Celebrities Who Are Breastfeeding Role Models

As a celebrity, cameras follow you wherever you go, sometimes capturing intimate moments of your life, such as breastfeeding or pumping for your child. Some celebrities have embraced this, and have even taken the initiative to post their own private moments and share them on social media. So, who are our favorite celebrity moms who are going that extra mile to normalize breastfeeding? And why do we consider them role models for other moms wanting to provide breast milk to their babies?

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Featured Segments

  • Breastfeeding Headlines

    What are the top news headlines involving breastfeeding, pumping and parenting? We’ll comb through all the articles and discuss the main issues impacting mothers around the world.

  • Ask Breastfeeding Experts

    Our team of experts are here to help you throughout your breastfeeding journey. Send your questions through email or voicemail sent through our website, and allow our experts to ease your concerns and quench your curiosity!

Episode Transcript

The Boob Group
Celebrities Who Are Breastfeeding Role Models

[00:00:00]

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[Theme Music]

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Public breastfeeding is every woman’s natural right and in most Western countries also your Federal Right. Despite being our rights, sometimes the public fights back by "mom shaming." As a mom it could be a rather lonely feeling if you're approached and shamed by someone for publicly breastfeeding. So who do you look to feel normal, accepted and motivated or even inspired? What about celebrities?
We have a fun episode for you today. Let's talk about celebrities who are breastfeeding role models. We are The Boob Group.

[Theme Music/Intro]

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Welcome to The Boob Group. We're here to support all moms wanting to provide breast milk to their babies. I'm Priya Nembhard and I'm so excited to be co-hosting the show today with a few other mammas who you'll meet in just a second. If you haven't yet, we encourage you to download The New Mommy Media Network App which gives you easy access to all our episodes. You can also subscribe to our podcasts through iTunes so all our latest episodes download to your mobile device automatically and very easily. And if you're on iTunes, please leave us a review so other moms can learn more about us. Let's meet the mammas joining our conversation today.

NAYELI GOMEZ: So I am Nayeli Gomez. I've been on the show before. I'm currently breastfeeding a toddler who's twenty-two months old.

SUNNY GAULT: So hey everyone I'm Sunny. I have four kids of my own and my oldest is five a boy, I have a three year old boy as well. And then I have twin girls who are two and a half. Those are my girls and I kind of view my twins as my success story when it comes to breastfeeding because I am still breastfeeding them and they show no signs of stopping so who knows how long it’s going to lasts but Nayeli I totally understand the breastfeeding of the toddlers stuff. I'm right there with you sister.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: And even the months like after child number two or three.

SUNNY: I know, right? And even trying to remember birthdays is kind of tough. Although you think I would have a easier because my twins share birthday but still it's crazy.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: My name is Priya Nembhard, I'm your co-host and I am the co-founder of Moms Pump Here, it is an app moms could use a download to find places to breastfeed and breast pump in the US and other different countries. I have three kids, my oldest is now thirteen and my youngest is eight. My youngest I actually breastfed all my kids but my youngest I breastfed him for three years and I couldn't let go. I couldn't do it, it was so hard and one day my sister was like "sit, stay still . . .

SUNNY GAULT: Did that work? Because usually kids don't want to cooperate when you sit like a [inaudible]

PRIYA NEMBHARD: He was so smart and it was over the weekend. By that age they can think, talk, whatever. So I used a Band Aid and I put them on my nipples and told him "I had an awwee." So he be like "owww you have an awwweee?" And he felt so bad. It sounds awful like grotesque, like he did something to me. He totally stopped; he likes to cup a few ones. He totally stopped afterwards.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: So before we kickoff our conversation on Celebrities and Breastfeeding, I found a news headline that fits really nicely into this because it's dealing with a celebrity talking about breastfeeding but this is a little bit different. All of the people that we are talking about in today’s episode are moms but for this news headline it's actually a dad. I don't know if you guys are familiar with Jamie Oliver but he is a Celebrity Chef. Fairly recently he's still doing all of his Celebrity Chef's stuff but he's doing a lot more with Parliament (he's British) and he's trying to get different things past that are related to nutrition and in policy making so he's working with politicians more. He's in the news a lot for that type of thing. There's a reporter that was asking him about what he's next project is or what he's passionate about right now and he brought up breastfeeding. I mentioned that Jamie is a dad and in fact his wife is currently pregnant with their fifth child. This was something he just kind of mentioned and we'll include a link to it because I think it's really of important that you guys hear what he actually had to say about breastfeeding but he mentioned some things about it.

