Photographer Shows 'Fed Is Best' Through Series Of Stunning Photos

It’s time to stop with the debate and support all mothers

How a woman chooses to feed her baby is always an area of much discussion and debate. One photographer decided to highlight the different choices available to women in a photo series titled “Fed is Best.” In it, she shows the beauty and bond mothers experience when feeding their child, however they are fed.

Mikaela Bodkin is a photographer and graphic designer who is “devoted to inspiring the world” through her pictures. She believes that when it comes how you feed your child, it doesn’t matter whether you breast or bottle feed, as long as mom and baby are healthy and content with their choice.

In her photo series, “Fed is Best,” Bodkin photographs women feeding their babies in a variety of ways, from exclusively breastfeeding to pumping breastmilk to bottle feeding. Her pictures capture the intimacy of the act, and all its rawness and beauty. But the women who agreed to be photographed for the series also shared stories with Bodkin about the shaming that goes on for publicly breastfeeding or making the personal choice not to breastfeed at all.

There is no more divisive a subject that plays out among doctors, pediatricians, experts and mothers. For every research study that comes out about the harmful effects of formula, one more will come out in favor. We all see the stories about women being shamed in public for breastfeeding without what a stranger deems an acceptable amount of coverage. “There’s a lot of mom-shaming still going on…but I wanted to highlight that we should stop judging moms and their choices and what they do,” Bodkin told TODAY Parents.

At the end of the day, how you feed your child is no one else’s business. Some women enjoy breastfeeding their children. Others cannot. Still others never even tried. It doesn’t matter the reasons for any of these choices and no one should ever make you feel like you need to justify those reasons. What matters is that your child is being fed and is loved. Period.

Bodkin herself was adopted from an orphanage in Romania as a baby, and was malnourished when she was brought to her home in Canada. Being bottle fed saved her life and her pictures capture the connection she feels about this cause.

The more we support each other and our choices, the better off we will all be as parents.