Tamara Ecclestone On The Holiday Photo That Sparked A Breastfeeding In Public Debate

Tamara Ecclestone Speaks Out About THAT Breastfeeding Photo
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Tamara Ecclestone has spoken out about inadvertanly sparking a breastfeeding in public debate, by sharing a brelfie while on holiday.

Speaking to Lorraine on Monday 22 June, the 30-year-old mum said:

"I think parenting in general, people always have such an opinion and it divides opinion.

"I’m kind of over trying to please anyone, I just do whatever feels right and I think as a mum you just follow your instinct of what feels right to you."

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Ecclestone, who had her first child Sophia with husband Jay Rutland in March last year, shared the photo in question on Instagram while on a family holiday.

"I shared so many pictures of Sophia," she told Lorraine.

"I’m completely obsessed with my daughter, sorry everyone all I do is post pictures of her - and my husband took the picture and I loved it.

"I thought it was so cute and I didn’t realise that it was going to cause so much controversy, I didn’t realise that people would have so many opinions on it, I just thought it was a beautiful photograph of the person that I love so much and on holiday and it was a special moment and that was really the only reason to share that picture."

“It was such a natural moment, I didn’t realise the photo was being taken, I hadn’t even brushed my hair we’d literally just woken up and gone straight to the beach to me it wasn't really thought about, it wasn't calculated, it wasn't planned," Ecclestone added.

"It was just like a spontaneous moment and I think sometimes those are the nicest pictures and to be honest I just think, why should I not post a picture?

"If someone is bottle feeding their baby and enjoying it and in the moment and post a picture of their baby while they’re being fed a bottle nobody would have anything to say about that."

The photo has received a mixed response from commenters, with some people suggesting Ecclestone should have "covered up":

One woman wrote: "It is beautiful but in the privacy of your own home cover up with a blanket nobody knows the values of having morals.

"No I don't want to see your boob in public neither does my husband we all know it's a beautiful thing and your child has to eat blah blah blah pump before you go out or cover up.

"Nothing in this world is private everyone wants to expose themselves and their baby I don't get it really."

However, many people praised Ecclestone for sharing the photo and were quick to defend her against the criticism:

"This is beautiful @tamaraecclestoneofficial," wrote one. "I can't believe some of the awful narrow minded comments on here! You're encouraging women to breastfeed not only in public but past their baby's first birthday!! Well done you!"

Breastfeeding Photos
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Ashlee Wells Jacksons' "4th Trimester Bodies Project" embraces the changes brought to women’s bodies by motherhood. Above, is a photo of herself and her baby.

Says Jackson: "I see beautiful, inspiring, real women on a daily basis who struggle with their body image because they don’t feel they measure up with who the media tells them to be... So much more needs to be done in our society to embrace body positivity and normalize breastfeeding."
(credit:Ashlee Wells Jackson )
(02 of17)
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In the September 2014 issue of Glamour magazine, actress Olivia Wilde said: "Breastfeeding is the most natural thing. I don’t know, now it feels like Otis should always be on my breast."
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Photographer Jade Beall takes portraits, like this one, that celebrate moms' bodies for her project, "A Beautiful Body."
via A Beautiful Body Book Project
(credit:Jade Beall)
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In 2012, singer P!nk shared this gorgeous photo of herself nursing baby Willow Sage on Instagram and Twitter. (credit:Pink/Instagram)
(06 of17)
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In 2014, singer Gwen Stefani posted a beautiful Instagram photo of herself feeding her son Apollo in Switzerland. (credit:Gwen Stefani/Instagram)
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Russian model Natalia Vodianova debuted her son Maxim to the world with this stunning breastfeeding photo in June 2014. (credit:Natalia Vodianova/Instagram)
(09 of17)
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This photo is from Vanessa Simmons' Normalize Breastfeeding campaign. Says Simmons: "If [women] read other stories, then it becomes more normal like, 'Oh, I'm going through that exact same thing.' Or, 'My baby's screaming their head off at six weeks and I can't figure out why,'... Sharing those stories enables women to be able to connect." Read more about Normalize Breastfeeding here.
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This photo is from Leilani Rogers' Public Breastfeeding Awareness Project. Read more about it here.
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This image is also from Leilani Rogers' Public Breastfeeding Awareness Project. Read more about it here.
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This picture is from HuffPost blogger Jillayna Adamson' "Breastfeeding is Beautiful" series. See more images, and read about it here.
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HuffPost blogger Jamie Davis Smith wrote about her difficulty breastfeeding her first child, and what the experience was like. Read her blog post here.
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In a blog post where this image was featured, author Mama Bean writes, "We are continually sold The Ideal; the picture-perfect, fully-clothed, fully made-up portrait of Motherhood... And yet in the real world, motherhood takes a far more literal shape; a far more physical form. It may well be slim, trim and toned... just as it may be rounded, softened and stretched. And yet, this second and more common reality is hidden and censored by default, as if motherhood is somehow something to shelter from."

Read the full post here.
(credit:Paulina Splechta Photography)