I could read some of the quotes here in this article. Quote he said, "We have the worst breastfeeding in the world." He's talking about Britain and he was also quoted saying, "If you breastfeed for more than six months, women are fifty percent less likely to get breast cancer." When do you hear that? You never hear that. Another quote, "It's easy, it's more convenient, it's more nutritious, it's better, it's free" and you kind of had to hear how he said this kind of stuff. But the point of this article is that a lot of moms are coming out and kind of retaliating against Jamie for saying these things and so I wanted to get your stance on this. What you think? I know you've heard him actually on his original comment which all of these spurt of where he talks about how passionate he is about it. I honestly was a little bit surprised that some moms were having some issues with this but anyways I will bring up some of the issues that moms were having with these. It says this angered many women who said Jamie Oliver was telling them what to do with their nipples and this is actually quote from Jamie Oliver was on LBC which stands for Leading Britain’s Conversation, it's a very popular Radio Station or Radio Program in Britain.

They have callers coming on to the show and kind of just giving their thoughts on this. A mom said, "We didn't know what to do with our nipples until Jamie Oliver said something." Someone else said, "It's official I can't stand him, it's beyond me who did not know that breast milk was the best thing for your baby." People are spouting off onto Twitter about this but seems like a lot of the comments were coming from "he's a guy and he's telling what to do with our bodies." To Priya and Nayeli, what do you guys think of this? After hearing what he actually said, do you share some of the same things these moms are saying on Twitter? Priya what do you think?

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Well it's funny because I'm reading one of the Tweets that are in the article and it's actually by a man and he said, "Jamie Oliver can lecture women on breastfeeding but he needs to be able to demonstrate it himself by using cobras." I can understand why women are upset but I did listen to the audio of it and he sounds more like he's passionate about it, he really wants to help women. It didn't sound to me like he was berating anybody or he was lecturing anyone that they should breastfeed. It was more about the policies and the culture in England that needs to be changed. I understand why women would feel that way but I don't think he should be getting the backlash on this.

NAYELI GOMEZ: I understand that we get a little bit touchy when a man is suggesting this. Are we really subtracting the input of a father towards breastfeeding? Are we really not taking that into consideration, because it's a shared responsibility? Surely you can breastfeed without any support from your partner but it's ten times better if you do. Are we really taking that away? And then we are like turnaround and cry into men to support breastfeeding like I don't understand. Really, it is of men too and it's good to normalize it among men. Now Sunny you mention that he's already on his fifth child. I think this man knows one or two things about breastfeeding.

SUNNY GAULT: To me he was coming from a very sincere place and he even said at one point "listen I'm just now diving into this he said, I am not an expert" and I think some women are upset because he did say very, very briefly amongst the qualities of breastfeeding that is “easy”.
That is a very difficult word for a lot of women to hear because a lot of women struggle with breastfeeding. So when you hear a man that breastfeeding is "easy" and I don't think he meant it's easy for everyone I think what he meant is "if you can do it then it's easier than heating up a bottle" but he said the word "easy" in some of the articles and stuff that I've been reading.

A lot of people are picking-up on that and honestly I just don't think that they really listen to his original clip. I think quotes are being taken from this and maybe just more emphasis is being put on stuff that he said really briefly and it's being taken a little bit out of context. And Nayeli I totally agree with you as far as this is a man that's supporting breastfeeding like we should be applauding this at least on some level and not tearing him down. I'm glad actually on one sense that this is making the news and stuff because it forces these types of conversations and I think all that is positive in the end.

