Breastfeeding mum appears on the cover of Mother & Baby magazine, cue controversy

Breastfeeding in public remains one of the parenting topics du jour. So the fact that the latest cover of Mother & Baby Magazine features a mum proudly breastfeeding her baby is bound to cause a stir.

Parenting blogger, Sophie Cachia, 26, is the mum-of-two who appears on the candid cover, proudly feeding her youngest child, Florence. Well known for her honest take on parenting, The Young Mummy blogger proudly took to Instagram to share a picture of the finished cover.

“Through my two newborn experiences, I’ve been very honest about my feeding routines,” she wrote. “Both of my children have been mix-fed.”

Sophie went on to explain that what she loves most about the cover is that it represents an image you wouldn’t have seen when she fed her eldest chid, Bobby.

“I struggled to feed my first born… badly,” she continued. “With size 12GG breasts BEFORE milk came in, I was ashamed, embarrassed and worst of all – I thought I was incapable of publicly feeding. With my second baby I have found that confidence and am SO proud of my milk-makers (even though we’re slightly disagreeing at the moment, we will push through).”

Sophie says that being able to stand confidently feeding on the shoot was a moment she’ll never forget and she’s grateful to have been given the opportunity.

“I was – and still am – SO empowered. I write this whilst feeding Florence her formula bottle and can happily say I’m proud of my body, my decisions, my parenting,” she finished her post.

And Sophie’s cover was praised by other parents for helping to normalise breastfeeding.

“Love it, good on you. Such a great message to all the women out there,” one woman wrote.

“You are such a beautiful and real role model for mums,” added another.

“Awesome work mumma! Couldn’t love or agree with your words more!!,” another fan commented.

It isn’t the first time a cover image of a breastfeeding mother has featured in Australia. Two years ago Elle Australia released a cover starring model Nicole Trunfio breastfeeding her son Zion to it’s subscription readers, but was criticised for never sending that particular cover to news stands.

The subscribers-only cover also received a backlash after Trunfio proudly shared the breastfeeding shot to Instagram. Speaking about the furrore afterwards the then 29-year-old model said: “There is nothing more powerful and beautiful than motherhood. The last thing I want to do is be controversial, so please take this for what it is, let us #normalisebreastfeeding there is nothing worse than a mother that is judged for feeding her hungry child in public.”

“#weareonlyhuman I’m so proud of this cover and for what it’s stands for. I obviously don’t look like this while I am breastfeeding but this stands for all women out there, whether you breastfeed or not, we gave birth, we are women, we are mothers.”

More recently, Tamara Ecclestone appeared on the cover of Fabulous while breastfeeding her then 17-month old daughter, Sophia. The 31-year-old socialite discussed the backlash she’s received over sharing images of herself breastfeeding her little one.

“It’s something that is so natural,” she told Fabulous of the criticism.

“When there are people walking around the streets these days in thongs and bras, I’m like: ‘Really? Can anyone say anything?’ I find it bizarre what people’s priorities are.”

And Olivia Wilde also faced some criticism after a beautiful picture appeared in Glamour magazine of her breastfeeding her son Otis. Defending the image the 31-year-old actress said: “They were making a portrait of me for Glamour magazine, and I am a working mother. Shooting a cover shoot for a magazine is work, and during that day my son had to eat, and so I had to feed him,” Wilde recounted to Huffington Post. “I thought, if you’re taking a portrait of me, this is part of me.”

The ‘Meadowland’ actress went on to say that the fuss the image created actually had a positive impact on other breastfeeding mothers.

“The coolest thing to come out of that [picture] was all these women who took pictures of themselves breastfeeding in public and tweeted them to me and to the world,” she recalled. “I thought that was really great, and so I was happy to just encourage their awesome movement.”

Follow us on Instagram and Facebook for non-stop inspiration delivered fresh to your feed, every day. For Twitter updates, follow @YahooStyleUK

Read more from Yahoo Style UK:

Model Tess Holliday Breastfed Baby at Women’s March, Slams Critics Who Told Her to ‘Cover Up’

Former ‘Skins’ star posts multitasking breastfeeding photo