Cop Breastfeeds Malnourished Baby Who Was Abandoned | “It Broke My Soul Seeing Him Like This”

Her act of kindness didn't go unnoticed and she was promoted to sergeant soon after.

Cover Image Source: YouTube | CBS News (Photo of police officer breastfeeding malnourished baby goes viral)

By Devika Menon

October 12, 2021

Posted October 12, 2021

Officer Celeste Jaqueline Ayala is a part of the Argentinian Police, but she is also a mother, which is why her first instinct was to protect and take care of a child who had been abandoned. On August 14, 2018, Jaqueline Ayala and her partner, Marcos Heredia were patrolling at the Children’s Hospital of La Plata, when they found out that six children were being separated from their parents due to signs of abandonment and neglect, reports Goal Cast.

The children, between the ages of 9 years old to 6 months old, were malnourished and seemed to be living in detrimental conditions. While escorting the children, Officer Jaqueline Ayala was heartbroken seeing the youngest infant cry constantly. As a mother herself, she knew the toddler was crying of hunger, and the main source of food for the baby was breast milk.

According to World Health Organization, "Breast milk is the natural first food for babies, it provides all the energy and nutrients that the infant needs for the first months of life. Breast milk promotes sensory and cognitive development, and protects the infant against infectious and chronic diseases."

Cop praised for breastfeeding malnourished baby brought into Children's hospital https://t.co/ef8iPBf4sc

The woman, officer Celeste Jaqueline Ayala, said she noticed the baby was hungry and didn't think anything of it. pic.twitter.com/RDy6UhjzbM
— Local 12/WKRC-TV (@Local12) August 22, 2018

After getting in touch with the hospital management to make sure it was okay for her to breastfeed the baby, she went ahead and fed the wailing child. “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 to Cronica. “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.”

“When the children arrived at the hospital, and we saw their situation, we could not stop crying. The kids would cry and we would cry… later the children calmed down, and we played with them” They tried to help to ease the children's distress by using office chairs to play with them.

As for Jaqueline Ayala's act of compassion, it was recorded by her partner, Heredia, who said, "I want to make public this great gesture of love that you had today with that little baby… 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."

The moving image of the officer breastfeeding the baby has since gone viral, with even the fire department where Ayala volunteers praying tribute to her act of kindness. “Actions like that of this cadet fill us with pride and force us to redouble our efforts, work, and solidarity with our community,” the department wrote on Facebook.