Police officer who breastfed crying baby in a hospital is hailed a hero

Photo of police officer breastfeeding underfed baby goes viral. (Photo: Marcos Heredia via Facebook)

A police officer in Argentina is being called “beautiful” for breastfeeding a malnourished baby while working at a children’s hospital.

A photo of officer Celeste Jaqueline Ayala nursing the distressed infant while on duty at the Sister Maria Ludovica Children’s Hospital in Buenos Aires on Aug. 14 caught fire on Facebook, racking up 110,000 shares after it was posted by witness Marcos Heredia.

“I want to make public this great gesture of love that you had today with that little baby,” read Heredia’s post, loosely translated from Spanish. “Who without knowing you didn’t hesitate and for a moment you fulfilled how if you were her mother. You don’t care about filth and smell … things like that don’t [happen] every day.”

Bomberos Voluntarios Berisso, the fire department with which Ayala volunteers, posted about the story on Facebook.

“Actions like that of this cadet fill us with pride and force us to redouble our efforts, work, and solidarity with our community.”

For her kindhearted actions, Ayala received a promotion from officer to sergeant. Cristian Ritondo, vice president of the legislature of Buenos Aires tweeted the news, writing, (loosely translated on Twitter) “Today we received Celeste, the officer who nursed a baby at the children’s hospital #LaPlata  to notify her of her promotion. … The police we’re proud of, the police we want.”

Ayala said her maternal instinct simply kicked in when she sat with the infant.

“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 reportedly said, according to several media outlets.

“It was a sad moment, it broke my soul seeing him like this, society should be sensitive to the issues affecting children, it cannot keep happening."

Ayala isn’t the only police officer to go above and beyond on the job. In May, a female police officer and new mother in Colombia was involved in an equally loving act of compassion.

Officer Luisa Fernanda Urrea found an abandoned baby in the woods, with part of its umbilical cord still attached, and swaddled and breastfed the infant.

“I think any woman would have given her nourishment in the same circumstances,” Urrea reportedly told local media.