Celeste Ayala, an policewoman in Argentina, became a national hero after she was photographed nursing a malnourished baby.
A photograph of Ayala nursing the baby, who reportedly had been separated from its mother at the Sor María Ludovica children’s hospital on the outskirts of Buenos Aires last week, garnered thousands of shares on social media and extensive media coverage.
The incident took place on August 14, as the policewoman patrolled the hospital, and suddenly heard a crying baby.
She quickly took the baby in her arms, sat on a bench in the hallway of the hospital and started nursing her.
In an interview later with the Cronica newspaper, Ayala explained that the baby and her siblings, ranging in age from 9 years to 7 months, had been separated from their parents, who were in poor health. She said the children were dirty and hungry and, after asking permission to feed the youngest child, did not hesitate “for a second” to do so - after which, she said, the baby quickly calmed down.
Due to her action, Cristian Ritondo, the security minister of Buenos Aires province, decided to promote Ayala by a rank.
"We wanted to thank [her] in person for that gesture of spontaneous love that managed to calm the baby's cry" he tweeted, adding that police like her are "the police we're proud of, the police we want."