Pop music sensation, actress, and mother-of-two Hilary Duff decided to stop breastfeeding her six-month-old baby, Banks, and she’s happy to tell you exactly why.
Banks is Duff’s second child and first with her current fiancé, Matthew Koma. She is also mother to seven-year-old Luca, from her marriage to Mike Comrie.
Like other celebrities such as Chrissy Teigen and Amy Schumer, Duff has a history of being very candid about pregnancy and motherhood, so this latest update should come as no surprise. For example, two months after giving birth to baby Banks, Duff shared this post, with a caption about surviving “sleepless nights.”
Little did we know, the realest of all Hilary Duff advice was yet to come.
“Just a few thoughts I wanted to share on breastfeeding…”
Last week, Duff shared this post with her followers. The photo shows Duff breastfeeding baby Banks, but the caption bravely explains why she is choosing to stop.
“Last week was my last week nursing Banks (my six month old),” Duff’s caption begins. “I am a working mom of two. My goal was to get my little girl to six months and then decide if I (and her of course) wanted to keep going. Let me tell you.”
“Pumping at work sucks.”
Duff goes on to detail the tremendous amount of work it takes and inconvenience she suffers just trying to pump while being back at work. (She is currently filming the sixth season of Younger, a TV Land series.)
“Pumping at work sucks. I had zero down time and am usually pumping in a hair and makeup trailer while four hands work to get me ready for the next scene with lots of other people around. Even if I had the luxury to be in my own room, it’s not even considered a “break” because you have to sit upright for the milk to flow into the bottles! Plus you are having your damn nipples tugged at by an aggressive machine that makes an annoying sound, that echoes through your head day and night (I swear that machine and I had many conversations at midnight and 3 am)! Ttttthen having to find someplace to sterilize bottles and keep your milk cold (ok I’m done with that rant lol)!”
– Hilary Duff
Does this sound familiar to any breastfeeding moms who choose or had to go back to work? Because it sounds frighteningly familiar to us.
Duff continued, saying that she didn’t encounter the same problem with her first child, Luca, because she didn’t go back to work until nine months after his birth. She explains that incorporating pumping into Banks’ feeding schedule caused her milk supply to drop off. Then she detailed the lengths she went to to try (unsuccessfully) to reverse it.
Anyway, I didn’t know this because with Luca I didn’t work until he was about nine months old, so I didn’t pump very often. Your milk supply drastically drops when you stop feeding as often and lose the actual contact and connection with your baby (?). So I was eating all the feunugreek goats butt blessed thistle fennel cookies/drops/shakes/pills I could get my hands on! It was maddening. (Does fenugreek make anyone else smell like maple syrup and rubber gloves?…not chill).
– Hilary Duff
“But I needed a break. I was going to break.”
At the end of her post, Duff explained that, though she loved breastfeeding her daughter, she can no longer keep up with the demands of doing so.
With all of this complaining, I want to say I enjoyed (almost) every moment of feeding my daughter. Felt so lucky to be so close to her and give her that start. I know many women are not able to and for that I am sympathetic and very grateful that I could. For six wonderful months. But I needed a break. I was going to break. With the stress of a dropping milk supply and a baby that was getting bored or not caring about nursing when I was available to. I was sad and frustrated and feeling like a failure all of the time. When really I’m a bad ass rock star. Moms get high on feeling like superwoman…because we are! Doing too much, because we can!
– Hilary Duff
Boy, this line really hits home: “I was sad and frustrated and feeling like a failure all the time.” We know that feeling, Hilary! All too well.
We’re so grateful for celebrities like Duff who use their platform to remind us we are not alone. So many new mamas have struggled with this very issue. The guilt that comes with making these kinds of decisions can be almost too hard to deal with.
None of us need permission, but it’s always nice to be encouraged and reminded that we are doing our best. So thank you, Hilary Duff. We wish you the best of luck juggling motherhood, marriage, work, and everything else that comes up in life.
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