"Gesture of love": Photo of police officer breastfeeding malnourished baby goes viral

[demmiblue]

A police officer in Argentina performed a "gesture of love" after she heard a crying baby that needed to be fed. Officer Celeste Ayala breastfed the malnourished infant, a moment that was captured in a photo and went viral on social media.

Ayala was working her shift Tuesday at Sor María Ludovica in Buenos Aires when the 6-month-old baby was brought in along with five of her siblings by social workers to the hospital, according to Argentine news outlet Clarin. The children were all malnourished and the little girl's cries prompted Ayala, a mother of a newborn herself, to do something.

With the permission of hospital staff, she sprang into action, comforting the baby and breastfeeding her until she stopped weeping. One of her colleagues caught the special interaction in a photo.

"I want to make public this great gesture of love that you made today with that baby, who you did not know, but for who you did not hesitate to act like a mother," said Marcos Heredia, who posted the image to Facebook. "Things like that are not seen every day."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/celeste-ayala-baby-breastfeed-photo-viral-berisso-argentina-buenos-aires/?ftag=CNM-00-10aab7e&linkId=55799626

Brava, Officer Ayala!

[FirstLight]

1. The power of LOVE

...almost restores my faith in Humanity...

[MontanaMama]

2. Women are amazing.

[Old Vet]

21. Yes they are MontanaMama, If theres a blue wave it certainly will be lead by women............

Bravo to the policewoman

[Beartracks]

48. Make it so. n/t

[workinclasszero]

32. Yes they are!

[Hekate]

3. My eyes are stinging with tears

[tosh]

27. Mine, too, Hekate.

What a beautiful story, photo, woman.

[Scarsdale]

39. Mine, too.

What a wonderful gesture. Love in action. I have a lump in my throat, for some reason.

[lunatica]

54. Mine too and my throat has a painful lump in it

A hungry baby is like god, if you believe in him, asking to be fed.

[trueblue2007]

4. Madonna .... God bless her !!

[GeoWilliam750]

5. Indeed, Brava, Officer Ayala

[Tucker08087]

6. The officer's face...

People like her should do the job. People like her will do the job. The job eats away at the good ones. She’s so young, but you can see it in her face. I hope she continues on in her career.

[Nay]

11. When you see evil like a malnourished baby, it def will show up on your face.

Bless you, officer.

[PatSeg]

7. Wow, I got the chills!

[AZ8theist]

8. Only in Argentina....

Would we ever see something like this in America?? I have my doubts..

The religious creatards would be screaming about the "offensive" nature of the person involved....

That being said, I find the act of this policewoman a demonstration of humanity of the first order. She should be rewarded.

[Amaryllis]

9. We would see it if a compassionate nursing mother found herself in a similar situation, but

you are right; many would find it offensive.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

31. I object to your use of "tard" as a pejorative suffix in this context.

[LanternWaste]

51. No need to limit your outburst to the religious.

No need to limit your outburst to the religious.... you're doing yourself a big (and irrational) disservice when you deny the additional demographics who oppose public breast feeding.

DU has its own secular fundamentalists who believe breast feeding in public is "uncivil", "just asking for attention", "disrespectful of those around her."

Heads-up for the future: just keep your eyes open for any breast-feeding thread-- it's chum for the "As a guy I would find it uncomfortable to see a women breastfeeding" crowd.

(all quotes pulled directly from previous breastfeeding threads)

[lpbk2713]

10. Trump would have her disciplined.

If that baby was one of the children Trump puts in cages the officer would be in a
lot of trouble because his jailers are not supposed to even touch those children.

[House of Roberts]

12. I was reminded of a few lines in We Were Soldiers.

"When Crazy Horse was a baby, he nursed at the breast of every woman in the tribe. The Sioux raised their children that way. Every warrior called every woman in the tribe "Mother". Every older warrior, they called him "Grandfather"

It's called "Milk Kinship" and has its own Wikipedia listing.

[demosincebirth]

55. When I was young, I was told that I had a wet nurse at times. This was during WW2

I remember seeing a few women on street cars nursing their babies. This was in the forties and fifties. No big deal at
at the time.

[GETPLANING]

13. Now you know what love is

[blueinredohio]

14. God bless her

[roamer65]

15. This is why I want more women in government.

Basic human compassion.

[FiveGoodMen]

56. More like Sarah Sanders? Kelly Ann Conway? Maybe an outsider like Ann Coulter?

Shit! I'm forgetting Laura Ingraham.

[SunSeeker]

16. Best thing for that poor baby!

[2naSalit]

19. Sure was!

Not only that, the baby's cries may have triggered her biological thing too making her lactate. Whatever, she did the right thing and I can only imagine that it is probably something about their culture that facilitated this action too.

[kag]

46. I thought the same thing.

I think it was supposed to be implicit in the story that hearing the child cry caused her "biological thing" to happen, i.e. her hormones to rush, causing her breasts to engorge with milk.

When women pump breastmilk for whatever reason, they are often told to look at a picture of their child in order to get their milk to come up. I had to do this when my child was lethargic from jaundice and had difficulty nursing. Worked like a charm.

As a previous commenter said...Women are amazing.

[Ilsa]

18. Trump would be wanting to grab her boobs.

As if God made them only for him.

She's my hero for the day.

[magicarpet]

40. trDump would have pushed the baby away....

.... mine,... mine only for me.

[forgotmylogin]

20. I thought I read somewhere that the sound of a crying baby

actually triggers lactation in breastfeeding moms? I hope that's not just a piece of weird misinformation, but I know that the female hormone/endocrine system does of a lot of magical things.

