Though it is literally nobody’s business whether Khloé Kardashian is breastfeeding her daughter, True Thompson, the reality star put any speculation about her methods to rest by opening up on the realities of being a new mom.
“Because I don’t produce enough milk, I also have to give a bottle with every feeding,” Kardashian wrote in a recent post on her app about a particular bottle she loves. “With the formula I use, I have to give True the bottle within 30 minutes of making it, so it’s amazing to have this machine make it for me. It’s super easy to use—and fast, so when I’m exhausted and can’t even keep my eyes open in the middle of the night, it’s a total lifesaver.”
Predictable product promotion aside, what Khloé is revealing here is pretty important: Breastfed babies can also drink bottles of formula. Predominantly formula-fed babies can also snuggle up to a boob from time to time. Whether a parent chooses to breastfeed or not is, first of all, totally their choice, and second of all it is largely not the black-and-white decision it’s often made out to be. Babies gotta eat! Sometimes they need more milk than what’s coming out during breastfeeding sessions; sometimes their parents think breastfeeding sucks and they want to keep it to minimum. All’s fair in love and parenting.
Khloé’s post says that she’s not producing enough milk, and luckily formula is up to the task of filling in those gaps. But many moms are quick to put the blame on their own boobs whenever breastfeeding poses a problem: Baby seems fussy? My boobs must not work. Baby eats every hour? That can’t be real! (Sometimes it is real.) Research has found that this worry is one of the main reasons parents turn to formula in the first place.
“Concerns about milk supply and whether the baby is growing enough has consistently emerged among the most common reasons mothers introduce supplemental bottles of infant formula or stop breastfeeding altogether,” writes lactation consultant Diana Cassar-Uhl, M.P.H., on KellyMom, an online resource for lactation support. The best ways to tell whether you’re experiencing low production, like Khloé, is to track your infant’s weight gain and the number of wet diapers they have in a day.
Of course, formula is fair game whether your breasts “work” or not. Breastfeeding is complicated. It can be painful. It’s weirdly expensive to maintain—and sadly there’s still a stigma around doing it in public. There’s also a certain level of “mommy shaming” associated with women who may not have a perfect experience with it, which is why it’s extra-important when women in the public eye get real about their own imperfect experiences.
Khloé isn’t the only celeb to speak candidly about breastfeeding. When Chrissy Teigen finished nursing her daughter, Luna, she shared a characteristically real tidbit about what it was like for her. “View from above. I really should have nursed out of both boobs (when I nursed),” she wrote in a Snapchat photo in which one of her breasts looks larger than the other.
Despite the fact that breastfeeding hasn’t been the easiest process for Khloé and baby True, there is a part of motherhood that is really working for her: maintaining a routine. “The truth is, all babies do is eat, sleep, potty, REPEAT for weeks. I love a routine, so not going to lie, this works for me,” she wrote in a separate post on her app. Though, she admits, “I can’t wait for her to get a little older so we can explore all that her nursery has to offer!”
