BREASTMILK: Out Now On VOD And iTunes

Now for something completely different. 

Breastmilk, the new documentary by first-time filmmaker Dana Ben-Ari, is an unflinchingly provocative, humorous, informative and inspirational exploration of just how, when and why the next generation gets fed. The film dives into the fray of what really happens among new parents - those who want to breastfeed, those who can't breastfeed and a whole culture caught up in the heady mix of stress, bliss and judgment that have made breastfeeding choices a matter of polarizing social debate.

 

Breastmilk uncovers all the most surprising and concealed aspects of what it means to have milk: from hooter hiders to work-place pumping, from career moms to gay parents, from wet nurses to sex practices, from freaked-out fathers and impassioned "lactivists" to the moms who halt breastfeeding before their infant is 6 months old. The result is an illuminating portrait of an everyday human subject rarely shown on film.

 

Aiming beyond simplistic debates over what is natural or normal, Breastmilk scopes out new territory. For the film is not only a revealing inquiry into our modern approach to one of the body's most remarkable functions - it's also an examination of how the most personal things become political and a stirring sketch of the breathtakingly diverse experience of modern parenthood itself.

I watched the doc last night, and even though I am not the target audience for this film (single male with no kids sired to date - that I know of), there were little bits and bobs that I found fascinating. How newborns know to latch on only hours out of the womb. The fears and anxieties that mothers may have about not providing enough for their children.