"Formula felt like my dirty little secret": I need to talk about the politics of breastfeeding.

Chrissy Teigen caused a stir recently when she shared multiple tweets asking to ‘normalise’ formula feeding. 

I noticed a positive shift in my moods almost instantly, but I didn’t really tell anyone about our introduction of the formula feed because I knew I had broken one of the breastfeeding guidelines and I felt ashamed.

I had stepped away from my gold-class breastfeeding/pumping-at-all-hours pinnacle status and the formula feed felt like my dirty little secret.

When we introduced solids for Toby at five months, our dual interest in breastfeeding began to wane. At six months he became even more distracted at feed times and as I was also starting to do a bit of work and more exercise, it was a natural end point for both of us.

I had enjoyed breastfeeding after that initial pain and stress, and felt happy I had given it a good go.

That was until another mum asked me if I realised that ‘current Australian guidelines suggest a full 12 months of breastfeeding?’.

I had breastfed, yes, but not for long enough or in the right way, so it was like I no longer belonged. I felt a sense of shame that perhaps I should have tried harder, but I also knew that I did what was right for me and our family at the time.

When baby Leo arrived six years after Toby, I wanted to try breastfeeding again but I decided I wouldn’t bother with pumping. A few weeks into Leo’s life we also began with the one supplementary bottle of formula per day. Leo was happy, I was happy.

"I felt happy that I had given it a good go." Image: Supplied.

As Chrissy said on Twitter, I am not arguing that breast milk is best for babies – the majority of research and the current Australian guidelines say that this is true.

But not only should we normalise formula as being perfectly okay, we also need to normalise and celebrate every type of feeding - factoring in the mother’s mental health and right to choose.

Whatever your reasons and whether you are passionately pro-breastfeeding, giving breastfeeding a red-hot go mixed in with some formula (like I did), or straight up formula feeding only; new motherhood is a hard-enough time without layering shame on each other.

Like Chrissy says, ‘you are doing it right if your baby is fed, mama’.

Feature Image: Supplied.