Milky Way Breastfeeding Documentary: Film Trailer for Milky Way Breastfeeding Documentary

For screening info and for more information, visit: WWW.MILKYWAYFOUNDATION.ORG

Theatrical release in the U.S.A.: May 10th, 2014
Official Documentary Selection: Newport Beach Film Festival

The Milky Way Breastfeeding Documentary is an exposé about breastfeeding in the United States. We show how women can reclaim their birthright and restore the nursing mother archetype. More than a breastfeeding promotion film, this is a film by, for, and about women. It is about the knowledge that inherently resides in every woman, how to access that knowledge and how to trust what we already know. It is a film that inspires women to say, “I can do that!” “I want to do that!

The United States has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the world. Breastfeeding empower women. Premature babies’ health improves much quicker when they spend more time on their mother’s chest rather than in an incubator. Other countries are more advanced in their birth and breastfeeding policies than the United States. Our own Milky Way galaxy was named for mother’s milk.

In the most successful ad campaign in history, formula companies convinced mothers to trade in their breasts for bottles, and the baby bottle swiftly became the most recognizable symbol of infancy. The phenomenon of the nursing mother has all but disappeared from our cultural landscape as the sexual breast supplanted the mothering breast. The simple act of nursing a baby engenders a plethora of reactions from society, especially when done in public.

Conflicting advice abounds, leaving new moms bewildered and wondering if they are doing it “right,” and often wanting to opt out entirely. Countering nearly a century of medical procedures that separated babies from their mothers and medical advice that informed women that their milk was not good enough, The Milky Way captures how mothers can access their inner knowledge and trust their own body’s wisdom, and why they should. Women’s stories, leading lactation professionals, archival footage, religious iconography, and formula advertisements, tell the story of how mothers relinquished authority to medical professionals, and succumbed to cultural pressure to forfeit their nourishing breasts in favor of a highly sexualized model.

LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Co-sleeping and breastfeeding: http://www.askdrsears.com/topics/health-concerns/sleep-problems/co-sleeping-yes-no-sometimes
https://cosleeping.nd.edu/
http://www.normalfed.com/
Dr. Jay Gordon: http://drjaygordon.com/
Dr. Jack Newman: http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/index.php

Kangaroo Mother Care: http://www.kangaroomothercare.com/about.aspx

Support for Mothers:
http://www.llli.org/
http://www.breastfeedla.org/
http://www.usbreastfeeding.org/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx

Baby-Friendly Hospitals:
http://www.first5la.org/Community-Change/Program-Evaluations/Baby-Friendly-Hospitals-Evaluation

Milk Sharing:
http://milkshare.birthingforlife.com/
http://www.eatsonfeets.org/
http://hm4hb.net/

Blogs:
http://kellymom.com/
http://theleakyboob.com/

World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/topics/breastfeeding/en/

United States Government Resources:
http://www.womenshealth.gov/breastfeeding/

Professional Organizations:
http://www.ilca.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1
http://uslca.org/