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Your Breastfeeding Story is Important
Can we share it?
August is National Breastfeeding Month, an important opportunity for us to collectively raise awareness about protecting, promoting and supporting breastfeeding efforts across the country.
The U.S. Breastfeeding Committee has announced the national campaign theme for 2022 — "Together We Can Do Great Things." With your help, we can shine a light, spark conversations and encourage new families to take action and breastfeed their babies — in whatever unique way it looks like for them — right here in Pennsylvania.
To highlight breastfeeding families across the Commonwealth, the PA Chapter of the Academy of Pediatrics (PA AAP) is seeking photos and stories about your breastfeeding experiences. The goal is to collect real (read: does not need to be professional or "social media perfect") photos and stories, then share your submissions through PA AAP's social media pages and email campaigns during August, National Breastfeeding Awareness Month.
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Why is this effort important? And why should you take the time to get involved?
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One of the most common reasons individuals don't breastfeed is because they don't see others in their family or social circle doing it. Many new parents also expect breastfeeding to be graceful, natural and effortless like it's commonly portrayed in stock photos and in typical awareness campaigns. When the reality of their breastfeeding experience doesn't quite match up to what they've expected it to be, far too many new parents are confused, disappointed and even discouraged. Breastfeeding looks different for everyone and no two experiences are alike. With your help, we can adjust the narrative and reframe (literally!) the day-to-day realities of breastfeeding.
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This campaign aims to help us stop comparing — and start celebrating what real breastfeeding experiences look like across PA. Whether you fed your baby human milk through breastfeeding / chestfeeding, exclusive pumping, hand expression, supplemented breastmilk with formula or accessed donor milk — and whether it be once, twice or thousands of times — please allow us to share your story.
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We're so excited to learn about how your family is making it happen.
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PS — You don't have to be actively breastfeeding a child (or children) at this time to participate. We're happy to include photos you might have on hand from weeks, months, years or even decades ago! A quick note — this campaign is focused on Pennsylvania residents only at this time, and you must either live here now or have lived here when you breastfed.
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PSS — Know someone who might want to take part in this campaign? Please copy and paste the link to this webpage — www.pafirstfood.org/share-your-story — and pass it along to them.
We can't wait to hear from you. First, please click here to download and review PA AAP's image use policy. After you've read the policy, please complete all information below to submit your story.
We will aim to share as many photos and stories as possible during August. Submitting the form is not a guarantee that your photo/story will be included but please know we are so grateful for your participation! We want to keep spreading the word about the importance of breastfeeding even after National Breastfeeding Month is over, so if your story isn't shared in August, you might see it at another point during the year!