Those early weeks of breastfeeding your baby for the first time are full of some of the most overwhelming moments of new parenthood. In a new interview, Bindi Irwin is opening up about her own challenges with breastfeeding her 11-week-old daughter, Grace—particularly when it comes to latching.

The thing about nursing your first baby is that you can prepare as much as possible for your forthcoming breastfeeding journey—taking classes, reading anything and everything you can get your hands on, and talking to other veteran moms—but when your baby comes out not immediately knowing how to latch, it’s a bit of a surprise.

They might know how to get to the boob, and put their mouth on the boob, but actually staying on the boob is a different story. This is basically how Bindi describes it in her interview with PEOPLE.


“It’s a learning curve,” the Crikey! It’s the Irwins star, says. “You want to make sure your baby is full, and you’re learning as a new mom as well. It was the most exciting moment when she figured out how to latch properly.”

Baby Grace Warrior, named after Bindi’s beloved dad, Steve, who was the Wildlife Warrior, was born in late March. And while the breastfeeding experience came with a learning curve, Bindi is still loving it.

“It’s really, really amazing to be able to have that closeness,” she says. “This little bond that you have with them that is just extraordinary.”

Knowing now how challenging breastfeeding can be, Bindi is fully supportive of however moms want to feed their babies—as we all should be.

“It’s so nice to have so many options now,” she says. “I think that in this day and age, it’s so important as a mother to encourage other moms. Everybody has a different journey when it comes to feeding their baby and it’s so important to be supportive of everybody.”

Bindi says becoming a mom kind of automatically places you into a “club” where you’re sharing experiences and offering and receiving advice about parenting.

“I think that like anything else, it’s just about supporting each other and being encouraging with one another because everybody has a different journey when it comes to raising their baby, especially with feeding.”

Kudos to that. A fed baby is a happy baby, and that’s all that matters!