Paloma Faith has urged mothers struggling with breastfeeding to not be so “hard” on themselves.
The ‘Better Than This’ hitmaker marked Breastfeeding Awareness Week on Friday (06.08.21) by opening up on her own experience with feeding her two children, whom she has with her husband Leyman Lahcine.
While Paloma breastfed her first child with no problems, she turned to formula milk for her second tot, and has told other mothers not to think less of themselves if they struggle with breastfeeding.
She wrote on Instagram: “It’s #breastfeedingawarenessweek.
“I managed to breast feed my first baby well and exclusively for 7 months and I felt like it was very connecting and bonding. There were times where I hated that bond, when I would be out enjoying myself and start lactating and just know she’d woken up and my partner would say she hadn’t but then realise she had ! Like two interconnected whales. It was hard to start and hard to stop in the end.
“Then with my second I thought it would be easy because I had done it before. It wasn’t. She had problems feeding from day one. I tried everything. After a bout back in hospital with an infection (sepsis), I ended up exclusively pumping, and now she’s exclusively formula fed. She still has some nipple aversion problems I can’t identify. She clamps her mouth shut and will only split feed, taking little amounts at a time. It’s exhausting. But it’s less exhausting than if she was doing it to my boob. (sic)”
Paloma, 40, is thankful she was able to try “all the options” available to her, and doesn’t think using formula milk is any worse for her child than breastfeeding.
She added: “So I am so happy that all the options are available because without them we would both be miserable. Coming from a person who has done both I just want to say that sometimes it just doesn’t work, that’s no reflection on you as a mother.
“I know everyone says breast milk is best but I honestly think with my baby she became healthier the moment I switched to formula. She never cries now, she always smiles, she’s defo not over weight (there is a stigma that formula babies are over weight) and she really really loves her mama……
“Dont be hard on yourself ladies. (sic)”
