Myleene Klass has defended her choice to share photos of her breastfeeding her son Apollo, writing in an emphatic post that it's her hope that it will normalise breastfeeding for more people.
Since welcoming her son 11 months ago the radio presenter has frequently posted photos of her breastfeeding, often with just a heart emoji or no caption at all. She's even shared a shot of her feeding Apollo while on set in work, showing it truthfully as a part of her every day.
However, she felt the need to defend herself as critics questioned her choice to do so.
"Uh oh. Some of us mums are being chastised for 'pumping'", she wrote in an Instagram post with a gallery of snapshots of her breastfeeding. Klass reflected on how, when it comes to being a mother, "you can't do right for doing wrong".
"Boobs were designed to feed", she continued. "How funny that some fat, cells and glands could so deeply offend so many. Being a mum is hard enough. You can't do right for doing wrong. Seemingly, everyone knows how to raise YOUR baby except you."
"My body, my baby, my choice."
Klass, who is already a mum to daughters Ava, 12, and Hero, eight, and is a step-mum to partner Simon Motson's son and daughter from his previous marriage, has said Apollo's birth was a difficult one. In the post, she calls him her "miracle baby" and says that breastfeeding is "a part of our bond". "I love, LOVE doing it for him", she adds.
Highlighting how women often get mixed messages and criticism about how to care for their babies, Klass rounds up the differing opinions: that formula isn't as good as breast milk, and breastfeeding publicly is insulting to others who don't or can't.
She added that seeing other women post about breastfeeding and pumping normalised it for her, and "if mine, in turn, do the same for other mothers who feel embarrassed, judged or that they should need to stifle their baby under a Muslin lest they offend some wallflower with their life giving, breastfeeding skills, I'll continue posting."
Rounding out her impassioned post, Klass got explicit about the challenges of breastfeeding and how so many women go through it to feed their babies.
"The cracked nipples, feeding through mastitis, engorgement, bleeding, blocked milk ducts, the fear someone's left the freezer drawer open and ruined your milk stash, the night pumping, the leaking, the boulder sized bras cutting up your shoulders, the extra weight your body clings onto, trying not to spill a drop as you decant at work, timing your feeds so you don't explode, watching what you eat and drink, these mums deserve support and respect, not critique. What a bunch of babies."