[GaYellowDawg]

22. Lactation... not exactly.

There are two processes - milk production, which is triggered by prolactin, and milk letdown, which is triggered by oxytocin. Sounds can cause oxytocin production and milk letdown. Some women aren't responsive to sounds that way. Some experience milk letdown in response to just their own baby. Some in response to any baby. And, because sirens mimic the rise and fall in pitch of a baby (it's the reason why sirens are such an attention-getter; we're wired to respond to it), some women have milk letdown in response to sirens. It's not a universal response, but it is kind of magical. You may recognize oxytocin as the "bonding" hormone. It is also produced in a positive feedback mechanism during labor in order for uterine contractions to increase in intensity and frequency. That's why some women can experience uterine contractions during nursing for a short time postpartum.

And that policewoman is an incredible person.

[forgotmylogin]

23. Thanks for the clarification!

I think I had read an anecdote about a mother who had ended breastfeeding and was shocked to find herself compelled to breastfeed when visiting another new mother.

[GaYellowDawg]

24. You're welcome!

nm

[Duppers]

37. I posted minutes ago below before reading the thread.

This happened to me all the time when I was nursing my son. If I heard an infant or baby cry anywhere, my milk was automatically triggered and I wanted to help the baby.

This is not just a human response - a few nursing animals will adopt and nurse other babies.

[Chemisse]

41. I never knew that about sirens!

Luckily I never had that happen (or else I never made the connection). Imagine the hindrance that response would be to a breastfeeding emergency worker.

[AllyCat]

26. Triggers milk ejection reflex.

Lots of breastfeeding mommas have dealt with this hearing babies crying in public.

[Stuart G]

25. k and r...wonderful...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

28. What a beautiful story! Brava, Officer Ayala!

[flying_wahini]

29. I always had that let down reflex when I heard a crying baby...

I got that "must feed baby, NOW." Milk everywhere.
Always had to carry extra clothes, just in case.

[Hulk]

30. Would NEVER happen in the US

Too many religious hypocrites and perverts. She would lose her job right away.

amerKKKa da gratest...

[Chemisse]

42. You're right. She would be shamed even within her police department.

It would be considered inappropriate, not heeding 'boundaries', and even sick and perverted by some.

I was in Panama recently, and breastfeeding in public - with the entire breast showing - was culturally acceptable.

[treestar]

53. I was even expecting someone to say this was somehow

harmful or unsanitary - so far nothing in this thread at least.

[PatrickforO]

33. Pretty awesome. All babies need milk and if we could only get beyond the

structural brutality of our world 'market' economy and back to that sense that we are all connected and all responsible for the welfare of all humans, all babies would get milk, and 25,000 people a day wouldn't starve to death on this planet.

Greed is killing our species.

[DeminPennswoods]

34. Similar to the ending in Steinbeck's

"Grapes of Wrath".

[Wounded Bear]

36. That came to my mind, too...

Great story!

[treestar]

52. thought of that

[Duppers]

35. Omg.

Yes!!! Bravo for this brave, beautiful mother. Nursing mothers usually have compassion for all babies.

I've nursed a neighbor's crying baby when I kept her for a few hrs. There was almost a year's different between my nursing son and her baby daughter. Without a backup bottle, I did what came natural.

Moms gotta do what moms gotta do. A crying infant cannot be ignored. A nursing mom's milk flows out when we hear crying infants. Nature just triggers us.

[podex101]

38. This is who we are

Ladies and Gentlemen
This is who we are.... as humans we are inclined to help. I see acts of kindness everyday, every place.

“We only have what we give.”
― Isabel Allende

In all languages and religions and cultures..... we will survive because what you saw in this picture of the police officer breastfeeding the baby, happens, in different ways, all over the world a billion times over. It is just that the assholes that grab most of the headlines.

WE ARE BETTER THAN WHAT WE THINK WE ARE.

Thank you

[Chemisse]

43. Thanks for the uplifting comment.

Sometimes I feel like we are surrounded by hatred and anger. It's good to notice the little things and realize we really are kind, by nature.

And welcome to DU!

[Botany]

44. An act of love

I hope that child along w/his or her siblings grow up and become citizens of the world.

[GetRidOfThem]

45. spectacular!

[Nitram]

47. Wow! That is so moving.

[samnsara]

49. im tearing up

[Vinca]

50. Me, too. The most caring thing we've seen in a long time.

[demmiblue]

57. UPDATE: She received a promotion!

Argentine Woman Who Breastfed Abandoned 7-Month Old Child Gets Promoted ''

Area woman with beating heart reminds us all what compassion looks like.

On August 14, six malnourished children who had been separated from their parents for undisclosed reasons arrived at Buenos Aires children’s hospital. Celeste Jaqueline Ayala, a 27-year-old officer who was making rounds at the facility, noticed that the youngest of the group was especially distraught. Being a mother of two, including a baby of 16 months, Ayala recognized the hunger cry and offered to breastfeed him. Ayala’s male colleague, Marcos Heredia, was shocked at the kind gesture, and posted the image above to Facebook. Praise-filled comments ensued, the post made the rounds on social media, and now things are changing for the hardworking officer.

Ayala has been a police officer for three years, and says she often works extra hours to get by (in a recent conversation with Cronica, she divulged her salary: 20,000 pesos, or about $1,060). After her breastfeeding feet, the New York Times reports that after her good deed, Ayala was promoted from officer to sargeant.

Ayala said she was just doing what she knew was right. She told Cronica, “I didn’t doubt it for a second. I gave him my breast and he calmed down.”

https://jezebel.com/argentine-woman-who-breastfed-abandoned-7-month-old-chi-1828557736?utm_campaign=socialfow_jezebel_twitter&utm_medium=socialflow&utm_source=jezebel_twitter