Paloma Faith shares "horrific" symptoms after stopping breastfeeding
From painful physical symptoms to judgement from strangers, breastfeeding can be a life stage that's full of challenges and one celebrity opening up about them is singer Paloma Faith.
After welcoming her second child in February, Paloma has been candid about the highs and lows of new motherhood and shared her breastfeeding journey with social media followers.
Back in March, when her little one was a month old, Paloma opened up about the difficulty of having thrush while breastfeeding, and now she's starting another important conversation with fans - the reality of stopping breastfeeding.
In late May, Paloma told fans she was "throwing in the towel on breast feeding [after] 3.5 months, which is exactly half the length of time I did it with my first. I think formula is bloody brilliant and thank goodness it exists," she wrote on Instagram.
She added that while deciding to stop is"a hard thing" and involves "a few weeks of playing with the idea" she'd started focusing on the positives.
A few weeks later, the singer is opening up about the "horrendous" physical and emotional issues she's now grappling with as a result of ending her breastfeeding journey.
"I now think I’ve got mastitis or blocked ducts from stopping breast feeding. Holding the baby is agony. My poor Leyman [Paloma's partner] can’t even look at my boobs let alone touch them," she explained.
"It’s like my chest is on fire and I feel like I could sleep forever. Hope the pain subsides fast on the medicine! What a literal pain!!! And you probably think all I do is moan but honestly this is horrific," she added.
Paloma also spoke in her post about the emotional impact of the change she and her child are going through, despite it being a gradual one.
"I also feel hormonal from it. Sort of at a loss or mournful. I did reduce the feeds really slowly and then once it was down to one a day I just bit the bullet and stopped and now here I am ….. AGONY," Paloma wrote.
Just as Paloma is using her social media channels to spark candid conversations about all things breastfeeding, so are a wave of celebrity new mums determined to bust taboos.
Recently, Ashley Graham opened up about the pressure to lose weight while breastfeeding and postpartum hair loss.
"Everybody told me if you breastfeed, the weight falls off," she explained during a new interview with Parents. "Well, that was BS... I'm still working on like 20 pounds. When I say working on, I just kind of look at it every day like, 'Hello, new body.' And that's just kind of how I go on with it." Yes, Ashley!
"I think it was like around four months [when] my whole hairline fell out," Ashley said. "And that was more traumatic than even birth because I was like, 'My hair's falling out in clumps, what am I doing?' and then I realised it's actually a thing!"
Whether it's Paloma, Ashley or other celebrity parents getting real about their experiences, it's so important to hear these honest accounts and to remind ourselves there's no one motherhood journey, and it's okay - and perfectly normal - to encounter some setbacks along the way.
You can find more information and support about breastfeeding on the NHS website.
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