Olivia Munn is every mom struggling with breastfeeding: “I felt like my body was failing”

If you’ve ever embarked on a breastfeeding journey, you know firsthand just how challenging it can be. Breastfeeding is a learned skill—for both you and your baby—and it doesn’t always (rarely ever; let’s be real) come easily. Olivia Munn opened up recently about her own breastfeeding struggles on Instagram, sharing, “I felt like my body was failing.” 

Munn, mama to 2-month-old Malcolm, whom she shares with John Mulaney, writes that she suffered from low milk supply. In the video, she illustrates how she tried so many different tactics and techniques to boost supply, including wearing a small device filled with formula on her chest and taping feeding tubes to her nipples in order to help stimulate milk flow while Malcolm was nursing. But it still didn’t work.

Munn went on to chronicle everything she tried to boost her milk supply, an exhaustive list including: 

• 2 lactation consultants
• 3 breastfeeding pillows
• 3 different breast pumps
• Skin to skin contact
• Nipple ointments
• Heating pads to increase circulation
• Liters of coconut water
• Lactation soups
• Lactation teas
• Lactation gummies
• Lactation vitamins
• Lactation cookies

“None of it worked! I cried and cried,” she recalls. “I worried I wouldn’t bond with my baby. But then I said f*ck it.”

“Breastfeeding is good. But so is formula,” she shares, cutting to a shot of her contentedly feeding Malcolm with a bottle of formula.

Related: How I learned to stop feeling guilty about not breastfeeding

With breastfeeding, so much can go right—but so much can go wrong. Whether you’re struggling with poor latch, low supply, inverted nipples or another issue, it’s hard not to blame our own bodies. It’s all too easy to internalize the pressure we put on ourselves to breastfeed our babies. That pressure comes not just from us, but from family and friends, the medical industry and, of course, society itself. It’s everywhere—and it’s unfair. But you’re not failing, mama. Admitting that you’re struggling takes so much strength.

Here’s the thing about breastfeeding: It only works if it’s working for all parties involved. Mothers included. Munn had plenty of resources at her disposal—but they still didn’t work, and clearly it was causing her grief and huge amounts of stress. In her Instagram Story, she praises her friends who helped her through breastfeeding… “and the ones who told me it was okay to stop.”

“To the mamas out there—do whatever you need to feed your baby and don’t let anyone make you feel bad about it. ❤️ ”

Looking to try formula, mama? Find our favorites below.

Bobbie

Organic Infant Formula – 4 cans

•

$$116

SHOP

Little Oak

Natural Goat Milk Infant Formula

•

$44.95

SHOP

Similac

Pure Bliss by Similac Infant Formula – 4 cans

•

$119

SHOP

Related Stories

Life

How I learned to stop feeling guilty about not breastfeeding

News

Breastfeeding rates dropped during the pandemic, also contributing to the formula shortage

News

Milk banks are desperate for breastmilk donations as nationwide supply dwindles