Category: Interviews & Conversations

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Interviews & Conversations Projects Women I've Shot

An Interview: Breastfeeding101 – A portrayal of the pleasures & pains of breastfeeding

This is Emma

South African, age 31
Location- at the Christ Church in Kenilworth, Cape Town.
Feeding her 8 week old daughter
Photographed October 2019

The team and info surrounding a woman from pregnancy through to breastfeeding can shape her self belief and motherhood experience dramatically. At a time when women are at their most vulnerable – too often we are bombarded with misinformation. I am both proud and grateful to have been empowered by factually correct pro-natural antenatal classes, a natural, unmedicated birth and pro-breastfeeding practical support. (eg. immediate skin-to-skin after birth and an undisturbed first hour with baby) which was all made possible by the outstanding Birth Options Midwifery team and my supportive husband.

Cape Town based Birth Options has a 82% vaginal birth rate and a 14% emergency c-section rate (based on 2014-2018 client) proving that gynae’s are not required at the vast majority of births. This is in stark contrast to South Africa’s private sector c-section rate of an alarming 73%.
When Im facing breastfeeding challenges  (which we continue to do- its not always easy) my team of midwives’ complete confidence in me and my baby’s design inspires me to seek the help and support we need and to stick with it! I strongly believe that what the recently launched Right to Birth SA movement stands for (i.e. the right to chose how and with whom you birth) has the power to directly impact South African womens breastfeeding journeys.

In 2019 I published my first book, Breastfeeding 101, which features candid portraits of 101 breastfeeding women as well their honest stories. In this blog post you see one of the mothers represented with a short personal blurb about her breastfeeding journey.

The idea for this book was unexpectedly sparked three years ago when I started seeing a lot of controversial social media content about breasts, nipples and breastfeeding.

Looking forward I hope my book can help normalise what is already a women’s most natural act. I would love to see the breastfeeding percentage rate in South Africa double. It came as a surprise to learn that, according to the 2018 statistics of the World Health Organisation (WHO), our country has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world.

Breastfeeding 101 features mothers from South Africa as well as around the globe and serves as a first-hand body of information – an unintentional handbook – directly from the women it captures.

Breastfeeding 101 is a book that wasn’t intended as a manual but may serve as one.

Basic info about the book:

Title: Breastfeeding 101
Publisher: Self-published via Staging Post
Format: Hardcover, 22 x 27cm, 224 pages
Price: ZAR385
Available for purchase via Exclusive Books, The Book Lounge and directly from the author.

Categories
Interviews & Conversations Projects Women I've Shot

An Interview: Breastfeeding101 – A portrayal of the pleasures & pains of breastfeeding

This is Emily

South African, age 29
Location- at the Christ Church in Kenilworth, Cape Town.
Feeding her 16 month old twins
Photographed October 2019

Feeding my twins was hard in the beginning. I had an amazing doula who helped me latch them both, and she helped me tandem feed them from the day they were born. But my girl had a bad latch that I could not correct, even with the help of a lactation consultant, and my boy had a mild tongue tie, all leading to painful blisters almost constantly for those first seven months. I also had something called vasospasm which caused painful spasming of my breasts whenever i was even a little bit cold. It was a lot of pain. With time it resolved, and now breastfeeding is just a joy, a wonderful way to comfort and nourish my babies.

In 2019 I published my first book, Breastfeeding 101, which features candid portraits of 101 breastfeeding women as well their honest stories. In this blog post you see one of the mothers represented with a short personal blurb about her breastfeeding journey.

The idea for this book was unexpectedly sparked three years ago when I started seeing a lot of controversial social media content about breasts, nipples and breastfeeding.

Looking forward I hope my book can help normalise what is already a women’s most natural act. I would love to see the breastfeeding percentage rate in South Africa double. It came as a surprise to learn that, according to the 2018 statistics of the World Health Organisation (WHO), our country has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world.

Breastfeeding 101 features mothers from South Africa as well as around the globe and serves as a first-hand body of information – an unintentional handbook – directly from the women it captures.

Breastfeeding 101 is a book that wasn’t intended as a manual but may serve as one.

Basic info about the book:

Title: Breastfeeding 101
Publisher: Self-published via Staging Post
Format: Hardcover, 22 x 27cm, 224 pages
Price: ZAR385
Available for purchase via Exclusive Books, The Book Lounge and directly from the author.

Categories
Interviews & Conversations Projects Women I've Shot

An Interview: Breastfeeding101 – A portrayal of the pleasures & pains of breastfeeding

This is Sarah

South African, age 34
Location- at the Christ Church in Kenilworth, Cape Town.
Feeding her 7-month-old child
Photographed October 2019

After struggling with infertility my husband and I are thrilled to be parents. Breastfeeding is one of the hardest and one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. The bond that it has forged between my son and I is very precious.

I felt so emotional hearing the stories from your book and hearing from other women in the Moms Connect group. Emotional because I know how much of a sacrifice it is to breastfeed, how discouraged one can feel on some days and how much it is a tool for nurturing a child.

