Breastfeeding mums urged to sign up to art project

Lisa Creagh's Holding Time project will culminate in a photography exhibition in Bradford

Women are being encouraged to share their experiences of breastfeeding as part of a new arts project.

Artist Lisa Creagh is urging mothers in Bradford to contribute to the Holding Time project, which will culminate in a permanent photographic exhibition at Bradford Royal Infirmary.

Ms Creagh said she had been inspired to explore the subject following her own difficulties and said she wanted to try and remove the stigma around breastfeeding issues.

“It's about helping women unpack their breastfeeding journeys because there's a lot of pain and there's a lot of joy," she said.

Describing her own situation she said it was "deeper than any kind of vulnerability I've ever experienced before in my life" and said she hoped to understand how women "overcome the many structural and cultural barriers to breastfeeding".

"I think women need to start listening to each other rather than silencing each other," she said.

"We've lived in that kind of culture and it's quite oppressive, where we're sort of policing each other and policing ourselves, and not talking about our birth stories, not talking about our breastfeeding stories. That's not helping.

"We're not learning anything from all of us just being alone and not discussing these things. So it's about honouring those stories."

Ms Creagh spoke to the BBC about her project during World Breastfeeding Week, with campaigners highlighting the fact that breastfeeding rates in the UK are among the lowest in the world.

According to Unicef, only 24% of mothers in the UK were exclusively breastfeeding at six weeks, dropping to around 1% at six months.

In Bradford, health teams have launched a campaign to support local mums to breastfeed "here, there and everywhere".

Venues from cafes and restaurants to hairdressers and shopping centres are being encouraged to sign up to welcome breastfeeding mums and display breastfeeding friendly signs.

Jane Dickens, the strategic breastfeeding lead for Bradford district, said: "Although breastfeeding in public is protected by law, if mum is out and about, she can feel uncomfortable and at times unwelcome to breastfeed.

"That needs to change if we’re to support mums to continue breastfeeding and so reduce the incidence of common childhood illnesses such as ear, chest and gut infections.”

Activities for the Holding Time project have already begun in Bradford, with groups of local mothers meeting Ms Creagh, giving interviews and taking part in photo shoots in the city.

Next month free writing workshops will be held to give women the chance to create a short piece of writing based around their birth and breastfeeding experiences.

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North or tell us a story you think we should be covering here.