On Monday’s episode of herWhine Downpodcast, the actress and singer recalled that she initially “tried” nursing her and husbandMike Caussin‘s daughterJolie Rae, 4 this month — but in truth, she “didn’t want to breastfeed.”
“And then my milk eventually came in but we had already made the decision to formula feed,” said theOne Tree Hillalum. “I remembergetting so much shame andso much hate.”
Jana Kramer.John Shearer/Getty Images
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So for the couple’s second child, Kramer made the formula choice before he was born — but with that decision came some backlash, due to a medical complication early on in Jace’s life.
“Hegot [Respiratory Syncytial Virus] whenhe was just a couple weeks old and everyone was just like, ‘Breast is best, this is how he’s not gonna get sick,’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God, they’re right. If my kid ends up getting worse, it’s because of me, because I didn’t breastfeed,’ ” she said.
“And so I had two of my girlfriends come over … my boobs still had the milk in ’em but they were just so engorged and just gross, so they had the pump on me. I literally had my friends Ashley and Julie massaging my breasts to tryto get milk out, and I’m just bawling,” the mother of two added.
“And then we’re trying to get Jace to connect [with] my nipple and I didn’t know how to do it ’cause I never breastfed, so I didn’t know how to latch it and how to do all these things,” Kramer said. “Mike walks in the room, he’s like, ‘Why are you doing this to yourself?’ And I was like, ‘Because I have to — because everyone says that he’s gonna get worse if I don’t breastfeed!’ ”
Caussin, 32, then reminded his wife that her nurse told her it“doesn’t matter” if she uses breast milk or formulaand that as long as Jace gets the nutrients he needs, he was “going to be healthy one way or the other.”
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Kramer previously got candid about breastfeeding on her podcast a year ago, discussing with her husband the reactions she has received because of her decision to use formula instead,
“I feel like I have to hide the bottle when I’m in publicbecause people are judging me. I feel judged,” said the"I Got the Boy"singer, also revealing then that she was not breastfed as a child.
“I actually don’t even think we should or need to [explain] because then it’s like you feel like you have to defend why we’re not,” Caussin agreed. “We’re the only two people that matter in this entire situation.”
“I guess I’m saying this to, also, the moms out there that feel this way too,” Kramer continued. “Let’s not feel like we have to defend our decision. Let’s justbe the best moms that we are.”
source: people.com
