Do Celebrities Really Need to 'Fight' on Behalf of Formula?

Formula companies know the more confused, hopeless, and anxious women feel about breastfeeding the more product they can sell.

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Make no mistake: Celebrities sharing their formula experiences aren’t just naively opening up about their journey to magazines and blogs. They are participating in sophisticated advertising campaigns.  

Claims that they are fighting against formula ‘stigma’ are just not credible. The majority of American mothers rely on formula to feed their babies by 6 months.  Formula is the norm.

Ask yourself, which scenario would raise more eyebrows: a woman breastfeeding her child on a subway platform or a mother bottle feeding her baby on a subway platform?

While I’m certain that celebrities who share their breastfeeding struggles are sincere in their frustration, they don’t vent them in a vacuum. They say it the context of a society that does absolutely nothing to support breastfeeding mothers and when they choose to publicly endorse formula they are helping formula companies undermine breastfeeding —whether they cop to it or not.

Celebrities also aren’t immune to the many myths that persist about breastfeeding. Formula companies know this and they know that the more confused, hopeless, and anxious women feel about breastfeeding the more product they can sell. Get a relatable celebrity out there promoting the same harmful myths and formula companies are going to cash in. 

The most recent and EXTREMELY disappointing formula ad-blitz features Ashley Graham, the plus size bombshell, who was once a much-need celebrity role model for breastfeeding. Not only did did have a home birth, she breastfed for 13 months (something less than a quarter of American women do). She was doing it proudly in public, frequently sharing pictures of breastfeeding her twins.

She even made it look sort of glamorous!

Then Graham inexplicably started promoting Bobbie formula last year. She gave interviews insisting her babies “just wouldn’t latch” and how she was horrified that she “couldn’t feed” the babies she gave birth to. Then giant billboards appeared in New York and LA with Graham’s face holding a bottle filled with Bobbie.

Another former champion of breastfeeding, Chrissy Teigen, has been promoting organic formula company ByHeart on the website Romper.  In an ad masquerading as an article about being “shamed” and “judged” for formula, she ends with another kumbaya call to “stop the mommy wars!” Teigen also appeared as a Keynote speaker for something called “Feed Fest” an event put on by the formula company.

But the mommy wars are not between formula feeding moms and breastfeeding moms. It’s a war between a $55 billion dollar industry and women’s bodies.

What’s equally as depressing are the celebrities who are NOT getting paid to shill for formula and still manage to spread misinformation. Of course, celebrities are allowed to share their breastfeeding stories but what’s so frustrating is so how many of their anecdotes just perpetuate straight up untruths about how breastfeeding works: Adele says formula is just as good breast milk, Jessica Biel says she couldn’t produce enough “fatty milk”, Amy Schumer says “all generations were raised on formula”.

If Adele went out there and said, “pulling out is just as effective as a condom when it comes to preventing pregnancy,” people would lose their minds.

What you hardly ever see is a celebrity who says: “after working with lactation consultants and trying so many strategies that it was no longer in the best interest of my family to continue, we chose to switch to formula because that was best for us!”

Instead we hear:

“Low supply”

“Too painful”

“My baby isn’t gaining enough weight”

All of these problems require SUPPORT to manage. These are some of the most privileged women on the planet who have access to infinite resources and …yet? No mention of trying to address these very common challenges. Of course, busy schedules, feeling pressure to “bounce back” and “have freedom” creates a perfect storm of awful breastfeeding advice people take to heart because it’s coming from their favorite “relatable” star. 

Lots of babies who don’t have the privilege these celebrity babies have could benefit from breastmilk but their moms are seduced into giving it up because they see so much of this messaging.  And the fact that Kim Kardashian could most definitely afford an IBCLC or lactation help but chose to share with her millions of followers that breastfeeding is just “too hard” tells other women: if I couldn’t do, why could you?

Will positive stories and actual advice about what to do when you’re struggling with breastfeeding ever make it into the mainstream parenting blogs? Or will a celebrity ever offer real life stories about what actual breastfeeding support looks like? Not when formula companies can so easily get by the advertising rules by partnering with these people to promote their products. They have taken advantage of the new influencer game in marketing. And it’s working.