Guest post: Amber's celebrity breastfeeding round-up for 2011

I'm very pleased to share this round-up of celebrity breastfeeding news for 2011, wonderfully written by Amber McCann, lactation consultant, owner of Nourish Breastfeeding Support, and pop culture officionado. 

A special thank you to Kelly, who wrote these round ups for 2007, 2008, 2009,and 2010! 

I am a wife and mother first.  An International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC) second.  And absolute lover of all things celebrity/reality TV/famous people third.  Well...actually, there are many other things in my life more important than my "all things celebrity" obsession but I will admit to finding greater joy in a People magazine than in Better Homes and Garden or the New York Times!  It was a great year for stories about breastfeeding among the Hollywood set so let's celebrate the end of the year by looking back at some fantastic moms (and dads!) and their babies.

Victoria Beckham:  One of my very favorite celebrity breastfeeding stories of this past year was about superstar Victoria Beckham and her new daughter, Harper Seven.  After having 3 boys, the Beckhams (Victoria and her mega-athlete husband, David) welcomed their long-awaited daughter and this time, things were different.  Their three sons had been fed formula but Victoria said, "I'm doing everything differently this time.  I want it all to be natural and perfect for my little girl." It is not often that a family that has previously fed formula chooses to breastfeed subsequent children.  Unfortunately, things were not perfect and Victoria suffered from a slipped disk in her back during her daughter's birth.  What would be a challenging situation in normal circumstances is increasingly so when learning to feed with a new baby.  Three cheers for her husband who, as it was widely reported, supported mom and baby by holding up Harper to breastfeed!  Excellent teamwork and a great example of how dads are an important piece of breastfeeding success!  

Miranda Kerr:  Another example of a mama who is proud to breastfeed and let the world know it!  Miranda, a supermodel and one of the faces of Victoria's Secret, and her actor husband Orlando Bloom, welcomed baby Flynn in early January and soon shared a beautiful photograph of an early breastfeeding moment.  She continued to be publicly supportive of breastfeeding moms by publishing several posts about breastfeeding on her Kora Organics blog and famously tweeting about breastfeeding backstage at several fashion shows.

Kourtney Kardashian: Kourtney, one of the Kardashian sisters who are ever present in the reality tv world, has been vocal about breastfeeding her son, Mason.  She blogged about her weaning journey in March of this year.  She said, "When my angel was born and my breasts filled up with milk, we got to work and I was nursing almost every hour at times.  I love it and so did he." With a story like so many mothers, she set a goal of breastfeeding for 6 months and when his 6 month birthday arrived, she decided to nurse for a year.  A year came and went and together, they continued on.  Kourtney also talked about the pressure she received from others to wean and how she and Mason navigated that time.  Kudos to Kourtney and Mason!  She is now pregnant with her second child and I'm looking forward to hearing more about her breastfeeding experience.

Pink: Singer Pink and her motocross-legend husband, Carey Hart, became parents when Willow Sage joined their family in June. She spoke lovingly about her husband's role in their family and famously said, "As long as my boobs are at home at a certain hour, I can do whatever I want."  She is learning to balance motherhood and her career in front of the whole world.

Mariah Carey:  Big thumbs up to Mariah and her husband, Nick Cannon, for breastfeeding their twins, Moroccan and Monroe.  Unfortunately, they fell victim to some less-than-evidence-based advice regarding drinking dark beer as a way to bring in a milk supply quickly.  (For more information about the effect of beer on milk supply, check out this excellent post by Best for Babes and Diana Cassar-Uhl).  But more than that, they fell victim to unethical healthcare workers who not only gave bad advice, but called in Child Protective Services when she followed it.  Now, we don't know exactly how the whole thing went down but, as a fellow mother, I can't imagine the stress and strain an investigation in the first days of parenthood would bring.  My heart goes out to all of them and I want to give them a big thumbs up for doing everything they could do to breastfeed their babies.

Elton John:  Finally, Elton John and his partner, David Furnish are providing donated milk to their new son, Zachary.  In their case, he is receiving milk from their surrogate mother.  While many news outlets trumpeted this as a case of excess and luxury, the increased focus on the role of non-profit milk banks to provide breastmilk for critically ill infants and those in the NICU and mother-to-mother milk sharing this year led to better understanding about the options available for babies who are not with a mother who is able to breastfeed.  High profile celebrities, like Elton John and Neil Patrick Harris last year, are bringing the conversation about donor milk to the masses.  

Of course, these are just 6 great celebrity breastfeeding stories but thankfully, there are many more!  Also check out what Laila Ali, Ali Landry, Kim Zolciak,Tia Mowrey, and Alyssa Milano had to say about their breastfeeding experiences.

2012 is already heating up as a great year for new celebrity babies.  I'm looking forward to see how Beyonce, Hilary Duff, Jessica Simpson, and breastfeeding pros Jennifer Garner and Maggie Gyllenhaal all bring breastfeeding to the forefront of pop culture this year!

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Image credit for all celebrity images:  Wikimedia Commons