[Theme Music]

PRIYA NEMBHARD: So talking about Jamie Oliver, we can see him as possibly as a dad role model but what about women celebrities? People in our culture that we could consider breastfeeding role models. I have a list for you here and it's a variety of women that have been on the news, good or bad and I would love to hear your opinion about what you think about these ladies. Okay the first one is very popular her name is Gisele Bundchen and she's a model. Have you guys heard of her?

NAYELI GOMEZ: I don’t know who she is.

SUNNY GAULT: Never heard of her. Is she like the most famous Supermodel up there right now? Nope, never heard of her.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: So you guys have seen the pictures of her, they look like glamour shots. She's on a robe, she is breastfeeding. What do you think about that?

NAYELI GOMEZ: I love it. I personally love it, I know when she post pictures I read the comments some moms are like "that's not how real breastfeeding looks like" and I hear that comment even though I'm actually on the side of the yoga pants, stained t-shirt, breastfeeding mom. I am on that team. I don't look anywhere near Gisele's shootings but it's great, it's still real. That's her job. You know what; believe it or not when she took that picture it could have been four in the morning because that's when those celebrities get their hair and make-up done, believe it or not. So still sacrifice, it still busy mom working and providing for her family. Mom's saying that's not how real breastfeeding looks like, yes it does. It's very diverse as diverse as we are.

SUNNY GAULT: I may have heard the same comments to this one. I'm thinking about this one photo in particular where she's getting her hair done and her hair is kind of looks gorgeous and she looks like she is being pampered as her baby is breastfeeding. I have heard the negative comments about, "That's not what breastfeeding is like" but I also think it's good to have these photos out there of a being more glamorous. Maybe it doesn't always look like that because let's face it; it doesn't always looks like that. But I also think we do some damage, depending on if it gets on the wrong hands. If we only see images of moms breastfeeding their babies and they look unkempt and miserable, who's going to want to breastfeed their baby? Seriously, and I like the fact I believe it was kind of an older child it wasn't just a brand new baby. So you have that side of it too, that she's promoting extended breastfeeding but do we all look like that? No but I think it's good to see those images as well.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: So the next person we have is Kandi Burruss. She's not an A list celebrity but she is popular around some moms. She's on the Atlanta Housewives Show and she was recently... I don't know if you guys have seen these pictures. She was having her hair done, I think dried and she was breastfeeding her baby. And I think her baby was had just recently been born too. She was breastfeeding her baby getting ready for whatever she was doing but it had a really good response on the internet. Have you guys seen that image?

SUNNY GAULT: Yes, I looked at it this morning because I was like who is Kandi Buruss? I thought that it was a great image too and ironically it reminds me kind of the Gisele photo except it wasn't like a professional photo and it was more realistic of what probably most of us would look like. But it was kind of interesting because she's also having her hair done and her baby was really, really tiny and so you could tell it was definitely a newborn. You could tell it wasn't like a staged photo. It wasn't a selfie either, I don't think its close enough to be a selfie either. It was showing a little bit of bra and not trying to be sexy but just what would normally happen if you . . . listen she had a hair appointment and she also had a newborn. What you going to do? You are going to bring your baby to the salon. I mean that's life, right?

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Nayeli what do you think?

NAYELI GOMEZ: Again I like it, it's great, it shows diversity. She don't look like I do when I breastfeed. Breastfeeding a toddler is even more different. Sometimes you have the feet up in the air. She did that reverse. And even those pictures are really great to show. Then again I'm all for diversity and showing that you can include your baby in breastfeeding in your normal activities.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Okay the next woman that I have is... Okay, millennial probably don't even know who she is.

SUNNY GAULT: Which is crazy right? It's crazy to think that people don't know who this is.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Alanis Morissette, she's a singer, she's known for that song on Jagged Little Pill. I'm sure you ladies know who she is but millennial doesn't have a clue.

