It seems like there’s an emoji for almost everything these days, but up until recently, there was no emoji to depict one of the most normal mother and baby routines: breastfeeding.
However, thanks to the intervention of an awesome nurse, Rachel Lee, a breastfeeding emoji will be coming to your keyboard very soon.
Rachel noticed that although there were emojis for a bottle and a baby available, there was no breastfeeding emoji. So, she got in touch with Unicode and proposed they design one.
"The lack of a breastfeeding emoji represents a gap in the Unicode Standard given the prevalence of breastfeeding in cultures around the world, and throughout history," she wrote in her proposal to Unicode.
She wrote a detailed proposal pointing out that there is a huge demand for such an emoji among mums. For example, in America alone, there are approximately three million breastfeeding mums.
New breastfeeding emoji is coming! #breastfeeding #normalizebreastfeeding #breastfeedingemoji #emoji pic.twitter.com/h2MGyeCs0b
— Spectra Baby USA (@SpectraBabyUSA) April 18, 2017
She also pointed out that many apps and sticker packs already include a breastfeeding emoji.
She even included a design for them to work off – a mum holding a baby in the “cradle” position, which is the most popular position for breastfeeding.
Rachel wasn’t the only one backing the introduction of a breastfeeding emoji - the new emoji was among 30 of the most requested in 2016.
Among the other highly-requested emoji were those to represent interracial families and single parents, and a hijab or headscarf emoji.
"Given the nature of breastfeeding, occurring at all hours of the day and night, text communication is frequently used during these times," Rachel wrote.
"This emoji is likely to be used in context for a message such as 'Up at 3am with baby’."
So happy #breastfeedingemoji will be here soon! @DEbreastfeeding & @LisaCostelloWV, did u hear?!#NormalizeBreastfeeding! #breastfeeding https://t.co/zB41ruJYEY
— Laura Lawler (@DocLauraLawler) July 12, 2017
With yesterday being World Emoji Day (yes, that’s a thing now), the new emojis were proudly unveiled by Apple during the celebrations.
Mums reacted excitedly to the good news, with one tweeting, “So happy breastfeeding emoji will be here soon! #normalisebreastfeeding”.
The breastfeeding emoji will be available for iOS, macOS and watchOS later this year.
We think the new emoji is a great step forward towards inclusion for all mums, and we’ll definitely be putting it to good use when it is rolled out.
What do you think of the new emoji, mums? Let us know your thoughts.
