Chrissy Teigen Recalls 'Stress' and 'Shame' Over Having Trouble Breastfeeding: 'Normalize Formula'
Chrissy Teigen is opening up about her past struggle with breastfeeding.
On Sunday, the Cravings cookbook author, 34, shared a thread of tweets detailing the "shame" and "guilt" she felt when her body struggled to produce enough breast milk for her two children, daughter Luna Simone, 4½, and 2-year-old son Miles Theodore, whom she shares with husband John Legend.
"Ok I'm gonna say something and you all are definitely gonna make it a thing but here goes: normalize formula," she tweeted. "Normalize breastfeeding is such a huge, wonderful thing. but I absolutely felt way more shame having to use formula because of lack of milk from depression and whatnot."
Teigen continued, "People have surrogates, people have trouble breastfeeding and all you hear as a new, anxious mom is how breast is best. 'normalize breastfeeding' is great. 'normalize formula' is great, too! so yeah. that's all! normalize formula! your baby is gonna be BEAUTIFUL, PERFECT, AND OKAY."
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"I remember pumping my ASS OFF, highest mode, so often, because I didn't trust milk was going into their mouthes [sic] if I breastfed. it drove me mad to the point I could only get an ounce. an ounce!" the mother of two explained.
"The stress of it, combined with the guilt that you cannot do nature's most natural thing for your own baby is too much. I dunno why this is my crusade now. I just remember the sadness I felt and want you to know you are doing it right if your baby is fed, mama," she wrote.
One fan took Teigen's message a step further and commented, "I say we… try to normalize not giving a f— about what other people want to do with their lives as long as it’s not hurting anyone else."
And Teigen agreed, replying to the fan, "Truly, IN EVERY ASPECT. 'normalize minding your f—ing business as long as it is not hurting anyone else' needs to be a t-shirt lol."
Teigen has always been open about her past struggles with fertility, postpartum depression, and most recently, her heartbreaking pregnancy loss when she and Legend, 41, lost their unborn son, whom they named Jack, after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
The star first revealed the news on Instagram on Sept. 30 in a heartbreaking personal essay last month, and opened up about being diagnosed "with partial placenta abruption," recalling the moment after she had spent time at the hospital due to heavy bleeding when "it was time to say goodbye" to her baby.
Legend recently spoke to Entertainment Tonight about how the couple received an overwhelming amount of "love and support" after sharing the news.
"We've heard from so many people who have gone through it too, and it's been encouraging to be getting so much love and support from so many people who have experienced similar things," The Voice coach said. "Chrissy sharing what she shared has also been helpful for other people who are going through it and may go through it in the future. So thank you."
"Whenever we go through personal challenges — and I think challenges as a nation — I think we have to hold on to what makes us optimistic, what makes us hopeful. Hold on to the things that bring us joy," he added. "And in my family, as we've gone through a tough year, we hold on to the fact that we have two beautiful kids that we love and are such a beautiful reflection of who we are and what we value."
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