Teresa Palmer Opens Up About Breastfeeding For 8 Years Straight
Women’s bodies are amazing. Not only can we grow another human being inside us, but we can also feed our children with our bodies, sometimes for years – as actress Teresa Palmer can attest.
In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, Teresa Palmer shared about her experience breastfeeding her three children – son Bodhi (7), son Forest (4), and daughter Poet (2) – on Instagram. Along with a collection of pictures of Teresa breastfeeding her children, she wrote, “Today is day 2728 of breastfeeding straight. I have nursed since Feb 17th 2014 when my first son was born. I nursed him in to toddlerhood through the pregnancy of my 2nd son, embarked on a tandem nursing journey for a year. I then continued nursing my 2nd son through the pregnancy of my daughter, in to my second tandem nursing journey.”
Teresa is currently expecting her fourth child with her husband Mark Webber, and plans to continue nursing. “I’m now still nursing my daughter through this pregnancy and will jump in to my third tandem nursing experience in a matter of weeks. Some days it’s a lot, I’m utterly exhausted and just want my body back, other days I sit in a place of deep gratitude as I cherish and honour this experience with my babes."
In her eight years of breastfeeding, Teresa has encountered criticism, but it hasn’t deterred her. “Women should be celebrated for however they feed their babies, free from judgement. Since I began my breastfeeding journey I’ve had media outlets write their opinions on how I’ve breastfed in public or nursed into toddlerhood or tandem fed...I hope that other women who are wanting to breastfed and have the opportunity to, can do so without fear of people judging them.”
Teresa ended her post offering encouragement and resources for other breastfeeding mothers: “For anyone struggling with any of it, I see you and I can only hope that you have enough people in your orbit offering you unconditional encouragement. If not please use La Leche League International as a resource, they offer up a list of many wonderful support groups online, lactation consultants and a list of local help near you. What a beautiful community, one that I’ve leant on many times throughout the years. LLLI.org.”
World Breastfeeding Week is a global campaign to raise awareness and promote breastfeeding. It has been commemorated annually since 1992 in the first week of August.