Real talk with Jessica Alba: Why she’s done breastfeeding

Alba and her husband Cash Warren welcomed little Hayes on December 31, 2017, and in the months that followed Alba shared several sweet breastfeeding photos on social media. In one, the Honest Company founder nursed during a board meeting, in another she breastfed Hayes in a Target fitting room. To her social media followers it seemed like she was always breastfeeding—and now we know that’s because she was.

“I felt like he wanted to nurse 24/7, which was obviously really challenging when you’re trying to go back to work,” says Alba, who wasn’t just busy with the Honest Company in the early weeks and months of Hayes’ life, but also shooting her upcoming TV series with Gabrielle Union, ‘LA’s Finest.’ The timing of the opportunity wasn’t ideal, but the project was.

“I was actually bummed about it, I really did want to take four months but I got the pilot offer and it just happened to be shooting, so it cut into my maternity leave.”

Alba was used to juggling the demands of working and nursing, having brought Honor to movie sets a decade ago and having welcomed Haven right when she was launching the Honest Company, but this time there was another hurdle, one many moms can relate to.

“Also my milk supply was challenged with him. I felt like I had the most milk with Honor and then it got less with Haven and even less with Hayes. And so that was just tough for me,” she tells Motherly.

Although she had more milk supply back when she had her daughters, she’s never been able to exclusively breastfeed for as long as she would have liked. She wrote about this challenge in her 2013 book, The Honest Life: Living Naturally and True to You.

“I breastfed as long as I could, but not as long as I wanted. I had to get back to work, and I wasn’t able to keep it going. But I am proud to say I did the best for my daughters and I’m proud of all of my mom friends for doing the best they can on this issue.”

Alba is hardly alone in having to stop breastfeeding earlier than she wanted. According to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention, “Although most infants receive some breastmilk, most are not exclusively breastfeeding or continuing to breastfeed as long as recommended.”

More than 81% of American mothers start out breastfeeding, but less than half are exclusively breastfeeding by the time their baby is 3 months old and fewer than a quarter make it to the 6-month mark without formula.

Studies show that although it is incredibly common, supplementing with or switching to formula is a decision fraught with feelings of guilt, failure or “shattered expectations ” for a lot of moms.

But you don’t have to breastfeed for a full year or two for your child to benefit from the cuddles and the antibodies, and no mother should feel guilty about doing what is best for her child and herself.

Take it from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists : The organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding but also recognizes that a mother “is uniquely qualified to decide whether exclusive breastfeeding, mixed feeding or formula feeding is optimal for her and her infant.”

A bit of advice Alba wrote in her book echos the ACOG’s statement:

“Whatever you do, trust that you’re doing the best that you can for your baby.”

Still, weaning earlier than you wished to doesn’t get easier even if you’ve experienced it before.

Years after writing that line in her book, Alba tells Motherly, “The only thing you kind of know the third time around is that it will pass.”