Ashley Graham breastfed twins for five months and deserves a trophy
Whether a mother decides to breastfeed or not is no one’s business. This bears repeating because even though this is a decision that has absolutely nothing to do with the general public, the general public always feels entitled to weigh in. And Ashley Graham is not here for it.
The badass businesswoman and mom of three spoke to Chelsea Handler recently, who was guest hosting on The Daily Show. Graham candidly addressed the way her approach to breastfeeding changed when she had her twins. She admitted the pressure to breastfeed was real with her first son, Issac. “There’s this whole thing with people telling you how to feed your child. With my first kid, I was like, ‘I could only breastfeed. This is the right way,’ ” she said. “Then I had the twins, and I was like, ‘I’m not doing this.’
“This is not working here,” she continued to explain. “Both of you want both of these? Like, this is a lot of work.” She stopped breastfeeding when the twins were five months and switched them to formula. “These little guys are so strong and so happy. So I don’t think we should be telling people how they should be feeding their kids.” At this point, the studio audience applauded because thank you, Ashley. If there is any takeaway to this entire story, it’s that it’s no one’s business how a mother chooses to feed her children. The end.
Fans did get a glimpse of Graham’s tandem breastfeeding journey via her Instagram page, because she’s nothing if not transparent about the things mothers go through.
“Double fisting,” the always relatable mom captioned a photo of her breastfeeding the twins, Malachi and Roman, when they were four months old. She spoke to PEOPLE in September 2022 and gave a little insight into what feeding the twins was like. “I thought that I would easily be able to breastfeed without having to think twice about it. I knew that there was going to be a little bit of actual juggling that would have to be implemented because everybody and their mother told me that if I didn’t feed the twins at the same time, I was never going to have any time for myself,” she explained. “And sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. I had to figure out how to do it at the same time. I remember telling myself, ‘It’s okay if you have to use formula. Don’t worry. You’re not failing as a parent.'”
No parent should feel like they’re “failing” when they make informed decisions that are good for themselves and good for their children. Parenting is stressful enough without putting extra pressure on ourselves to do things a certain way.
“I just want people to know that there’s there’s no one size when it comes to feeding your babies.”
