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On the occasion of the Olympics 2024 in Paris, let’s share the very important news :

Breastfeeding mothers are also athletes !

Crowned World Judo Champion 2023, Clarisse Agbegnenou is a nursing mother, and the news has not gone unnoticed! An encouraging image for all mothers who might have doubts.

“It hurts me to hear people saying ‘We can do only one thing at a time’, ‘You can’t evolve in your job’ or ‘You can’t be a high-level athlete’ while being a mum,” Agbegnenou said.

Source : https://olympics.com/en/news/breastfeeding-elite-sport-athlete-mothers-sharing-experiences

Gwen Jorgensen has a similar feeling. Openly documenting her experience of being a mother in sport, Jorgensen is one of a number of athlete mothers exploring the capabilities of competing in high-level sport while also breastfeeding their children.

Read more from the Source :

https://olympics.com/en/news/breastfeeding-elite-sport-athlete-mothers-sharing-experiences

Breastfeeding and exercise

Paralympian Sarah Storey, 46, who has won 28 medals, said it’s definitely possible to be a breastfeeding mum and elite athlete.

She said: ‘It’s absolutely possible to breastfeed and be at the highest level of sport because I’ve done it. Your baby is settled, it’s not crying, it’s not upset, and you can focus on the job that you’ve got to do as an athlete.

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a60102659/breastfeeding-athletes-paris-olympics/

Paris Olympics 2024 – breastfeeding athletes welcome

The French Olympic Committee will provide hotel rooms for its breast-feeding athletes during the Paris Olympics this summer.

Traditionally children are banned from entering the athletes’ village where participants and coaches stay for the duration of the Games. This tradition is now changing because athletes, most notably French judo star Clarisse Agbegneno, have been campaigning for the needs of new mothers to be taken more seriously by sporting governing bodies.

https://www.womenshealthmag.com/life/a60102659/breastfeeding-athletes-paris-olympics/

A long awaited change since 2020

Marathon runner Aliphine Tuliamuk was not allowed to have daughter Zoe stay with her in the athletes’ village at Tokyo 2020

Olympics BBC Sport Africa asks what Paris 2024 is offering nursing mothers and how breastfeeding athletes are driving Olympic change.   

“The first time I ever slept without Zoe was in the village. Zoe and my husband stayed in a hotel. That was really hard,” Tuliamuk told BBC Sport Africa.

“I was so engorged. I was pumping and thinking ‘My baby is not even here with me’ – then I called them and she was crying, losing her mind because she didn’t understand why her mum is not there.”

It is why the Kenya-born American runner welcomes the new provisions for nursing mothers and child caretakers at Paris 2024, including a dedicated space for children in the athletes’ village.

“I am just so happy that in only four years from when I couldn’t be with my baby, it’s now changed to where they have facilities for them. That is pretty incredible.”

… “We’re taking a lot of lessons from Tokyo and the previous Games and we want to constantly improve on the athlete experience,” Emma Terho, chair of the IOC athletes’ commission, told BBC Africa.

“We have more and more athletes that have very young children, and mothers that are continuing their career quite soon after giving birth.

Read more from the Source : https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/articles/cn00nq66005o.amp

In French Newspaper

In France, the journal Libération titled in May 2023 already: « Allaitement et sport de haut niveau : «On doit pouvoir accompagner les joueuses sereinement» (Breastfeeding and top-level sport: “We must be able to support players with peace of mind”.)

Source : https://www.liberation.fr/sports/allaitement-et-sport-de-haut-niveau-on-doit-pouvoir-accompagner-les-joueuses-sereinement-20230512_6NWGUOIUHVHUFMUNUYL4LE5HLE/

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Britta Boutry-Stadelmann