Page 3 Profile: Emma Bond, campaigner

Quick, somebody call the lactation police: a mother has shared a photo of her breastfeeding her child!

Emma Bond has stood up to Facebook after a photo of her breastfeeding her severely premature baby daughter was removed from the social network for apparently breaching its nudity guidelines. The 24-year-old mother was astonished to receive a notification saying “somebody reported your photo for containing nudity”. Miss Bond said she had wanted to share the image of the “special moment” with Carene, who was born 12 weeks early on 3 October weighing just 2lbs 2oz.

That sounds dangerously premature…

Miss Bond, from Oswestry in Shropshire, was told her daughter would be unlikely to live more than three days. But Carene survived and her mother was overjoyed when she was able to breastfeed her for the first time, prompting her to share the image via Facebook with her family and friends.

Somebody clearly wasn’t keen on celebrating the miracle of life, though…

Miss Bond said she was “upset” by Facebook’s decision to remove the photo. “The picture represents more than just me breastfeeding my new-born baby. Carene is very poorly and we fought very hard to get to this point,” she explained.

The new mother shared her story with a breastfeeding group and re-posted her picture.The photo has been “liked” almost a quarter of a million times and Miss Bond has been inundated with messages of support from around the world.

How did Facebook respond?

The online giant insisted that breastfeeding photos have never been against the firm’s Community Standards, but nipples must be covered or concealed. In a message to Miss Bond, Facebook said: “The image that you shared was removed in error - it has now been republished.”

Success!

Wait, there’s more. Earlier this year the company added that it had “updated” its policy and that “photos that show a nursing mother’s other breast will be allowed even if it is fully exposed, as will mastectomy photos showing a fully exposed other breast.”