Will Kate Middleton Breastfeed?
Kate Middleton is being urged to breastfeed her baby.
In a piece written for The Telegraph, television and radio presenter Beverly Turner says that, as a society, we need Kate Middleton to breastfeed.
“[We] need women with power and influence to get their milky bosoms out and feed smiling in paparazzi pictures,” she writes. “Celebrity is depressingly powerful in dictating trends.”
“We’re also rapidly losing any sense of normality about breastfeeding due to powerful cultural forces.”
Turner, who recounts her early days of breastfeeding, notes that even with help, it “was still a brutally difficult process”.
Breastfeeding figures in the UK have dropped for the first time in a decade. Nearly 5,700 fewer women began breastfeeding their babies in 2012 to 2013 compared to one year prior. In 2012, nearly 50 percent of mothers were not breastfeeding their children by their 6 to 8 week check-up.
Turner ends her article by saying what we really need is for “the Duchess of Cambridge to get her Royal orbs out to feed our future monarch.”
“And to be applauded – not seethed at – for doing so.”
ABC‘s Royal News contributor Victoria Murphy says she sees “no reason why [Kate] wouldn’t [breastfeed] unless she can’t, unless there’s a reason.”
Leigh Ann O’Connor – a La Leche League leader – agrees with Turner and believes it would be beneficial for the world to see Kate with a babe at her breast.
O’Connor tells Good Morning America: “If we we’re seeing out role models and our iconic images positively breastfeeding, that absolutely will have a positive impact on breastfeeding.”
“Some women can’t, but I believe she intends to,” she adds.
Mail Online reports Kate plans to move in with her mother after her baby arrives. The soon-to-be mother told her friends she’ll be living with her parents for at least the first six weeks after leaving the hospital and that she “just feels safest and most secure” with her family.
She also believes there’s no one better to help her begin her life as a new mom than her own mother – and will break royal tradition by not hiring a maternity nurse.
The tiny heir is expected to arrive sometime next month.
Do you think Kate Middleton will breastfeed her child?
[Image via Featureflash / Shutterstock.com]