Actress Hilary Duff recently welcomed her third child, an adorable baby girl named Mae James Blair, into the world and just got super candid about everything from her labour to the anxieties that come with breastfeeding on a new podcast episode.
Speaking on Dr. Elliot Berlin's Informed Pregnancy, Hilary spoke about her experience of breastfeeding all three of her children, remarking that she sometimes has difficulty producing milk. "All of the babies latch really great; I'm just not a huge milk producer, so it's emotional for me," she said, before adding that so far she's been "exclusively been breastfeeding" Mae.
Hilary continued on to say that feeding is even more of a challenge this time around, because she also has two other children (Luca, who is 9, and Banks, aged 2) to care for this time around too. "Just still painful and it's hard, and it's even harder having the other two that I know need me so much, and this takes up such a huge portion of the day," she said. "It seems like every 20 minutes I'm feeding the baby, and I have to be sitting in one place."
The mother-of-three also discussed the tricky conundrum of how her anxiety can affect the amount of milk she produces too, which in turn leads to more anxiety. "Right now, I don't know that I'm not producing as much as I need, but I think, since I haven't in the past, I have tons of anxiety that I'm not, and that she's not getting enough," she explained. "And then I'm in my head, and then I don't feel like enough, and then the spiral continues from there."
She also shared that she's making an effort to "sit back and chill and trust that [her] body is doing the right thing and [Mae is] gaining weight" in an effort to overcome those worries though.
It wasn't just breastfeeding that Hilary discussed during the interview either; she also shared that she had both Luca and Banks present during the birth of Mae. "It was kind of important for me [for Luca to be there] because I’m really big on being open and honest with him about how strong women are and what childbirth looks like," she explained, adding that Banks came into the room "right after the fact".
Everyone's clicking on...
We love that Hilary is so honest about her parenting journey! Anything that normalises breastfeeding or birth is totally a-okay with us.
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Jennifer Savin is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Features Editor, who was crowned Digital Journalist of the Year for her work tackling the issues most important to young women. She regularly covers breaking news, cultural trends, health, the royals and more, using her esteemed connections to access the best experts along the way. She's grilled everyone from high-profile politicians to A-list celebrities, and has sensitively interviewed hundreds of people about their real life stories. In addition to this, Jennifer is widely known for her own undercover investigations and campaign work, which includes successfully petitioning the government for change around topics like abortion rights and image-based sexual abuse. Jennifer is also a published author, documentary consultant (helping to create BBC’s Deepfake Porn: Could You Be Next?) and a patron for Y.E.S. (a youth services charity). Alongside Cosmopolitan, Jennifer has written for The Times, Women’s Health, ELLE and numerous other publications, appeared on podcasts, and spoken on (and hosted) panels for the Women of the World Festival, the University of Manchester and more. In her spare time, Jennifer is a big fan of lipstick, leopard print and over-ordering at dinner. Follow Jennifer on Instagram, X or LinkedIn.
