Given how much trouble some women experience when they breastfeed in public , its important to remember that lactating mothers have been honored and even deified throughout human history.

A number of religious traditions have artwork that depicts goddesses or holy figures nursing children.

For example, during the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance in Europe, Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was at times portrayed as breastfeeding her child. In Leonardo da Vincis Madonna Litta , the mother is seen gazing adoringly at Jesus, who is almost a toddler. He grasps her breast in his right hand with no cover-up in sight.