Ashley Tisdale gave birth to her first child, Jupiter Iris French, back in March. She's such a cute mama!
In months since, she's been super honest about learning to love her post-baby body. I wish more people were talking about it.
Now Ashley's opening up about another challenge of motherhood: breastfeeding, and normalizing formula feeding.
You've probably heard the expression "breast is best" before — there is a certain stigma that breastfeeding is necessary for "good parenting," but that's just not the case. Every parent and their child is different.
And so, Ashley Tisdale wrote a short first-person essay on the topic for Frenshe, detailing her decision to choose baby formula.
"I wish someone would’ve told me how hard breastfeeding really was. You see your friends who are new moms feeding their babies make it look so easy. But no one tells you how hard it really is," she wrote.
"I think there’s this pressure around the subject of breastfeeding, and that those who do it are the best moms, but that’s not true. Our journey started on day one in the hospital when Jupiter was having trouble latching."
She realized that her daughter loved drinking from the bottle, and so she continued to pump "all day... I would look at the pump like it held me back from really being in the moment with Juju and enjoying my first weeks of motherhood," she wrote.
So she did her research and found a formula that she felt would support her daughter's brain development and immune health.
"The thing about formula is that you still have that same special moment with your baby that you do with breastfeeding. You’re still looking into your baby’s eyes, whether it’s with your breast or a bottle," she continued.
"I know it’s super popular right now to post an Instagram picture of you breastfeeding, but what about the other moms who don’t have that experience? The moms who try it, and it just doesn’t work out?" she wrote.
"It might not have been an easy ride from the start, but I’m glad we found something that’s trusted and works for us!"
And that's great! To all the parents out there — however you choose to feed your baby — celebrate the fact that you are giving them exactly what they need to thrive. That's what's most important, after all.