SUNNY GAULT: Google her, you probably know her music.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: She's very crunchy, down to earth, she's like an earth momma. She has a very long hair; she's into yoga, natural stuff, meditation and the pictures that you've seen of her... She's also breastfed her older children like older toddlers as well and she's very for that. So what do you guys think about that?

SUNNY GAULT: I am looking up some images now at Instagram. It looks like she likes to post some stuff to Instagram which is awesome. She's breastfeeding in a car with her baby and again this is a toddler. I think that this image is great because it's showing that doesn't have to take place in your house. She's out and about. She's doing her life and she looks really happy. I think that's a good thing too. It shows that she's happy when she's breastfeeding. She's doing something that's good for her baby and it makes her happy as well.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: And she's not like the glamorous actress either or singer. She's not glamorous at all like Gisele. She's very, very earthy. Pretty much what do you think of her?

NAYELI GOMEZ: I'm a fan of Alanis Morisette, I know who she is. I also happen to know who she is. Again I enjoy looking at every single picture put it out there so we can show that you can be a rock star mom and still breastfeed. You know which ones I like to see and they're not celebrity? The moms with all the tattoo on their arms. They look so cool. Those are the kind of women that you see breastfeeding in public and you don't tell her to cover up.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: The next person is similar to Alanis and millennia’s may not know who she is unless they heard of her hat campaigns, her fur campaigns. It's Alicia Silverstone. She is an actress, she was on a couple of music videos for Aerosmith when Aerosmith was big.

SUNNY GAULT: Now we're really dating ourselves.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: But Alicia, she's very crunchy, very down to earth, she also believes in breastfeeding children as long as you can. And I think her children are even older than the celebrities that we pretty mentioned in the images that she has posted online. Have you guys seen those pictures too?

SUNNY GAULT: I haven't seen very much with her with breastfeeding. The one thing that pops up in my head with regards to Alicia Silverstone is she got all that exposure. She was interviewed when she had a child that was younger. Somehow she was talking about how she chooses her babies food first and then feeds it to her babies. I know it's not probably fair to Alicia and Alicia if you are listening I'm so sorry but in my head whenever I hear of anything having to do with Alicia and parenting I think back to that comment and I feel like she got this image on my head of like her being in a mamma bird and like food and giving it to her baby. I can't get that out of my head. I don't know if I had just shut out all the breastfeeding stuff with regards to Alicia because of that but if she's supportive of breastfeeding I think that that's awesome and give her lots of pops for that.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Well she's really, really earth if she does the chewing first.

SUNNY GAULT: Do you guys remember?

NAYELI GOMEZ: I actually have seen it when she's chewing all her food and give it to her baby.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: You know I have to admit when my kids were babies and I would like to chew a little bit but it's not like to her extent that she's describing I'm not like err errr... Like little pieces just to break it up a little bit for them.

SUNNY GAULT: We all kind of do... we have to specially if we don't have like a knife and fork around. You might like break some off with your teeth and whatever but it's a little bit different than chewing and spitting; spitting might not be a good but somehow transferring that food to your baby. I don't know about that.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: So when we come back we some more of your favourite celebrity breastfeeding mommas and I think you'll really love this lists. And I promise you again you'll be more up to this.

[Theme Music]

PRIYA NEMBHARD: So welcome back. Today we are talking about celebrities who are breastfeeding role models and so far we've talked Gisele, Kandi, Alanis and Alicia. Hopefully you know who all of them are. There are so many celebrities that come to mind who have shared breastfeeding selfies on social media or like they have done little advertisements here and there or campaigns or whatever. So ladies do you have someone in mind who's your favourite? Before you even answer that question we have some more people for you. You ready? Mayim Bialik, am I saying her name right?

SUNNY GAULT: I don't know honestly. I've heard it pronounced in a million different ways.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Blossom, blossom.