In 2019 I published my first book, Breastfeeding 101, which features candid portraits of 101 breastfeeding women as well their honest stories. In this blog post you see one of the mothers represented with a short personal blurb about her breastfeeding journey.

The idea for this book was unexpectedly sparked three years ago when I started seeing a lot of controversial social media content about breasts, nipples and breastfeeding.

Looking forward I hope my book can help normalise what is already a women’s most natural act. I would love to see the breastfeeding percentage rate in South Africa double. It came as a surprise to learn that, according to the 2018 statistics of the World Health Organisation (WHO), our country has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world.

Breastfeeding 101 features mothers from South Africa as well as around the globe and serves as a first-hand body of information – an unintentional handbook – directly from the women it captures.

Breastfeeding 101 is a book that wasn’t intended as a manual but may serve as one.

Basic info about the book:

Title: Breastfeeding 101
Publisher: Self-published via Staging Post
Format: Hardcover, 22 x 27cm, 224 pages
Price: ZAR385
Available for purchase via Exclusive Books, The Book Lounge and directly from the author.

Categories
Interviews & Conversations

Interview: Breastfeeding 101
Peoples Post, Woodstock

What inspire the idea of putting together a book around the topic of breastfeeding?

This book really aims at supporting our society in supporting each other. Working with gender issues is my main interest as a photographer and in this case the topic of the controversy of the breast was super interesting considering how much controversial content there is currently on social media about breastfeeding! The breast represents two very important roles for a woman: sexual/beauty and nutritive/Motherhood. These two roles are not ones that society likes to put side by side and it is exactly this which makes this piece of our anatomy so interesting and such an exciting topic to work with.

What would you like to achieved through this book?

I would love to see the breastfeeding percentage rate in South Africa double. We currently have one of the worst globally. I was really shocked when I found this out! 2018 statistics of the World Health Organisation (WHO) showed that our country has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world.

Who is the target readership for this book? (only new mothers?)

The target readership for the book is definitely new mothers. The book makes the absolute ideal gift for any mother, especially a new one! I intend the book to be enjoyed by local and international readers alike. I’ve met with and photographed women from such diverse backgrounds (and locations) so I think the stories covered are more than just South African ones and the diversity is therefore interesting across many spectrums and for many people.

I think what makes breastfeeding 101 special is that it is a first-hand body of information – a hand book – directly from the women concerned about their breastfeeding experiences.

During the three-year project, what were your unique discoveries that most people do not know of?

Transcribing 101 interviews into their perfect mini, summarised versions of themselves while still trying to maintain the integrity and natural voice of each Mother was a really challenging process! And I’m relieved it’s behind me.

My favourite parts? Learning totally new and often verysurprising new facts about all of these women’s lives! And…so importantly: I loved working with the talented (and Woodstock local) book designer Gabrielle Guy. She did an outstanding job of putting this book into such a beautiful format.

Who did you work with in putting together the book? What did it take and how long  it took you to complete and publish it? How many pages is it? How are the sales doing  and response from readers since the launch?

I worked almost totally alone on this project for the first 2.5 years, thereafter I brought in Gabrielle Guy (Woodstock local as well) as my book designer. I had support from all the mothers, far and wide that I worked with through creating all 101 portraits. It was a long process putting this project together as I did it inbetween my normal commercial photographic work! I set up shoots and photographed mothers as often as I could and as far and wide as possible! I photographed mothers from Somalia, Germany, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Austria, Holland, Namibia, Malaysia, China, Portugal, South Africa and more!

The book is hardcover with 101 full colour portraits, 101 stories from mothers and it is 224 pages long. The launch of the book at The Book Lounge in Cape Towns CBD was a huge success, it was packed! The response has been outstanding. I’ve done multiple radio interviews, speeches and talks and articles and interviews. It’s been particularly well timed as I launched the book during World Breastfeeding Week (1-7 August) and August itself is Women’s Month as well!

Please tell me about yourself professional and generally (outside work).

I’m a full time professional photographer and my main interest is working with gender issues and portraits of women and sharing women’s stories. During my time not photographing and retouching I love to enjoy our beautifully restored Woodstock home, ceramics, textile printing, painting and drawing. I love to socialise, entertain and cook at home and enjoy having sundowners while sitting on top of our roof overlooking Devils Peak and the Harbour (I think some of our neighbours think we’re crazy for doing this ;-)).

I’m very lucky: what I do is my absolute passion and I even do it in my spare time. I spend a lot of time working on pro-bono and interesting photographic projects which involve women and women’s issues.

Your general advice to members of the public?

That communication and support which can be shared and passed on between women is vital, it is our strength. It would be wonderful if more people showed their appreciation for breastfeeding instead of slandering it or giving mothers bad looks (this happens all the time sadly!).

It’s so important to remember to share knowledge and be open to cultural differences as well as to appreciate how hard of a job it is to be a breastfeeding mother.

The book is available nationwide at many book stores including Exclusive books. It is R385.00

For more info: Breastfeeding101.co.za