Lactation gets a bad rap. Despite being a truly miraculous, exclusively mammalian, literally live-giving function, breastfeeding and pumping in public has its fair share of objectors — including one presidential nominee. It seems every week the internet produces yet another video of a squirming, repulsed individual berating a woman for exercising one of her body’s most primal capabilities. Cultural attitudes toward overt breastfeeding have become more and more accepting, and much of this has to do with viral accounts of women feeding their newborns in everyday situations. Today the web welcomes one more such lactating pioneer into the mix: Anna Young.
Young, a former competitive runner and new mother, managed to pump breast milk in the middle of completing the REVEL Big Cottonwood Half Marathon in Salt Lake City on September 10. In a post she shared to the Occupy Breastfeeding Facebook page, she recounts the day’s activities, which began with nursing her five-month-old daughter at 4:30 a.m. and then beginning the race at 6:45 a.m. “I nursed my daughter before I left my house, pumped after running the first 8 miles and nursed her after I made it past the finish line,” she wrote, also noting the motivation that groups like Occupy Breastfeeding and La Leche League provide women like Young.
Her post, which as of Thursday had garnered over 9,000 likes and hundreds of supportive comments, includes a photograph snapped of her pumping during the 13-mile race. “Even though I was nervous about pumping during my race, I hope it helps other mothers to not be afraid to nurse their children in public,” she told The Huffington Post. “I want other moms to see that you can still take time to do the active things you love and nurture your baby. Breastfeeding and motherhood does not limit what I am capable of, it only enhances it.”
(Via The Huffington Post)
