Chrissy Teigen Wants To 'Normalize Formula' And Hell Yes
In a spot-on Twitter thread, Chrissy Teigen nails why it’s so important to “normalize formula”
Because it apparently still needs to be said, Chrissy Teigen took to Twitter this weekend to remind us why it’s so important to “normalize formula.” With the conversation around breastfeeding and formula-feeding being so (needlessly) controversial, it’s refreshing for a famous momma like Teigen to lend her voice to the cause.
“Ok I’m gonna say something and you all are definitely gonna make it a thing but here goes: normalize formula,” she begins her thread.
She continues, “normalize breastfeeding is such a huge, wonderful thing. but I absolutely felt way more shame having to use formula because of lack of milk from depression and whatnot.”
And can we get an Amen? As a mom who has done both, I can say without hesitation that people, including some members of my own family, inserted their shitty (non-professional) opinions when it came to what was in my child’s bottle and I can say with full certainty that it was totally unhelpful and probably contributed to the postpartum anxiety and depression I dealt with after having my first baby.
“People have surrogates, people have trouble breastfeeding and all you hear as a new, anxious mom is how breast is best,” Teigen says. Surrogates and breastfeeding troubles aside, some women just don’t want to breastfeed, and it’s so important to shout from the rooftops that this is also more than acceptable — it’s laudable. New moms are already going through monumental physical, mental, and emotional changes — if a mom doesn’t want to breastfeed, that is 100 percent her business and her right. Formula is fine — so is breastfeeding. I can see that in my own kids who perform identically in school and who get sick equally as often. My kids are in middle school now and no one has given a single shit since infancy how they were fed as including their pediatrician.
Teigen recounts her own troubles with pumping and the stress it brought her. “it drove me mad to the point I could only get an ounce. an ounce!” she writes. Been there, sis. It’s pure misery to constantly question whether you’re doing the right thing as a parent and the pressure from basically everyone to breastfeed at all costs is so totally ridiculous and unnecessary.
“The stress of it, combined with the guilt that you cannot do nature’s most natural thing for your own baby is too much,” she says. “I dunno why this is my crusade now. I just remember the sadness I felt and want you to know you are doing it right if your baby is fed, mama.”
I don’t know why it’s her crusade now either, but I do know that even years later, I appreciate hearing someone validate a choice I once made for my own sanity and health. Let’s normalize supporting moms knowing that we’re all just doing the best we can and criticism is not at all helpful. Kudos to Chrissy for saying out loud something tons of us needed hear.
