Home
Breastfeeding
Military Moms Breastfeeding In Uniform —…

Military Moms Breastfeeding In Uniform — Photo Sparks Outrage

Thu, May 31, 2012 11:28am EDT by Lorraine Chow 66 Comments

View Gallery→17 Photos

Wild outrage erupts after a picture of military moms Terran Echegoyen-McCabe & Christina Luna nursing their babies surfaces on Facebook. Is it gross? Beautiful? A disgrace? What do YOU think?

Here we go again, it’s another breastfeeding photo that’s sparking massive controversy. This time it’s a picture of of two Air Force soldiers Terran Echegoyen McCabe and Christina Luna breastfeeding their children.

According to the Huffington Post, there are 11 things you CAN’T do while wearing your military uniform, including eating or talking on a cell phone while walking (fine while standing still), keeping your hands in your pockets, chewing gum, holding hands, kissing and hugging (except during homecomings and deployments). Soldiers should always have their right hand free so they can salute at any time.

Breastfeeding is nowhere on the list.

Terran (on the left) told TODAY that she nurses her 10-month-old twin daughters in uniform all the time, “in our lobby, in my car, in the park.”

She says she’s proud to be wearing a uniform while breastfeeding and hopes it encourages other women to breastfeed while on active duty, on guard or as a civilian.

The moms have been both slammed and praised.

On the official Mom2Mom Breastfeeding Support Group Facebook page where the photo was posted, one commenter wrote: ”If one cannot chew gum, walk & talk on a mobile phone, or have large exposed tattoos, then what makes it OK to breastfeed in uniform out in the open? It does not matter what service you are in, if you are a breastfeeding mother and will not or cannot uphold that professional image, then get the hell out of the military..”

On the other hand, another commenter is in full support: “I’m so proud of them for standing up for breastfeeding and not being afraid to feed their babies in public and in uniform!”

HollyMoms – what do YOU think about the image?

[Huffington Post]

– Lorraine Chow

More controversial breastfeeding stories:

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

To comment, please fill in the fields below, enter your comment and select the Comment button.

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

View Comment

listen, i’m all for women being able to breastfeed in public. hell, the rule that women shouldn’t be topless while men can walk around with no shirt is kinda silly too…. but they are in milltary uniform and frankly, no matter how natural and cute the pic is, they shouldn’t have their blouses undone and shirts pulled up like that in uniform. the military does provide private areas for milking and breastfeeding at their duty station. Posing for a picture like this is distateful and does not show the proper respect to the uniform or the service. that is all.

Share this comment at

You are the perverse person looking for something else than breast feeding in that picture.
If you Are in the right state of mind, u will see nothing else than mother breast feeding.
In few words u r a perv looking for the perverse part in all of this.
I think that you are one of those persons hidden behind cameras getting arouse while watching this pictures.
I will probably keep my wife and kids far away from you ( just in case).

Share this comment at

WOW…save me some! Did I mention WOW!

That being said, the outrage is not the breastfeeding, it’s the advertising and lack of sensitivity towards others and their values. How can you ever expect your values to be respected if you so blatantly fly in the face of others. The issue is not about breastfeeding, it’s about recognizing boundaries.

Share this comment at

I pee and that is natural but I don’t whip it out wherever I want in uniform and then take pictures of myself doing it. The idea here is that you are in a uniform that represents all military and I don’t think breast feeding in public should be allowed now the whole world thinks the military supports that. It is the same reason I don’t wear my uniform to a damn George bush rally. It would show that the military supports bush when the military has no opinions.

Share this comment at

This is so absurd to have an issue. Moms coming out of the closet. With that kind thinking, they might as well band moms in the military. But be sure to not only promote gays kissing in uniform. Please don’t stop there. Whey are the transvestites and their special recognition with special priivaledge of having more make up and more jewelry just not to offend them. Where is the natural woman’s rights, as we are as a society seem to have gain more understanding of human nature?

Share this comment at

“natural” – does that mean it is appropriate to have intercourse in public as well? Oh wait – its illegal. Breastfeeding in public is a healthy thing so long it is done with dignity for the mum and baby.

Share this comment at

What exactly is wrong with a Mother feeding her child? This is Natural. there are more ignorant respondes from people that claim its natural to be a Homosexual and that its a hate crime to have teachers of Gods Word, teach the perverseness of homosexual relations, but when it comes to feeding your child with breast milk in public people get all bent out of shape. Come On Now. Breast milk is the best food you could feed your new born child. What the heck is wrong with this country? It seems like there is nothing but Ignorant people that live here. No wonder other countries hate us. We condemn what is Natural and condone preverseness such as Pornography and Homosexualls .. Our Forefathers must be spinning in their graves. Its UNBELIEVABLE!

Share this comment at

Our forefathers arent spinning in their graves. Pornography in HD wasn’t invented then. But you are right – it’s easy to get lost in so many different opinions on things sometimes you can lose track of what is right and wrong.

