Do ANY celebrities/famous people breastfeed?!

[Elf]

It seems to me that these svelte celebs have their baby and then their first priority is to get back into their designer gear and get to the next celeb party. I can't believe any of them are up with their babies at night themselves (surely the nanny does that) or do any breastfeeding. They never look done in enough in the photos?

What with all their stylists etc, airbrushing on photos and now babies which they don't even seem to have to look after, how are women supposed to feel supported in being REAL?

Anyone heard of anyone who did/does? For some reason I always imagine that Princess Di and Linda McCartney did but that's just guessing.

Celebs are like other UK mothers as far as I can tell - most start, but many stop after a short time. Very young ones are less likely to start.

Celebs that do bf include Davina McCall, Fiona Phillips, Posh did it for a bit (don't know what she's doing this time round), Fay Ripley, Zoe Ball (for a short time), Jerry Hall (there is a great pic of her in heels totally glammed up bf the little boy), Victoria Wood, the actress who wrote Does My Bum Look Big in this? whose name I have forgotten, Jenny Eclair, Pamela Anderson, Cindy Crawford, Mel B (for a short time)....I could go on!

I don't think women are really influenced to bf or not by what celebs do, though, do you??

I can't say that I follow celebs lives (I'm very impressed by your list, Tiktok - I've never heard of some of them!) but I'm sure I've read that Emma Thompson and the lead in Titanic (Kate Winslet??) also BF.

I don't think women are really influenced, as such, by what celebs do, but I guess that positive images such as that mentioned of Jerry Hall would make bfing seem more 'normal' and I'm sure it can't do any harm.

Funny, I was thinking about this topic just this morning! You do wonder,how many celebs do breastfeed,and if they do,how do they manage to hide those massive breastpads and not leak everywhere (I want their secret!)I read that Jules Oliver, wife of Jamie,is breastfeeding her 5 month old which is one of the reasons she has become pregnant again!(She had problems conceiving her first and so didn't use any contreception).

What about Ulrika, did she, certainly looks like it.

Ooo celeb gossip - I can't resist even though its not been active for a while!
Kate winslet b/fed for ages and had to leave little Mia for 2 days when she was around 9 months or so, apparently Kate was distraught - bless.
Madonna did for ages too, with both of her two. Catherine zeta-wotsit b/fed Dylan.
Don't think Ulrika did b/feed by the way but I might be wrong...?
Elle Mcpherson for definite - she's just brought out a range of gorgeous feeding bra's - hurrah! I hope there still around in a few years when I have no. 2. Can you imagine, a maternity bra that doesn't resemble a white parachute?!!

Really intrigued to find out about Posh though- I just assumed that she was a proper bottler seeing as Brooklyn still has a bottle of juice permanantly attached to his mouth!

Didn't know Jules Oliver was expecting again - anymore gossip from anyone??!!

JK Rowling is pg - looks like it might be a long wait for the rest of the books! And Pavarotti's bidie-in is expecting twins.

PS Nice to 'see' you back, Lizzer.

Uma Thurman. IIRC, NIP in the supermarket (YES, she does her own skopping?!) and on US breakfast TV.

Gillian Anderson, too.

Completely none of our business, but did Margeret Thatcher? Cherie Blair? Hlllary Clinton? I get the feeling Benazir Bhutto did not (although she did give birth while in President of Pakistan, which is impressive in itself).

Zebra : ??????????? IIRC, NIP
Is this a code ???

I would have thought Yes to Cherie Blair...

Yes for Cherie Blair. I'm sure there was some furore at the time about her doing it (ie bf) in front of the editor of the Mail. They (editor and wife) came to dinner, afterwards she asked if it was OK to feed and then later he complained about it or something on those lines.

Yes, Cherie Blair is a breastfeeder, and yes, Margaret Thatcher did it, too (with twins!). Don't know about Hillary Clinton. Wd be amazed if Benazir Bhutto didn't. Princess Di did for a short while, and so did Fergie for about 6 weeks (don't ask me how I know these things - I only have to hear it once and then I remember!). The Queen did so, too, for about 6 weeks - standard practice for the upper class this century, since wet nursing went out the window. Then baba goes to nanny full time...goodbye mummy. Queen Victoria didn't - babies were wet nursed - and that is one reason she had so many children - nine, in fact.

Former Norwegian PM Gro Harland Bruntland (not 100 per cent sure of the name) did and did it in the cabinet office and the Norwegian Parliament..

Here, former minister Harriet Harman bf and there have been several others, inc that one who caused a row about it a year or so ago.

David Essex's wife did, as I saw a lovely pic of her in Hello bf in an over-the-top luxury bedroom.

Ok - I'm know I'm being controversial here but I am genuinely interested as to whether I'm in the minority here.
I breastfeed, and would passionately defend my right to do it in public -discretly of course. But breastfeeding in the Norwegian Parliament! I would never dream of taking my daughter into my office and getting my boobs out, which is effectively what we are talking about here. Same with women MP's recently wanting to feed in the house of commons. OK in private rooms, but on the floor of the house, with TV filming everything?! Is it just me who thinks this is wierd?

Don't know if it was actually in the debatng chamber, prufrock - I expect not . I meant the parliament building. I don't think bf in the chamber would be weird, but just taking any baby in there, bottle fed or breastfed, wouldn't be appropriate I don't think.

But if a mother and a baby are somewhere where it is ok for them to be, then it's ok for them to bf...surely?

See bf in public threads in the recent past

Am I missing something here - when did Uma Thurman find the time to have a sprog?

Willow2, Uma had a baby boy a while ago and I remember she didn't go to a premiere of her latest movie because she didn't want to leave him,which I thought was rather lovely.

In answer to your question Prufrock, (but, tiktok, dh is out so I don't know if the Norwegian spelling is correct. It looks good to me.) Norway has 97% breastfeeding rates while poor old Sweden (where we are) only has 90% for the first 3 months. I'm curious to know how long constitutes bf in our eyes.

Breast feeding in the Norwegian parliament should not be a big deal if you know that babies need to be fed by their mothers. Anyhow, wanted to share that at the mother and baby exercise class i went to on Monday, there were 54 mothers there, with an approx baby age of 4 months, there was not a bottle in sight. When I did postnatal swim classes in the UK, me and my Swedish friend, felt very much out on a limb.

Prufrock and Malmomum as you both realise (I suspect)... the way Brits and Norwegian feel about their body and how they feel about nudity is different...

What I find very interesting in Malmomum's comment is the stat... and the more I get involved in BF topics the more I am astounded at women's reaction on bottle feeding....
If you tell a woman that BF is natural... you get told off !!!! (not by all of course), if you raise the issue of health of newborns in relation to BF you are told off... "BF mafia, etc..."

For god sake that's what boobs are for !!! I use to think that past 3 months of age... it didn't matter anymore how they are fed,... well it does but let's not beat women who stop after 3 months as they have done so well (and they have... but are they really aware of the real benefits of longer term BF??? - I wasn't!)

Sorry for ranting !

I think you misunderstood my issue here. I have no problem at all with nudity - in fact in my younger (and perter) days I would get my boobs out at every opportunity.
I's really a question of combining breastfeeding and work. I am managing this really well - dd is bf and has ebm during the day at nursery and I intend to continue until at least 6 months, but I would never take her into my ofice and feed whilst working. In the same way I would not allow her to run around my office when she becomes a toddler. If we are going to be taken seriosly in the workplace we need to take it seriously and not try to do two things at once that both IMO need full concentration.
And now I feel I am getting into a whole new argument

Agree totally prufrock it has nothing to do with getting your boobs out and everything to do with a proper delineation between work and home. How can you do your job properly while looking after a baby?

And how can you look after a baby properly whilst trying to do work?

Depends on the work!

Women all over the world combine bf with work. They take their babies to work with them, and if the baby needs to feed, then either they do it at the very same time, or take a break.

We all did it here, pre-industrial revolution, when work and home were broken up into separate units for the first time in human history.

Now, though, it is far more difficult. Obviously, there are places where babies are not safe, and places where babies are not appropriate, because mum's attention needs to be focussed 100 per cent on something else - and babies can be a distraction not only to mothers but to others (being cute and often, sociable!). But many jobs don't need 100 per cent concentration 100 per cent of the time, and babies ditto.

I would love to be in a world where babies and their needs were part and parcel of everyday life, where mothers could take bf breaks, and care for their babies and combine work with babycare more easily. I don't think this will make it possible for mothers to take their babies to their offices every day, no....think of the commuting as well. One and a half hours every day twice a day is too much to put a baby through.

But some jobs and some workplaces could adapt

In Indonesia a number of labour regulations measures are currently being debated in the House of Representatives, including breastfeeding protection and menstruation leave. I'm not sure if the BF part is leave while you are bfing or whether it is to protect womens's right to bf once they return to work, but it must be a step in the right direction, enabling women to combine work and famiy.

I wonder if we could get the Scottish parliament to consider menstruation leave? They seem to be rather more liberal about breastfeeding than Westminster :0

OOps!