The rise of the 'Brelfie': How breast feeding became the new way for celebrity mothers to show off

Brelfie: Tamara Ecclestone, daughter of Formula 1 boss Bernie, is a vocal exponent of breastfeeding.

With her oversized sunglasses and wide smile, she looks like any other glamorous young woman relishing a day off by the pool.

Then you notice she is otherwise engaged. For there, clamped to her bikini-clad breast, is her then 15-month-old daughter feeding.

Tamara Ecclestone, daughter of Formula 1 boss Bernie, is a vocal exponent of breastfeeding, which is commendable, I’m sure, but why the need to post such attention-seeking selfies (or brelfies as her regular breastfeeding self-portraits have been called)?

To date, she has posted dozens of pictures to her Instagram account and has also been photographed professionally with daughter Sophia clutched to her chest.

You might think ‘how sweet’, but look closely at the size of the child — Sophia recently turned two, so we’re not talking about a baby here.

And then there’s the fact her mother is fully made-up, hair blow-dried and showing her best angle. Judging from the lighting, I suspect even the snapper of the ‘selfies’ is someone on the payroll.

In my view, Tamara’s poses have very little to do with being a feed-on-demand mother and a lot to do with her own insatiable need for publicity.

But she is far from alone in turning an intimate moment between mother and child into a spectator sport.

Only this week, TOWIE star Sam Faiers posted a picture of herself feeding her baby son Paul while sprawled on a sun lounger.

A whole host of other celebrity mothers have also recently been gazing beatifically at the camera, hair and make-up immaculate with the all-important accessory on display: the babe at the breast.

Take Brazilian supermodel Gisele. Having once declared to a fashion magazine that ‘there should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies’, she shared a picture of herself reclining, all caramel limbs and flowing tresses, as a team of stylists pampered every inch of her famous body.

Her fluffy white dressing gown was pulled open, revealing her one-year-old daughter, Vivian, contentedly feeding. The hashtag ‘multitasking’ spoke volumes about the picture’s self-serving smugness.

Brazilian supermodel Gisele posted this photo of herself being pampered by a term of stylists, while breast-feeding her daughter Vivian, with the hashtag 'multitasking'.

Fellow model Miranda Kerr chose to introduce her son Flynn to the world with an intimate picture of her breastfeeding him taken by his father, actor Orlando Bloom.

She later shared another brelfie — this time wearing a white satin dressing gown and scarlet stilettos complete with bouncy blow-dry and feline flick.

Since when were women required to look so ridiculously sexy when engaged in possibly the most unglamorous act you can imagine?

That’s not to mention the fact that these pictures heap unbearable pressure on new mothers. Nowadays, not only must you miraculously shift your baby weight within a week, you must love breastfeeding and perform the task looking drop dead gorgeous!

I breastfed my two sons (now 20 and 22) for four months each. My GP explained in great detail that three months is all that is required to provide your infant with the all-important immunity boosters that we hear so much about.

Six months is even better, he explained, but by the time a year has passed, the mother is being depleted of vital nutrients. Beyond that and, frankly, it’s getting weird.

Did I breastfeed them in public? If I had to. My view on public breastfeeding is simple. Do it if you need to, but do not force the entire restaurant, cafe or aircraft to partake in the ritual.

I quickly figured out how to breastfeed my two boys in public without making people squirm (and, frankly, many people will do at the sight of a swollen veiny breast with milk oozing from it).

I know breastfeeding can be done discreetly anywhere. These days there are a variety of feeding bibs a mother can wear to spare her modesty and the discomfort of her fellow diners.

But these would not please the likes of Tamara Ecclestone et al. These narcissistic young women post their carefully stage-managed pictures in order to gain attention and accolades for doing something so ‘selfless’ and ‘positive’.