SUNNY GAULT: I thought you said you were going to date us because now you really dated us that it's like back in the Clueless times isn't it? But Big Bang Theory for those of you who are now watching Mayim, yes.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: So she has some pictures of her on the subway breastfeeding her child. Somebody saw her breastfeeding and he's older. He's looks like he's maybe two or three. Big kid and she's over for breastfeeding children until they're older. Have you guys seen the subway picture at all?

SUNNY GAULT: I have, I actually saw this before and what I love about this and what I was thinking about when I first saw this. Obviously this was some sort of the person asked to take the photo but this was not a selfie, this was something that someone who is sitting across from her in the subway took this photo of her. And what I thought was really nice about it is that she's so comfortable with breastfeeding that she didn't view that as invasion of her privacy.
She even has a little bit of a smile on her face and I think that that takes a very special person because even though I'm very pro breastfeeding and I breastfeed in public a little bit here and there. I'm pretty like personal when it comes to breastfeeding but if I have to do it I have to do it.
But I still don't know that I would smile at someone trying to take my photo while I was breastfeeding my baby. I still feel like that's a line I personally would draw and she is obviously a celebrity so people are going to want to take her photo regardless. And again I don't know the whole back story to this. If the person said it was really nice about and say "hey, I just love you. Do you mind if I take a picture?" I mean all of that probably has something to do with it but that's what I took away from this photo is that she believes enough in the cause that she's okay with this. That she's okay going the extra step to make it so more people could see a photo like this and understand that breastfeeding is very normal.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: I can see them having like a conversation and the person being like “well can I take a picture?” and her shrugging her shoulder like “okay.”

NAOMI GOMEZ: Well she is a celebrity, she's probably used to it but not in that context maybe.

SUNNY GAULT: Exactly.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Okay, the next batch of celebrities. Okay not batch but two women. Kourtney Kardashian and Kim Kardashian. I know everybody knows who they are. So Kourtney has been a little bit to the both reality stars obviously and they have their own little entrepreneurial empires ramping up right now all these different things they are doing, Apps and beauty products and tons of stuff. But Kourtney been seeing with pictures of her with breast pumps so it's not directly . . . I don't think I've seen anything with her breastfeeding but she's had breast pumps on like after events or before or whatever. But Kim has been more, she shows her body all over the place. Like everybody has seen everything . . .

SUNNY GAULT: Yes, she does.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: She's had one or two pictures of her breastfeeding. But what do you guys think about them? I know they are really controversial; you either love them or hate them. But I would love to hear what you guys think.

NAOMI GOMEZ: I think as an older millennial and I know who their target segment is. They promote, they are famous for, I think the way they normalize pumping and breastfeeding to that particular segment of younger women I think it's really great. I like it. Thumbs up!

SUNNY GAULT: My stances are little different. I actually feel differently towards Kourtney than I do towards Kim. Professes by saying I've never watched “Keeping Up With The Kardashian's” I really don't care about their franchises. But I do know that what they say is important because newer moms are watching their stuff. I do pay attention when they do stuff regarding breastfeeding and pumping. I like Kourtney, I do. I've seen some pictures of her, I think one photo like you were talking about Priya where she actually had the pump attached to her and it was something, she's kind of like in a sexy position she was actually like laid out. She was posing, she was kind of laying down a little bit on the table posing. I think it was supposed to be kind of a funny shot because she was going to a different event but she had pump. And so she had this pump attached to her. I like that specifically that it was a pump because I don't think that pumping I think kind of get a bad rap because it is so involved and sometimes it can be a difficult process and I think you got to be extremely dedicated to pump for your baby. So I like that this is bringing out her photo and maybe she's done more but the one that I am thinking out of really brought out the importance of pumping and again just normalize pumping in its own way. So I like that, I feel like she has a more down to earth approach to her life maybe that's not accurate, that's my personal perception I feel like she's not as caught up in the whirlwind of reality life with her show or stuffs like that.
Kim, I have an issue with Kim not necessarily from a breastfeeding standpoint. I pretty much just don't listen anything that comes out about Kim. She has said some stuff in her pregnancy that I think harm or give women a false view of what pregnancy should be. She's been very outspoken about how she hates being pregnant and how she says it's like the worst experience of her life.

