Breastfeeding is a natural bodily function, a necessity to help keep babies alive, but it’s often shrouded in shame and misunderstanding. In honor of Breastfeeding Awareness Month, here are empowering and brutally honest stories from celebrities normalizing the good and bad of being a breastfeeding mother.
1.
Mandy Moore openly posted about her breastfeeding journey with her children, sharing her struggles like clogged ducts, timing her life around feedings, and pumping for when she’s at work in an Aug. 5, 2021, Instagram post.
2.
Chrissy Teigen got very candid about the difficulties of breastfeeding, urging mothers to “normalize” feeding their babies formula when necessary.
3.
Alyssa Milano challenged Wendy Williams when the talk show host said public breastfeeding made her uncomfortable and it’s “not [the] norm.”
4.
Olivia Wilde opened up about her decision to breastfeed her children and defended moms who didn’t make the same choice as her.
5.
Gisele Bündchen opened up about the “special feeling of connection” with her children from breastfeeding, while admitting it comes with its challenges like “the cracks, bleeding, engorgement.”
6.
Hilary Duff was honest about her decision to stop breastfeeding while being a working mom with two children.
7.
Pink fearlessly shared a photo of her son breastfeeding while getting some exercise to promote normalizing breastfeeding.
8.
Salma Hayek breastfed another woman’s hungry newborn baby during a goodwill trip to Sierra Leone, which garnered a huge reaction.
9.
Kristen Bell has been an outspoken advocate for normalizing breastfeeding, candidly speaking about her own experiences with mastitis, an inflammation of the mammary gland in the breast.
10.
Mila Kunis talked about how she felt shame publicly breastfeeding her daughter “everywhere” from random glaring strangers.
12.
Kourtney Kardashian opened up about how she thought she wouldn’t be able to breastfeed her fourth child because of doctors’ warnings.
13.
Blake Lively, who shares four children with Ryan Reynolds — James, Inez, Betty, and Olin — said in a 2015 interview with Allure that breastfeeding was a “full-time job” and has openly shared photos of her breastfeeding or pumping breast milk for her newborn children.
14.
Alicia Silverstone, who is a healthy living advocate, launched Kind Mama Milk Share, a breast-milk sharing program that pairs moms searching for breast milk from lactating moms who have healthy, nutrient-filled milk to share.
15.
Tamera Mowry shared how one child can be so different from the next when it comes to breastfeeding, noting that the first time around with her son Aden, it didn’t come naturally, and there was difficulty with “latching.”
16.
Thandiwe Newton expressed her “happiness” in being able to provide nourishment for her at-the-time 2-year-old son at the Latitude Festival.
17.
Eva Longoria shared photos working behind the scenes as the executive producer of the ABC show Grand Hotel while nursing her son, Santiago.
18.
Serena Williams opened up about her decision to stop breastfeeding her daughter Olympia in her docuseries Being Serena.
19.
Olivia Munn got real about her challenges with breastfeeding her then 10-week-old son with a “low supply” of milk.
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