An unvarnished, poetic account of a new mother’s struggle to breastfeed

Part of the UK filmmaker Rebecca Manley’s Postpartum Poems Project, which is inspired by her own experiences, Cluster Feeding addresses an unromantic aspect of new motherhood that is often little-discussed and hidden from view. The short is composed of an intimate, direct-to-camera monologue in which the UK actress Victoria Yeates performs Manley’s poem on the mental and physical toll of struggling to breastfeed an inconsolable infant. Offering an unguarded view of her feelings, Manley’s raw work illuminates one of the complexities and disorientations that can accompany a baby’s birth.