NAYELI GOMEZ: But you know what let me tell you something ladies. I do not like the Kardashians; I know who they are because they are all over the place. Let me tell you something, I was really, really sick when I was pregnant and guess who my sick pregnant buddy was? Kim Kardashian, and I was really on the couch because I could not keep anything on my tummy down and I have heard of how glorious and your face is lit up because you're pregnant and full of life and I was like there was something really wrong with me. I also did not like being pregnant and I was so glad someone was out there saying the same thing because it was really rough and I could see where she's coming from. I actually like I said I'm not even a fan but she helped me a lot.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Wow so she was really a role model.

SUNNY GAULT: And I'm glad you brought that up. I'm glad you did because I had a totally different experience like I had really good pregnancy and so I'm glad you that brought that up because I was thinking at it from “Oh, she's bashing pregnancy. Not that people are going to get pregnant because Kim Kardashian is bashing pregnancy.” But I also didn't want people to feel bad, just make decisions that may not be the best for them simply because Kim saying that but it's also good that it obviously had a positive impact on you and hopefully other mammas out there. So obviously some good is coming out of it.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Next person is Salma Hayek. I know you ladies know who she is. She's an actress, she's amazing at what she does at her craft and she's actually been seeing breastfeeding malnourish children in foreign countries. I don't know if you guys have seen the videos and the images. But I have to put her on there for different reasons because she is a Latina and because she's stepping out of the norm. We think about it's so normal to breastfeed our own child. You hear about the cold breastfeeding you know woman breastfeeding their best friends child. What about breastfeeding children who are malnourished? And I thought this was a really important topic to be inserted into this conversation because it's not discussed enough and it should be normalize because if you see a child in need I mean obviously we're all not in that situation where we are travelling to another country but if you see a child in need that doesn't have access to breast milk and you are lactating, what are you going to do? So love to hear your opinion on this.

SUNNY GAULT: So I just brought up the article and I do remember reading this. When this originally happened maybe there were other circumstances but I just brought up an article that was based on the tour that she did on Africa and she was touring a hospital in a war torn area. There was a mom who was unable to provide breast milk for her baby who was malnourished and without hesitation obviously Salma was lactating I don't know how old her child was. But she just picked-up the baby, I'm sure other words were exchanged like do you mind if I do this? Started to breastfeed the baby and that's amazing to me. Like you said Priya that is totally out of the “norm”. Maybe not in other countries but definitely for the US and it just seems so natural. I don't feel like there was a lot of thought process that went into this. It was just a baby that needs to be fed and I can help. She just did what she thought she needed to do so I think it was very un-celebrity like of her and extremely beautiful.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: And that image or the video was very nice.

NAYELI GOMEZ: But it was great to see it. Again another side of breastfeeding being normalize you know.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: So the next actress that I have is very well known. Her breastfeeding advocacy, Alyssa Milano. I couldn't leave her out because she's been all over social media, the news even talk shows talking about her breastfeeding journey and she's become an advocate indirectly by sharing these images. For Moms Pump Here I've like Tweeted pictures, I've posted pictures, I always get great responses and then you sometimes hear on talk shows there is a little bit of a backlash from their one specific host I hope you guys have seen that. I was actually watching the show when it was happening and I was just like "What?" and that's Wendy Williams. So I love to hear your thoughts on this.

NAYELI GOMEZ: I like Alyssa Milano when she's stood up in this talk show. I don't even remember who this lady was who was challenging her. I don't watch too much talk shows. There she was making a rude comment and calling our breasts "fun bags" which is a little bit weird coming from a woman. I don't know if you guys found that weird. I just thought it was weird that she was like "Oh they are fun bags" and I'm like I actually never call my breast that even before I got pregnant or had a baby I never view my breasts like that way but she said it that they were exclusively fun bags. But I like the way she tried to educate her and she kept her cool and if it was really great and I think there was even a virtual nursing on Facebook for her.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Alyssa's face when she said it was just like . . .

