Breastmilk (2014)

Director:

Dana Ben-Ari

Synopsis:

Pregnant bodies are easier for society to accommodate. What follows birth is a different, messier story. Through new and honest ways, with a wide range of frank, difficult, revealing interviews, BREAST MILK follows the lives of breastfeeding women and addresses the many questions around breast milk.

Review:

Parts of this I really hated and parts I could really relate too. If you don’t like breasts and breastmilk then do not watch this movie (go figure), there were tons of nipple shots with milk spraying everywhere. Personally I found it amusing but i can see why it would make some people uncomfortable.

I thought it covered most aspects of breastfeeding, though I don’t remember a mother that exclusively pumped like myself, so I wish that had been represented. I liked that it showed the mothers that didn’t have any problems at all, in fact the lesbian couple were both able to breastfeed which made me super jealous. It then contrasted them with mothers who were trying everything and felt like they were letting their children down by not being able too. I thought they could have better pointed out the reasons breastfeeding fails so often for mothers instead of just assuming people will pick up on it. As a woman who has fed her child with breastmilk I could see that the woman who succeeded so well, and was in fact able to pump a lot more and give it to a family who adopted, had a job that allowed her to take her child to work and breastfeed there. The working moms that weren’t able to breastfeed as long had jobs that weren’t that accommodating.

I really felt for the mother that tried so hard but wasn’t able to. She knew it was better for her baby but due to all these factors against her control she wasn’t able to and felt like she wasn’t bonding with her child. I just wanted someone to give her a hug and tell her that it was going to be okay.

In my experience breastfeeding is so much harder than anyone ever told me. I tried for days to get my daughter to latch and she wouldn’t, she lost more than the expected weight in the beginning and I had a doctor tell me to supplement with formula. I didn’t because I knew that my body was producing enough, so I pumped. I spent at least four hours everyday for one year pumping and maintaining my pumping equipment. If I had had to go back to work there is no way I would have been able to do that. To expect so much of women is unrealistic, we can’t have a career and be supermom unless changes are made to our culture.

Anyway, sorry for the tangent. Liked the movie for the most part. There were times I felt like it was pushing an agenda but right about then it would switch to another family so it wasn’t too aggravating.

3/5