We all love Adele for her straight-talking and no bull shit character. And she’s made her views on the pressure on mothers to breastfeed crystal clear during a live Q & A session during her concert in London on Tuesday night.
It was in response to TV chef/celebrity Jamie Oliver’s comments about how all mothers should breastfeed their children.
Women feel enough stress and pain as it is when they are not able to breastfeed, without others having to make them feel as though they have somehow failed as a mother.
Adele herself struggled to breastfeed her son, Angelo. So she’s all too familiar with the pressure that’s put on new mothers and how it effects them.
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I am a member of two forums of over 20,000 women who cant breastfeed their babes due to varying reasons....tongue tied, premmie babes, inverted nipples, lack of support (no lactation consultants in my area) so we are exclusively pumping to get breast milk into our babes. Some have to supplement with formula but most are pumping their butts off 10-12 times a day with hospital grade milk machines to get supply up and provide enough boob milk to the babe as well as create a freezer stash for those lucky enough to oversupply. There is soooo much grief amongst us that we couldn't direct nurse so it's important for other mums (and men) to realize that just because we re bottle feeding, doesn't mean we didn't try our harder for weeks/months to direct nurse and we aren't working ourselves to the bone to lovingly raise our children, hold our baby while also pumping! It is HARD!
I was lucky to be able to breastfeed my second baby for 2.5 years but the pain over the first 3 months was borderline unbearable. I was determined with my third but didn't count on a much smaller baby with weak suck and hidden sub mucosal tongue tie 😰😰😰. With two small boys to look after and little local support, I resigned myself to pumping and my baby receives 90% breast milk. I'll keep going for as long as possible while my house falls apart, meals are not cooked and my mental health is borderline intact.
I hope that all mums can support each other for all their differing experiences. Most of us are doing the absolute best we can.
She is right though there is so much pressure on mothers to breast feed that not every one feels comfortable doing it