LIFE & CULTURE

Australian Comedian Opens Up About His Wife’s Struggles With Breastfeeding

“I’m starving my baby.”

Australian comedian Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann has opened up about his wife, Kelly Kearney’s struggle with breast-feeding after welcoming their son Laddie Buster Lehmann in July 2016.

Speaking to co-host Jo Stanley on their Gold 104.3 radio show, Anthony discussed the “pressure put on new mums when it comes to breastfeeding over bottle feeding”.

“It’s everywhere. All the literature you read, the stuff issued by the government, it all says ‘breastfeed, breastfeed, breastfeed and here are the benefits of breastfeeding’,” Lehmann said. “But what that ignores is the pressure it puts on mothers who are unable to produce the milk and how that makes these mothers feel.” 

RELATED: Mother Shares Her Heartbreaking Breastfeeding Story As A Warning To All Mothers

He went on to reveal that their son started to lose weight, and his wife began to feel unsure if the breastfeeding was working.

“Kel tried for days and days and days and wasn’t sure if it’s working – because you don’t know, you’ve never done it before. After four days, we weighed our son and he’d lost a third of his body weight,” he continued.

“And then Kel tried a pump and no milk was coming out so we hadn’t fed him for four days. How do you think my wife felt? She’s thinking: ‘I’m starving my baby’.”

The message he wanted to convey was that more important than breastfeeding your baby, is simply feeding your baby.

“Just feed your baby – that should be the number one guideline over and above everything else. Feed your baby,” he said.

For more information on Breastfeeding visit Fed Is Best or the Australian Breastfeeding Association or consult your physician.

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