Revealing that she has quit nursing her daughter at six months, the 'Younger' actress admits she 'felt like a failure' when her milk supply started to drop as she juggled motherhood and working full-time.
- May 9, 2019
AceShowbiz - Hilary Duff has opened up about the reasons why she stopped breastfeeding her six-month-old daughter Banks, admitting she "felt like a failure" when her milk supply started to drop.
The 31-year-old actress welcomed her daughter, her first child with boyfriend Matthew Koma, last October (18), and has been doing her best to juggle motherhood and working full-time on her TV series Younger since then.
But balancing the two has been tough, as Hilary explained in a lengthy post on her Instagram page on Tuesday night, May 07.
"Last week was my last week nursing Banks (my six month old)," she wrote. "I am a working mom of two. My goal was to get my little girl to six months and then decide if I (and her of course) wanted to keep going."
"Let me tell you. Pumping at work sucks. I had zero down time and am usually pumping in a hair and make up trailer while four hands work to get me ready for the next scene with lots of other people around. Even if I had the luxury to be in my own room, it's not even considered a 'break' because you have to sit upright for the milk to flow into the bottles!"
Continuing to bemoan the noise the machine makes and the fact she then had to find somewhere to sterilise the bottle and keep her milk cold, Hilary noted she was unaware of the issues she would face as she didn't return to work after the birth of son Luca, now seven, until he was nine months old.
Pumping her milk instead of actually breastfeeding Banks also had a dramatic effect on her milk supply, with the screen star admitting she tried more than a couple of remedies in a bid to boost her production.
"It was maddening... I needed a break. I was going to break," she continued. "With the stress of a dropping milk supply and a baby that was getting bored or not caring about nursing when I was available to. I was sad and frustrated and feeling like a failure all of the time. When really I'm a bad a*s rock star. Moms get high on feeling like superwoman...because we are! Doing too much, because we can!"
Hilary concluded her post by adding that despite her "complaining", she enjoyed "(almost) every moment of feeding my daughter".
