Police officer breastfeeds crying, malnourished baby neglected by hospital staff, gets promoted
A police officer made headlines last week after she decided to breastfeed a malnourished baby that was brought into a hospital where she was on guard duty when she realized the hospital staff were too busy to provide the crying baby with immediate care.
Celeste Ayala was on guard duty at the Sister Maria Ludovica Children’s Hospital in Buenos Aries, Argentina when the baby was brought in. She realized that the medical staff was overloaded with work and the infant which needed immediate attention was not been attended to.
At this point, she knew she had to take matters in her own hand and asked if she could breastfeed the baby. The child, who was crying until then, calmed down as soon as she started feeding. News about what Celeste had done spread after her colleague, Marcos Heredia, posted a picture of her on Facebook.
"I want to make public this great gesture of love that you made today with that baby, who you did not know, but for whom you did not hesitate to act like a mother. You did not care if he was dirty or smelly… Things like that are not seen every day," read the post along with a picture which showed Celeste breastfeeding.
Her actions were praised by many people and it even came to the attention of Buenos Aires’ minister of security who subsequently promoted Celeste from officer to sergeant for her work.
"Today, we received Celeste, the officer who breast-fed a baby at the LaPlata Children’s Hospital, to notify her of her promotion. We wanted to thank her in person for that gesture of spontaneous love that managed to calm the baby’s cry. The police that makes us proud, the police we want," he wrote, as reported by Unilad.
Speaking about the incident at that time, Celeste said that she realized the baby was hungry just by looking. "I noticed that he was hungry, as he was putting his hand into his mouth, so I asked to hug him and breastfeed him," she said.
It was a sad moment, it broke my soul seeing him like this, society should be sensitive to the issues affecting children, this cannot keep happening." The local fire department where Celeste volunteers also praised her.
"We want to congratulate the voluntary firefighting cadet Celeste Ayala,who yesterday in her job as police officer whilst she was on guard duty at the hospital,breastfed a young child who arrived crying," they noted. "Actions like these fill us with pride and obligate us to redouble the effort, the work and the solidarity with our community."
Meanwhile, a friend of hers also praised her. "I did not expect less from you! Not only are you a great woman, but a great mom. What pride, only those of us who know you know that everything you do is with love," read the comment.
Local media reported that the six-month-old baby boy, the youngest of six siblings, whose mother was struggling to cope. The baby was recently taken away from the mother but the reason for it wasn't mentioned.