10 celebrity moms who breast-feed
Gwen Stefani shared a tender moment with her youngest son, Zuma, then 3 months old, on a park bench in Los Angeles in 2008. Credit: Celebrity Baby Scoop
Considering their lack of anonymity with paparazzi lurking at every street corner, CelebrityBabyScoop.com salutes celebrity moms who breast-feed their babies while out and about.
Although it’s still considered taboo in some circles, there’s no shame in nursing your baby in public — or on the cover of a magazine, for that matter. And we’re so glad that celebrity moms such as Gwen Stefani, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Kourtney Kardashian and Miranda Kerr are on board. And not to mention Salma Hayek‘s experience with wet nursing a starving infant in Africa.
Here are 10 celebrity moms who have breast-fed in public.
Kourtney Kardashian
Reality star Kourtney Kardashian was seen breast-feeding her 1-year-old daughter Penelope last weekend in Miami, Fla. After taking a dip in the pool with her kids, Kourtney then breast-fed. Kourtney has been outspoken about her love for breast-feeding: When her sister Kim Kardashian was pregnant, Kim recalled a conversation she had with Kourtney about the possibility of wet nursing.
“She said to me, ‘One sister should baby-sit all the kids, so I can go out or vice versa, and whichever sister is baby-sitting should just breast-feed all the kids that are there,’” Kim shared.
While Kim was “disgusted” by the idea, she went on to ask Kourtney, “Does that not freak you out?”
Kourtney responded with, “No, it doesn’t,” adding, ”That’s what they did back in the day.”
Gwen Stefani
Rockstar mama Gwen Stefani shared a tender moment with her youngest son, Zuma, then 3 months old, on a park bench in Los Angeles. A few months later, the mother of two talked about how Zuma self-weaned during No Doubt’s reunion tour.
“I didn’t want him to [quit],” Gwen said. “It felt like a total rejection. It was really hormonal, and trying to stop in the middle of tour was insane.”
Maggie Gyllenhaal
When her daughter Ramona was 7 months old, Maggie Gyllenhaal was caught by the paparazzi breast-feeding in a Manhattan park. At the time, the Internet was abuzz with controversy over the intimate shots. Some said the paparazzi were too intrusive, while others felt that Maggie didn’t seem fazed at all -- regardless of who saw her -- as she breast-fed her baby in public.
The Academy Award-nominated actress has commented about the pressures of breast-feeding and raising a newborn.
“I’m not a leave-them-in-their-crib-to-cry kind of girl. Fundamentally, I didn’t find that worked. Everyone’s got their own thing, you know? You can’t tell another person when it’s right to stop breast-feeding, or how to put your kid to sleep. Every child is different.”
Julie Bowen
"Modern Family" star Julie Bowen made an appearance on "Lopez Tonight" in 2010, where she shared a picture and talked to George Lopez about nursing her then-1-year-old twin boys, John and Gus.
“It’s like two little liposuction machines on you,” she said. “They suck the fat out of you. They call it the ‘double football hold.’ You hold one here, and here [gesturing to her breasts] like two footballs. They’re doing God’s work right there, helping me return to my birth weight.”
Julie later commented on her feelings about the pressures of breast-feeding.
“I’m a big live and let live,” Julie said. “Seriously [do it], if it works for you, if it’s easy. If it wasn’t easy, I wouldn’t have done it. Some people can’t do it physically -- so don’t do it.”
Miranda Kerr
Victoria’s Secret model Miranda Kerr and handsome hubby Orlando Bloom welcomed their first child in January 2011. The model mom tweeted a gorgeous photo of her and baby Flynn, then 3 months old. “Another day in the office,” she wrote, sharing a photo of herself in full hair and makeup at a photo shoot breast-feeding her adorable babe.
Having returned to work just months after giving birth, Miranda said her quick post-baby weight loss was partly due to breast-feeding.
