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These Sentimental Instagram Captions About Breastfeeding Are So Sweet & Snuggly

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For moms who choose to breastfeed and who can successfully do so (either exclusively or with supplementation), those hours of nursing can be a tender and beautiful experience. If you've thought about sharing your support for nursing with a pic on social media, try using one of these sentimental Instagram captions about breastfeeding to go with it. It might just help inspire a tired fellow mother, or raise your friends' awareness of breastfeeding as a global health issue.

With World Breastfeeding Week being observed from August 1-7, according to National Day Calendar, this is the perfect opportunity for breastfeeding moms (both present and past) to show their support for their fellow mothers by giving a social media shout-out. The awareness week is an initiative by the World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, a worldwide collective of organizations and individuals devoted to the support of breastfeeding. Their goal is to raise awareness of and support for breastfeeding across the globe, especially in low-income areas where food security is an issue. According to UNICEF, more than 800,000 children's lives could be saved through early breastfeeding. Putting a baby on the breast within an hour of birth can literally mean the difference between life and death in some areas of the world.

Got a photo of yourself and your baby enjoying a contented moment mid-feed? Show it proudly on your Instagram and Twitter feeds, along with one of these sweet quotes. Add the hashtag #WBW2019 to show your support for nursing moms everywhere.

1

“Breastfeeding is a mother’s gift to herself, her baby, and the earth.” ― Pamela K. Wiggins

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Realizing what a miracle you're providing to your child definitely helps counteract the fatigue and soreness that goes along with the miracle.

2

“Go hug a nursing mom ― but not too hard. Her boobs may hurt.” ― Cassi Clark

Clark, the author of a humorous book on breastfeeding, offers this on-target show of support.

3

“A baby nursing at a mother’s breast… is an undeniable affirmation of our rootedness in nature.” ― David Suzuki

When you think about all the mothers over the centuries who've nourished their young this way (not to mention all the mother animals who also do it), it gives you a sense of connection to something bigger.

4

"O, thou with a beautiful face, may the child reared on your milk attain a long life, like the gods made immortal with drinks of nectar." ― Sushruta

Sushruta was a 6th-century Indian physician whose surgical procedures were ahead of his time, according to Britannica. From this quote, we can tell that he knew a lot about moms and babies as well.

5

"Countless women have regained trust in their bodies through nursing their children, even if they weren’t sure at first that they could do it. It is an act of female power, and I think of it as feminism in its purest form.” ― Christine Northrup

Next time your baby eagerly latches on for a meal, think of what a powerful thing your body is capable of doing!

6

“A newborn baby has only three demands. They are warmth in the arms of its mother, food from her breasts, and security in the knowledge of her presence. Breastfeeding satisfies all three.” ― Grantly Dick-Read

Dr. Dick-Read championed the "natural childbirth" movement in the early half of the 20th century, as the journal Anesthesiology was firm in his belief that women should trust their bodies not only to give birth without fear, but to offer nutrition to their babies.

7

“Ah, the joy of suckling! She lovingly watched the fishlike motions of the toothless mouth and she imagined that with her milk there flowed into her little son her deepest thoughts, concepts, and dreams.” ― Milan Kundera

This lovely quote is from Kundera's book Life Is Elsewhere.

8

“Mother's milk is soul food for babies.” ― Ina May Gaskin

Until they're old enough to enjoy other types of soul food (hello, chocolate... pizza... bbq... ), babies are perfectly happy to fill themselves, in every sense of the word, with our milk.

9

“When you hold a child to your breast to nurse, the curve of the little head echoes exactly the curve of the breast it suckles, as though this new person truly mirrors the flesh from which it sprang.” ― Diana Gabaldon

Author Gabaldon offers this thoughtful description of mother and child. You might meditate on it the next time you're in the middle of a nursing session.

10

“I've been melted into something too easy to spill. I make more and more of myself in order/to make more and more of the baby. He takes it, this making. And somehow he's made more of me, too.” ― Brenda Shaughnessy

Close-up of young black mother attaching baby at breast while giving nipple to son during breastfeedingShutterstock

Poet Shaughnessy wrote this verse celebrating breastfeeding, which describes how the act can enrich ourselves as well as our little ones.

11

“Nursing does not diminish the beauty of a woman's breasts; it enhances their charm by making them look lived in and happy.” ― Robert A. Heinlein

An encouraging thought worth remembering, next time you start to worry about what months of feeding your child might be doing to your once-perky breasts.

12

“All I ever heard was everyone bitch about [breastfeeding]; nobody ever said, ‘You are not going to believe how emotional this is.' ” ― Jennifer Garner

Having celebrities publicly share their experiences with breastfeeding can go a long way toward helping other mothers choose to try it, even for a short time. (Maybe we should all be sharing more of the positives of nursing, rather than the complaints.)

13

"Breastfeeding is a beautiful thing, one of the most beautiful things that exist in nature. Think about how a woman can literally feed her baby with her body! In my eyes, this is a certain form of beauty, of divinity!" ― C. JoyBell C.

Writer/poet C. JoyBell C. calls herself an "artisan of words" on her Facebook page, and this quote is one example of her artistry. Breastfeeding truly is beautiful, even when you may not be feeling especially gorgeous while doing it.

14

“Breastfeeding reminds us of the universal truth of abundance; the more we give out, the more we are filled up, and that divine nourishment ― the source from which we all draw - is, like a mother's breast, ever full and ever flowing.” ― Sarah Buckley

Buckley's sentiment is profound. Think of yourself as a source of abundance, connected to the eternal, and suddenly that 3 AM feeding might just seem like a spiritual act.

15

"Mother’s milk is, I think, a symbol of compassion and human affection.” ― The Dalai Lama

Serious calm careful young black mom sitting on sofa bed and breastfeeding baby while holding son in armsShutterstock

Who would dare argue with the wisdom of the Dalai Lama? Especially when this is right on target.

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