One of my parenting regrets is that I only have two pictures of me nursing one of my babies. I breastfed four children for a total of over a decade. We nursed everywhere, all the time. It was a normal, happy part of my life for many years. But the only photos I have are of my first little one nursing in the hospital. He has an IV and the IV pole is a prominent feature in the picture. I look sad and tired. I wish so much that I had photos of the happy nursings: in the park, in the rocking chair, snuggled up in bed, at the Farmers’ Market, at the library, at the beach, at church, at Grandma’s house, on the bus,…

So maybe other mothers can learn from my mistake. Nursing was so normal in my life that I didn’t think to document it. So I’m encouraging all of you that are breastfeeding your babies: Get a picture!

If you need help, check out the Nursing Is Normal Project in Madison. As part of the NIN project, mothers get free high quality digital photos of themselves nursing their babies in a public place. In return, they let the NIN project display one of the pictures in the photo gallery as encouragement to other breastfeeding mothers that may not yet feel confident nursing in public. This project is going on all over the country. In Madison, photographer Lea Wolf has volunteered to take the pictures. If you haven’t checked out her work before, it’s great — here’s a link. She’ll be taking the NIN pictures this spring through fall. Here’s how you can get in touch with her.

As a side note, I HATE having my picture taken. Lea took my picture for Happy Bambino’s staff page and it was a good experience (ok, as all right as this ever gets for me). If you too are one of those people that can’t stand being on the lens-end of the camera, Lea is a good choice for getting a portrait.