Breastfeeding Emoji Could Be Newest Addition to Characters on Social Media

New emojis are being developed and one of them is a breastfeeding emoji, after people on social media made it among the most requested characters of 2016.

The Unicode Consortium’s technical committee is considering an emoji that best represents breastfeeding mothers in its committee that will also consider the addition of an almond, a coconut, a climber, a mermaid, a person meditating, and a pie, in their meeting in November.

Unicode said that the breastfeeding emoji has long been called for by people on social media and was among the most requested characters of 2016. However, the formal proposal came from Rachel Lee, a nurse at the University College of London Hospital.

She said that the lack of a breastfeeding emoji represented a gap, “given the prevalence of breastfeeding in cultures around the world, and throughout history”. She also quoted the Centre for Disease Control’s estimation that, at any given time, three million mothers in the US were participating in breastfeeding, and wrote that for every bottle-fed newborn, four were breastfed.

Ms Lee told the Huffington Post that she thought of the idea because of her work as a nurse “” where she had encountered many new mothers who had not realised how challenging breastfeeding would be.

“I just don’t think we are exposed to it enough in society and sometimes we forget how important it is developmentally in all areas to mothers and their babies.

“I am under no delusion that creating a small emoji to exist in this society may not be the real push to normalise breastfeeding in public forums, but if it helps just get the message out there by creating discussion and gathering support, then it’s all worth it,” she said.

Ms Lee also noted that the current emojis of baby bottles, babies and other representations of different families were “ineffective as a replacement, due to the global push for breastfeeding where possible”.

The consideration of the breastfeeding emoji follows a push earlier this year to better represent women in professional roles.

Unicode said that if the emoji could be approved, it would include a range of skin tones, a feature introduced last year after much campaigning.

Source: Abc.net.au