SUNNY GAULT: I really like Alyssa and to just kind of touch on the stuff you guys have already said I didn't see this live but I did watch it online and I think there's something to be said for women. It's one thing to take a selfie, it's one thing to upload some sort of photo of you breastfeeding. I think that takes courage to because you know people are going to respond but I think it is an entirely different thing to be able to stay on your own two feet and debate someone on live TV about it. And I have to say Alyssa handles herself with such grace and poise. It is very difficult I think you know in just hosting my own show like I know like it's very difficult if you're guest on a show to turn the audience against the host. The audiences there usually because they like the host or they like the show.

To turn the audience against the show or the host in any kind of viewpoint or whatever I think would be very challenging that and not with that was Alyssa's goal with this but she was able to present breastfeeding in such a way that she got a lot of applause for her stance on it and in a sense because Wendy Williams was so polarizing what she was saying. The audience kind of went against Wendy on this and I think that just takes a lot of grace, dignity.
Alyssa knows her stuff and to be able just do that so well and be such a great advocate for breastfeeding in an environment. It's not like this was a debate that she was prepared for as far as she has her notes in-front of her and she knew her talking points. That's not what this was, this was a conversation that just kind of came up. Alyssa just handled it so well. We'll put a link on the episode page for this episode to show you guys if you haven't seen it yet. Really just hats off to her.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: I couldn't agree more and you know the audience went silent and then Wendy had to change the conversation really quickly at some point she's like "Okay, let's move on."Okay, now that we've talked about some great celebrities that have shared their breastfeeding images and all the different reasons why they're sharing their images. Which celebrity is your favourite? I would love to know.

NAYELI GOMEZ: The most recent one that I seen and because she's tied to Chicago is Kristin Cavallari. She is the wife of Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. She recently did a photo shoot and she's pumping and she's wearing a very nice little black dress, nice shoes but she's pumping. She's got her breast pump, she's holding her breast pump and that's one of the reason wants that I seen going around lately.
Again a lot of praise for doing that because she's also stunning looking obviously and she's the wife of a quarterback which gives tied to the macho mentality, the guy, the rough or yet there she is so natural about it. It was really great and she got a lot of praise too on social media. She's my latest favorite one.

SUNNY GAULT: So I'm going to be predictable because I already gushed about her but I may say Alyssa. I'm going to say Alyssa because again I think that just to be able to be so witty and quick and think on your feet in an environment where someone's kind of attacking you and come off with so much dignity and respect for breastfeeding, I think is a very difficult thing to do and I just have so much confidence that if the same thing happens she would handle it just as well if not better. I just think those are the kind of people that we need on television talking about breastfeeding. It's hard to do.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: I completely agree Alyssa's a phenomenal role model in herself but I actually have two people. One is Angelina Jolie and she hasn't been on the news recently, she hasn't had any children recently but there is an image of her on Double U magazine, if you Google it from 2008. I think she's on the cover or I don't know if it's a layout but she's breastfeeding not one of the twins, I think it's Shilo breastfeeding Shilo. This whole thing happening right now with us celebrities on the news posting breastfeeding pictures on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. It seems like it's a big thing right now but this is back in 2008 when she did this editorial and this image was on the Double U Magazine. I look up to her in different ways because of her humanitarian work and she's a strong woman and obviously she's made some huge health moves recently getting mastectomy. But I think she's a phenomenal role model in herself and even back then when it wasn't that thing for celebrities to do. She out rightly
took this images and put it for everybody to see.

SUNNY GAULT: Is that the black and white image Priya that you're talking about. I think Brad took that image of her. The magazine ran with it but I think that was an intimate moment that Brad took and used it. Hopefully I'm accurate on that, I think I am. I think I read something about that.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: It looks like she was sitting on a bathtub or something and she's breastfeeding. She's pretty awesome.The second person is not a woman and I think I mentioned before it to you Sunny, Norman Reedus. He's a man just like what's his space...

