Celebrities...they have trainers to help them loose the postpartum baby fat, nannies that hold their baby behind stage or on set while they work and top line baby clothes free from the hottest "kiddie designers". Not to mention help at home, glamorous jobs and a cook - Dear Lord Jesus, what I wouldn't give for a cook!
But I digress...we spend too much time pointing out the differences between us as mothers, so let's look at some breastfeeding celebrity moms.
Now, Jada Pinkett-Smith sounds like a woman I could hang out with. She said that Jaden (who is 9 years old this year), breastfed around 18 months and "never saw a bottle". Apparently she took her baby everywhere. In this Fit Pregnancy article she was pregnant with Willow, her almost 7 year old daughter. I don't know how long Willow breastfed, but she openly talks with Justin Timberlake (of all people) for an MTV interview about breastfeeding Willow while training for the Matrix Reloaded and her husband Will Smith (you know, of "Gettin' Jiggy wit It" and Men in Black fame) spoke of getting her more work now that she is no longer breastfeeding. Apparently he said that sometime in 2005 or 2006! Way to take care of those babies, girl!
Nelly Furtado (singer of hit song "Permiscuous" with Timbaland) speaks openly about breastfeeding for two years in article after article like she's just talking about putting on lipstick in the morning. This is my favorite quote of Furtado's:
"I'm a lot more comfortable with myself now," she says. "I was pregnant for nine months and breast-feeding for two years. My body was completely hijacked; for all the best reasons, but for that time it wasn't mine. So once that was all over," she sighs, reliving the relief, "I got to rediscover my body. I had all these new curves and I loved them!"
Finally, a celebrity, a mom talking about how, yes, your body is completely taken over by this little person - you give of your very self while pregnant and breastfeeding. But it is for such a wonderful reason and it is only for a season. And when that season is over, you have this wonderful, new body that you know is functional and miraculous, full of curves and can be SEXY again. I should point out too, that you can be sexy and loose weight during breastfeeding too. I personally have been my smallest size after about a year of breastfeeding but it doesn't work like that for everyone. Apparently Nelly's body hung onto some extra weight until she stopped.
Gwen Stefani (lead singer of No Doubt; has current hit "Wind it Up"). Has joined the rank of motherhood. She has been photographed with baby in a Rocking baby sling and claims that breastfeeding gives you "superhuman powers". Gwen, I would agree! Her baby has to be at least 6 months, but may be closer to 8 months, so she is making it longer than most American mamas while releasing and promoting a new album.
Others who have been reported as breastfeeding mamas include: Holly Robinson Pete (twins), Anita Baker, Cheryl Swoopes (WNBA player), Micheal Jordan's mama breastfed him for 3 years and credits it for making him the athlete he is, Ruth Pointer (of the Pointer Sisters breastfed premature twins), Sherri Sheperd (Less Than Perfect) and Erykah Badu. Check out a nice but surely not complete list at the bottom of the page here.
I will leave you with this quote from Erykah Badu.
No matter who you are, all mothers have the same concerns, same insecurities, same decisions and same struggle to trust themselves and their baby. When it boils down to it, we are all just human mamas trying to do right by our babies.
"When I first had the baby, I was breastfeeding for two years straight, so we were together for two years of his life - every day, all hours of the day. So I was two people, and I eventually morphed back into one. Now he's part of me. He's very independent as a result of it. I thought it was going to be the opposite," she added. "I was very worried that he was going to be attached since we were together every day, but I guess it made him feel comfortable: 'I know she's around. She'll be there.' It made me feel like a very responsible person and tidy, and my health was better because I'm now responsible for someone's whole reason for being."
- Erykah Badu
*Stay tuned next week for my take on Fit Pregnancy's Top Cities to have a Baby in America 2007 report.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment