A police officer has been hailed with praise after she stepped in to breastfeed a malnourished baby.
Celeste Ayala was on guard duty at the Sor Maria Ludovica children’s hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, when six children arrived after being taken in by social services.
The youngest of them was a six-month-old boy, who was crying and malnourished – and Ms Ayala stepped in in to offer to breastfeed him.
One of the social workers agreed, and she took the infant into her arms and fed him.
According to Sky News, she told local media:
“I noticed that he was hungry, as he was putting his hand into his mouth. So I asked to hug him and breastfeed him.
“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.”
The moment was captured by another police officer, who shared a photograph on Facebook – which has now been shared more than 100,000 times.
Her fellow officer wrote that he wanted to “make public this great gesture of love”, as he praised Ms Ayala.
Hoy recibimos a Celeste, la oficial que amamantó a un bebé en el Hospital de Niños de #LaPlata para notificarle su ascenso. Queríamos agradecerle en persona ese gesto de amor espontáneo que logró calmar el llanto del bebé. La policía que nos enorgullece, la policía que queremos. pic.twitter.com/8aBp0Xj4Zj
— Cristian Ritondo (@cristianritondo) August 17, 2018
Days after the photo surfaced online this month, she met with police chief Cristian Ritondo to receive a promotion.
Sharing a photo of their encounter on Twitter, he said he wanted to “thank you in person for that gesture of spontaneous love that managed to calm the baby’s cry”.
