Life as a new mom isn't easy for anyone, even Emmy winner Keke Palmer. In a new interview, she opened up about her struggles with breastfeeding her son Leodis “Leo” Andrellton Jackson, whom she shares with Darius Jackson. She also spoke on the stigma and expectations behind it.
“Although breastfeeding is ‘natural,' it’s not instinctual,” Keke Palmer told People, adding that it’s been “a doozy.”
“I really went through the journey of just trying to figure out how to do that and how to support my baby — how to deal with the pressure of trying to do that right,” Palmer said.
Article Continues BelowShe admitted she didn’t know where to start at first, and eventually found a lactation consultant that helped her. “You don't even really know what to search,” Palmer said, “and how to really prepare yourself for something like that. So shout out to all the lactation consultants because mine really, really made the difference for me.”
“I wish that everybody had access to lactation consultants,” she said. “It sucks that it’s kind of like a luxury. They have people saying breast is best, breast is best. But not everyone can even get support. That’s a mess.”
“[People] make it seem like, ‘Oh, this is natural and the whole breast is best gag,’ and you know, it ends up making you feel like s**t … it’s like tying your shoe,” Palmer said. “Tying your shoes is easy, but you had to learn how to tie your shoes. So it becomes easier. In the beginning your fingers were like butter fingers — and that's the same thing with breastfeeding. It isn't that easy. And if it is for you, wonderful. But I think more often than not, it's difficult.”