Model, actress and writer Emily Ratajkowski has always been proudly body confident – an ethos that continued throughout her pregnancy, as she routinely shared empowered photos of her changing shape and growing bump along the way.
Now, having given birth to her sweet little bundle of joy, Sylvester, Emily has continued to document her experience of motherhood by sharing not one, but three photos that normalise breastfeeding.
The first breastfeeding image shared by Emily was also her birth announcement, uploaded on 11 March, which featured the caption: 'Sylvester Apollo Bear has joined us earth side. Sly arrived 3/8/21 on the most surreal, beautiful, and love-filled morning of my life.'
Her second image, which came thirteen days later, showed her feeding Sylvester by a sunny window with the caption 'Beautiful boy'.
Now, Emily has shared a third breastfeeding photo which we're going to crown as her most stylish yet, given that it features some rather enviable accessories too: a gold chain with a gem encrusted 'Sylvester' in the centre of it and a second gold necklace reading 'mama'.
The second necklace is believed to be a custom piece by a New York-based jeweller, Adina’s Jewels, and to have cost in the region of $2,500 (£1,800) Posted over the Easter period, the caption for this series of images was simply 'My bunny'.
We love that Emily is normalising breastfeeding through her photos – and by choosing to not make her accompanying captions explicitly about feeding, she's further reinforcing the idea that it's not something of a taboo too, or that breastfeeding needs justifying or commenting on. Because seriously, why should an image showing a mother feeding her baby require an accompanying explanation?
Equally though, a lot of other celebrities have shared proud and inspiring messages alongside their breastfeeding images which we're in full support of too. Disappointingly, stories of feeding mothers who have suffered abuse - or been sidelined - by daring to do it outside of a public toilet are still all too common.
It's also a nuanced subject as many find it a challenge too, so it's equally helpful when public figures discuss their struggles with breastfeeding – which again, shouldn't be something women are ever made to feel ashamed about.
So, anything that helps to break the wholly unnecessary stigma gets a thumbs up from us (side note: honestly though, isn't it just so bizarre that it exists in the first place, seeing as breastfeeding is an entirely natural part of motherhood and can quite literally help to keep babies alive?).
Three cheers for Emily and her stigma-breaking images! 👏👏👏
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Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
