Police Officer Breastfeeds Neglected Baby, Photo Goes Viral
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CBS Local) - A female police officer in Argentina has become a social media star after her selfless decision to breastfeed a malnourished baby brought to a local hospital.
Police officer Celeste Ayala was on duty at Sister Maria Ludovica Children's Hospital in Buenos Aires when the infant was brought in for treatment. According to reports, the child's mother was struggling to take care of the baby, who was described by the hospital staff as "smelly and dirty."
Seeing that the Argentinian medics were overworked and couldn't immediately help the child, officer Ayala stepped in to nurse the boy.
"I noticed that he was hungry, as he was putting his hand into his mouth, so I asked to hug him and breastfeed him," Ayala said, via Yahoo Finance. "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 officer's touching gesture was uploaded to Facebook by a co-worker on August 14 and quickly went viral, being shared over 110,000 times.
The praise for Ayala didn't end on social media. Cristian Ritondo, vice president of the legislature of Buenos Aires, took notice of the officer's actions and reportedly promoted her from police officer to sergeant.
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
"We wanted to thank you in person for that gesture of spontaneous love that managed to calm the baby's cry," Ritondo added on Twitter.
Sergeant Ayala is not only a kind-hearted police officer and social media sensation, she's also a voluntary firefighting cadet in Argentina as well. Her local fire department also praised her heroism on Facebook.