likes of Gwen Stefani, Angelina Jolie and more recently Doutzen Kroes have showed their support by posting breastfeeding selfies, or ‘brelfies’, on their social media accounts – or posed for glossy magazine shoots.
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