Unlike Facebook, Instagram Provides Major Platform For Frank Talk About Public Breastfeeding

Actor Olivia Wilde took a moment out of holiday celebrations to comment on this breast-pump bra, saying om Instagram that while the bra -- which she ows -- is 'awesome', the ad promoting it is not. Wilde weighed in on her Instagram, saying: "Also want to give a quick cyber hug to this model who had to pretend to have recently birthed a milk-fed baby-child when she clearly has spent the last year lifting tiny weights and meditating."

Shamed for Public Breastfeeding

New mom and Victoria's Secret Angel Candice Swanepoel recently used her Instagram to comment on America's neurotic obsession with the immorality of mothers breastfeeding in public. Candice wrote:

Many women today are shamed for breastfeeding in public, or even kicked out of public places for feeding their children. I have been made to feel the need to cover up and somewhat shy to feed my baby in public places but strangely feel nothing for the topless editorials I've done in the name of art..?

The world has been desensitized to the sexualization of the breast and to violence on tv...why should it be different when it comes to breastfeeding? -Breastfeeding is not sexual it's natural- Those who feel it is wrong to feed your child in public need to get educated on the benefits breastfeeding has on mother and child and intern on society as a whole.

As countless American women try to counteract the negativity around breastfeeding in public in America, technology arrives on the scene with a marvelous artistic photo-editing app from PicsArt. Moms around the world are taking the 'brelfie' to a new level by creating 'tree of life' selfies that depict their breast as a system of roots, branching out into a tree in their feeding baby's mouth. Bottles containing previously pumped breast milk are also available. Note that the app produces many collage effects that have nothing to do with breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding Twins

Celebrity makeup artist Joyce Bonelli is a breastfeeding new mom, and she has twins to feed. Best known for working with Kim, Khloe, and Kourtney Kardashian as well as Kylie Jenner, the new mom posted this shot on Instagram Tuesday, December 28.

"Pulling that inner most deepest strength while you feel as though you have none left to give," Bonelli, 35, wrote. "Weak and tired, pain unknown, exhaustion unreal, and you still stand up."

"TWINS. This is no joke!" she adds. "I surprise myself in my own ability to adjust and rise to the occasion while being still in my chaos I love so much and pull through for my babies. I as a mother will do anything to provide for my babies. No Matter My Fear. Never give up, Keep the strength. Dig even deeper if you must."

A Historical Perspective

Dana Raphael: Investigating why American women did -- and did not -- breastfeed New York Times

Anthropologist Dana Raphael made it her business to talk to everyone in her orbit about breast-feeding. The protégée of Margaret Mead and an "outspoken feminist who, a decade before Betty Friedan’s “The Feminine Mystique,” refused to take her husband’s name and shunned the conventional wedding her mother planned" thought nothing of quering businessmen on the 7:02 am commuter train from Fairfield, Conn to Manhattan. No one escaped Raphael's inquiring mind.

Read on for insights into the life of your mother or grandmother in America, when the topic was feeding her babies.