SUNNY GAULT: Who is he for everyone else to know.

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Daryl on Walking Dead. Okay, if you go to his Instagram. I love Daryl, it's more like "Oh my God, I love his character more than a role model", I think from a male point of view because I don't have many men listed here. I think he took some image, one particular image where he's taking a reflective image of two women standing next to him and they are both breastfeeding. He just put it on blast like here it is and I think there's another one that he's posted it as well about breastfeeding. He's been vocal about it too on social media about breastfeeding. From a male point of view or from women who have men in their lives, partners or whatever that they want somebody, a male to look up to. He definitely is somebody to look to because he's just like "I don't care. This is natural and women do it, here's a picture.

SUNNY GAULT: I just put up the image and this is actually . . . So there's two moms’ breastfeeding and one's in a baby carrier, actually their both have their carriers on. He's on the middle and I think this was part of the "Free the Nipple Campaign" because he has an image like some sort of like fake breast sitting on his hand holding up a peace sign. It's really awesome that he did this. Honestly, when you're in a zombie apocalypse of course you're going to breastfeed your baby. There's not enough food. So this totally makes sense to me that Norman's going on and say "Hey breastfeed your baby because we're running out of food here in the zombie apocalypse."

PRIYA NEMBHARD: Thank you so much for sharing who your role models are and if any mommas out there have any role models please post on our social media for New Mommy Media or The Boob Group and we love to hear who your role models are. Thank you so much to everyone for being part of today’s show. If you're member of The Boob Group then be sure to check out bonus content for this episode.
So some celebrities posing breastfeeding selfies they want to show women that they are powerful and they want to normalize breastfeeding. Would you ever pose a breastfeeding selfie on social media? And why? We love to hear from you.

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So we have a question from one of our listeners and this comes from Bevesh and sends us an email and this is what she said; “Hi ladies! Love what you do for nursing mommies. I am a full time working mom of a fifteen month old girl. She still nurses at night and after day-care. We have tried every milk possible with every combination imaginable and she still wants mommy's milk. The paediatrician is not concerned and she enjoys yogurt and cheese as well. I still want to incorporate milk somehow. Any tips on how to try other milks? And is there a benefit for breastfeeding? Thanks again. Bevesh”

MICHELLE STULBERGER: Hi Bevesh, This is Michelle Stulberger. I'm an IBCLC in Washington DC area working at Metropolitan Breastfeeding. I'm so excited to hear that you’re still nursing your fifteen month old daughter, that's fantastic! I see what you're saying wanting her to try other types of milk but I have to agree with your paediatrician.

Your daughter is certainly getting her nutritional needs met from the yogurt and cheese she's eating and she's absolutely getting more benefit from your breast milk than by having any other milk. Remember your breast milk is specially designed for her with something like cow’s milk is designed for baby cow. That being said if you like to try and have her try other milk I would have you purchase of any other new food and try a small amount several times.
If you aren't using a sippy cup maybe put it into a sippy cup. If you are using a sippy cup try using cow. Just make sure you have a [inaudible] and something to wipe it out with. Make it fun for her to try new things but don't stress and tell her she's doing great. When you’re ready to wean her from breast milk make sure you consult with an IBCLC to wean gently and prevent engorgement issue and continue to follow up with your paediatrician and make sure your daughter turn well. Good luck!

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PRIYA NEMBHARD: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to The Boob Group.
Don’t forget to check out our sister show:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents
• Newbies for newly postpartum moms
• Parent Savers for moms and dads with infants and toddlers and
• Twin Talks for parents with multiples.

Thanks for listening to The Boob Group. Your judgment-free breastfeeding resource.

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. The information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. While such information and materials are believed to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: New Mommy Media is expanding our line-up of shows for new and expecting parents. If you have an idea for a new series, or if you’re a business, or organization interested in joining our network of shows through a co-branded podcast, visit www.NewMommyMedia.com.

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