Gisele's Law - Enforced Breastfeeding for the first six months

Just what we have all been waiting for. A breastfeeding model to encourage more women that breastfeeding is wonderful, to put pressure on governments to fund breastfeeding clinics and train counsellors. To denounce greedy corporations who promote formula feeding in the developing world (Nestle, I am looking at you here). What a fantastic role model that would be. A young famous mum, stunningly attractive with a great figure and a sweet and happy baby.

Sadly we did not get that, we got Gisele Bundchen, who is advocating a law to ban formula feeding for the first 6 months of babies lives. Ok, she may have been misquoted, she may be in the first glow of enthusiasm of the mother of a Precious First Born, she may look back on her comments in a couple of years and cringe. We might give her the benefit of the doubt.

 Still, the whole quote is pretty gobsmacking. 

"I think breastfeeding really helped (me keep me figure). Some people here (in the US) think they don't have to breastfeed, and I think 'Are you going to give chemical food to your child when they are so little?' I think there should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months." 


Particularly when combined with her boast of making pancakes the day after the birth of her son (Big deal, Gisele. Some of us are doing the school run, keeping the house and looking after several older children, without the help of a nanny or cleaner).

Meditating helped her prepare for labour, she adds smugly


"It's called 'labour' not 'holiday' for a reason, and I knew that. You want to go into the most intense physical experience of your life unprepared? That doesn't make any sense to me. Then I was ready and I thought OK, let's get to work'. I wasn't expecting someone else to get the baby out of me."

 Perhaps she should have asked her yoga teacher or spiritual adviser for help in locating her empathy button, as it seems to have been misplaced. Her comments that she found labour so easy because she was well-prepared insinuate that those who have difficult labours were too lazy to plan for the birth. That is right, we were all sitting around eating carbs and watching Jeremy Kyle.

Here is a newsflash, Ms Bundchen. Not everyone is as lucky as you. Not everyone has easy labours. Not through bad planning but through a mixture of bad luck, physiology and/or substandard medical care.

My first labour was long, hard but lovely and my daughter was an easy child who slept well. She did not take well to breastfeeding and after 6 weeks of struggling with little support and after suffering several bouts of mastitus, I gave up. It was not an easy decision but it was the best one for me at the time. If I had the knowledge then, and the online support and advice that I would have now then I may have made it, who knows?

When my waters broke with my second child, it was a completely different matter.

Perhaps Gisele would like to put herself in my shoes and relive the day that my son was born. Would she have meditated through the difficult first stage, the lack of progress, the induction. Perhaps her preparation would have helped her cope with the worry when the baby seemed to be in distress and  the decision was made to do an emergency caesarian section. Would she have remained serene and in control as the doctors ran with her on the gurney to the operating theatre, leaving her shell shocked husband alone in the labour suite. Surely she would have meditated through the fear, the bright lights of the theatre (not so different from the catwalk after all) and not have been fazed by the speed that the General Anaesthetic was administered.

Would Gisele understand and empathise with a woman who awoke from the GA, woozy and unsure what had just happened, unable to hold her newborn son, not even sure if he were alive. Far from making pancakes the day after the birth, I was unable to get out of the bed without assistance, unable to feed my son without assistance, traumatised from the birth and far from the happy and peaceful new mummy of my previous labour and birth.

I would hope that Gisele would find empathy for the difficult and traumatic birth that I went through, and understanding for the fact that I decided not to breastfeed. My birth experience is not that rare, and certainly not as bad as some other mums have gone through. Again, with support and help a woman in this position may be able to come through it and establish breastfeeding, but without some kind of assistance it is very difficult.

Calling formula milk "chemicals" and advocating prosecution for those unable to breastfeed makes Gisele sound completely lacking in any knowledge or empathy for any mother who struggles with breastfeeding. If she does not want to use her celebrity status to draw attention to the miserable support for breastfeeding mothers, she should keep her opinions to herself and just be thankful for the simple and easy birth and the wonderful start to her son's life.