Share this comment at

I got news for you inez; pornography and homosexuality have been around since long before baby Jesus. What do you think looking at fertility statues made ancient homo sapiens want to do? Go do some research and see that homosexuality happens in nature, too. You know those domesticated sheep flocks that you like to use so often as a metaphor? 10% of the rams, inez. One in every 10.

Believe what you want. That’s fine. But the moment you start to hate on average Joe or Jane because he or she is different to you or does something you don’t like that doesn’t hurt anyone, is the moment you become just as bad as the imaginary monsters you decry.

TL;DR all of the above is natural. There are, of course, both good and bad examples of each. Let’s try not to just focus on the negative, yes?

Share this comment at

What the… does breastfeeding in public have to do with homosexuals?

Share this comment at

That was in reply to inez

Share this comment at

I don’t think this is particularly beautiful nor perverse. It is just something that needs to be done, and they are doing it. Just like anything else in the Military, just like anything else in motherhood. Of course the one with twins has to feed both at the same time. If you know anything about how breastfeeding works, you have to feed two at once or figure out how to shut the second breast off. Breastfeeding is excellent survival skills-you don’t need anything but a mom and a baby to accomplish it! As a mother of four (now grown) I can tell you, every mom should have a uniform, because the training and skills you have to exhibit every day is fairly intense!

Share this comment at

I think it’s a beautiful, natural time between mother and baby, and very private.

Share this comment at

Your negativity disgusts me.

Seeing this kind of commentary and behaviour reminds me that although we both speak English, we are from very, very different cultures. What do you say when you see photos of soldiers engaging in acts of selfless kindness for children, sometimes orphans, in operational environments throughout the world? Sharing their rations, providing medical attention, wrapping them up in a spare blanket; these are deeds that make us just as proud to be soldiers as those we carry out in the defence of our countries because it shows we are human, and we care. The picture that has caused all this ‘controversy’ is, in fact, in the very same category. Not only that, it is an act of kindness and compassion to the airwomens’ own children.

Being a soldier is not just about fighting, being ‘elite’ or projecting a tough image. It is about being a paragon of what a good person should be, and showing just as much compassion and selfless generosity as it is fighting fiercely for what you believe in. Being a soldier is one of the hardest jobs in the world. These photos show us that not only are these women strong enough to be soldiers, they are also loving, nurturing mothers. They are human too. They care. Who do you think you are, saying that they don’t have the right to feed their own children when they are hungry? How does it not make you proud to know and see that your servicemen and women are good, normal, moral people, and not lop-sided emotionless killers, who would let their children go hungry to ‘look professional’?

This was clearly not in a work environment, and clearly had no impact on anything other than the childrens’ well-being and mothers’ comfort. It was done the ‘right’ way.

I suggest you take some time out to have a good, hard think about what it means, and how difficult it can be, to be a soldier, a parent, and a proud citizen all at the same time. Then think about how proud you should be to see those values reflected in your own service personnel, because that is what the world sees when they serve overseas. Finally, consider how poorly your petty insecurities portray you in others’ eyes, and you may just glean a bit of an idea about what’s really important in life.

Grow up.

Share this comment at

Very valid points and a remarkable argument. :) but I must draw your attention to something.

“Finally, consider how poorly your petty insecurities portray you in others’ eyes, and you may just glean a bit of an idea about what’s really important in life.”

So why then, is “AussieServiceman” reading a celebrity gossip site?

Share this comment at

Would you forgo the opportunity, DW, to help and attempt to at least broaden the minds of children who went to a school you thought was less than reputable?

How is that any different from trying to broaden the minds of readers of any news site, gossip-centered or not? Your choice to help who you can, where you can no matter who they are or how they are percieved, is already made; the only question to ask is, will they take it on board? And that, my friend, would be a sign of their maturity; not a failure on your part.

Share this comment at

So true :D
I’m based in Townsville, one of the largest defence force bases in Australia so it is so good to have someone with better arguments than “it’s natural” – or a more intelligent way to put it.

Share this comment at

Although breast feeding is a beautiful and natural , the woman with both exposed breast made it look perverse. I think people dont have a problem with breast feeding but the way some mothers do it. There are breast feeding bras, or she could have placed something over her shoulder and let it
drape between her breasts without covering her babies faces if that was her concern. I think maybe she did it to be controversial and nothing more. I have had my family around mothers breast feeding at the mall foodcourt and we didn’t mind but then again those mothers were graceful, tactful and were not letting it all flop out, Not all the breast has to be completely covered nor the babies face covered just enough so that others respect you and your choice to breast feed and you respect others around you. RESPECT OTHERS AND OTHERS WILL RESPECT YOU!!! Yes it is cute to see a baby breast feeding but you can also make it ugly like this woman did.

Share this comment at

I agree. It’s not the act of breastfeeding but the way some people do it…..she made it grossss.

Share this comment at

Your an idiot if you think this picture is gross. It’s a beautiful and natural act. I wished they would of shown more of the breast. The mother doing the double feeding looks like she has wonderful breast that I would like to see more of. You sound like it wouldn’t of bothered you if it would of been some gay in the military feeding off of a dick. Go back into your little world and STFU. Nobody wants to hear your ignorance.

Share this comment at