“I think if you are really eating the right foods, putting the nutrition into your body and doing yoga and breast-feeding; those things have helped me get back into shape. I remember I was on the elliptical machine when I was pregnant with Flynn.” The Australian beauty added: “I intend to breast-feed for as long as I can,” she said. “My breast milk will give our little Flynn the nutrition he needs for his continued healthy development and to all mums out there I am sure you will make the right choice for you and your baby.”
Just hours after giving birth, Miranda shared a precious picture breast-feeding her newborn. In response to the photo, she said: “The photo was one of the first photos Orlando took. We both loved it and we wanted to share it. The pleasant surprise was that it also had the added benefit of promoting breast-feeding, which to me is the most natural thing in the world and I love it.”
Angelina Jolie
W magazine’s November 2008 issue celebrated art — namely Brad Pitt’s photographs of his gorgeous family. His black-and-white shot of Angelina Jolie feeding one of their then-3-month-old twins [Knox or Vivienne] with the baby’s tiny fingers graced the cover of W. The serene, natural and relaxed shot only reaffirmed Angelina’s breathtaking beauty. Angie opened up about breast-feeding during a very emotional time of her life.
“I had lost my mum, I’d had a baby and I’d been breast-feeding and I was in a very emotional place as a woman. I knew instinctually and talked to Brad about it, that if I could find something that would get me physical again it would be like therapy, because everything was making me cry.”
Salma Hayek
On a goodwill trip to Sierra Leone in 2009, Salma Hayek famously breast-fed a week-old infant whose mother was too malnourished to produce milk herself. The actress recalled the wet nurse experience.
“The baby was perfectly healthy, but the mother didn’t have milk. He was very hungry. I was weaning Valentina [then 2 years old], but I still had a lot of milk that I was pumping, so I breast-fed the baby,” she says, her voice dropping. “You should have seen his eyes. When he felt the nourishment, he immediately stopped crying.”
Salma says she was hoping to raise awareness that Sierra Leone has the highest infant mortality rate in the world. She went on to say, “I actually think my baby would be very proud to share her milk. And when she grows up I’m going to make sure she continues to be a generous, caring person.”
Years later, Salma continues to answer questions about acting as a wet nurse. If you have milk, you have milk, and if they’re hungry, they’re hungry,” she said. “I think it’s a beautiful thing, because motherhood is a very strong place for women to connect and understand each other.”
Keely Shaye Smith
James Bond star Pierce Brosnan and his wife, former journalist Keely Shaye Smith, famously graced the December 1997 issue of Redbook with their then-11-month-old-son Dylan. Then a fairly revolutionary cover, editor-in-chief Kate White explained that the magazine produced two covers – one being “more traditional” – for the first time in its history because they didn’t want “to force the image on anyone.”
Meanwhile, some convenience store chain owners said that if customers complained, they reserved the right to move the cover behind the counter along with risqué men’s magazines like Playboy and Penthouse.
Lucy Lawless
"Xena: Warrior Princess" star Lucy Lawless shared an intimate shot with her then-3-month-old-son Judah to promote World Breast-feeding Week in 2002, which featured her quote, “Breast-feeding — My best role ever.”
Mayim Bialik
"Big Bang Theory" star Mayim Bialik, who also holds a PhD in neuroscience, shared an image of herself breast-feeding her 3-year-old son Fred on a Manhattan subway last year. The attachment parenting advocate wrote a thoughtful piece to accompany the intimate shot.
I have written about my now 3-year-old son Fred, and his nursing rhythms before,” Mayim wrote. “To recap: Fred nursed for a solid 12 months with no supplements, no solid foods, and not even a sip of water. He got the hang of eating solids around 18 months, but continued to nurse all day (with bottles of pumped breast milk when I was at work), and on demand all night. A typical night involved no less than four wake-ups and sometimes six (every 2 hours on the clock for 12 hours of bed time was not unusual). This went on for almost 3 years.”
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