The Milky Way Movie

By: Kristy Kemp 

I just had the wonderful opportunity of viewing The Milky Way movie. As described directly from their website- The Milky Way is a documentary 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!”

*SPOILER ALERT*

Let me start off by saying that I started the documentary in tears and I ended it in tears. The documentary really gets to the root of where we as a society went wrong with breastfeeding and why breastfeeding became so taboo. It shows how much pull formula companies have over hospitals and just how negatively manipulative formula marketing effects breastfeeding. People like to argue that one has absolutely nothing to do with the other, but that couldn't be further away from the truth. The truth is that formula is a business and breastfeeding is not. There is money to be made with marketing formula. 

They stress how beneficial breastfeeding is. I learned only 15% of babies in the USA are exclusively breastfed at the age of 6 months. One of the lowest rates in the world. They explain how natural breastfeeding is and how babies are born and when placed on mom can root their way to breast to nurse. Yet nowadays we have seemed to complicate what should be such a natural thing. 

They go through the beginning of when formula was first manufactured and they also dabble into how breasts became viewed more as sexual objects. 

Above is an example of one of the first formula ads they put out. By the late 1950's prodominant attitudes was that breastfeeding was disgusting and for the uneducated and lower classes. Doctors openly discouraged it & so the stigma began! 

The Milky Way Movie is a must watch for sure! It opened my eyes to where the root of society's mindset changed and how we can fix it! 

If you have Amazon Prime you can watch it FREE here- http://amzn.to/1EOZQja

Watch The Milky Way on Itunes here - http://apple.co/1DootAl