Chrissy Teigen Said She Felt Shamed For Using Formula Instead Of Breastfeeding

People can make unfair judgments about how others take care of their kids, and Chrissy Teigen’s tweets about formula and breastfeeding call for less parent-shaming. The model, cookbook author, and media personality wrote a Twitter thread on Sunday, Nov. 29 about the importance of validating formula feeding. "Ok I'm gonna say something and you are all definitely gonna make it a thing but here goes: normalize formula," Teigan began.

"Normalize breastfeeding is such a huge, wonderful thing. But I absolutely felt way more shame having to use formula because of lack of milk from depression and whatnot," she tweeted. "People have surrogates, people have trouble breastfeeding and all you hear as a new, anxious mom is how breast is best... 'Normalize breastfeeding' is great. 'Normalize formula' is great, too! So yeah. That's all! Normalize formula! Your baby is gonna be BEAUTIFUL, PERFECT, AND OKAY."

Teigen also shared her own personal challenges with breastfeeding and pumping, noting that the pressure to feed her children using breast milk actually made things more difficult: "I remember pumping my A** OFF, highest mode, so often, because I didn't trust milk was going into their mouths if I breastfed. It drove me mad to the point I could only get an ounce. An ounce!"

She finished by declaring that the normalization of both formula and breastfeeding was her next "crusade."

"The stress of it, combined with the guilt that you cannot do nature's most natural thing for your own baby is too much," the star wrote. "I dunno why this is my crusade now. I just remember the sadness I felt and want you to know you are doing it right if your baby is fed, mama."

Teigen's remarks come just a few days after she candidly spoke about the loss of her son Jack back in September, after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

"When I’m old and grey, I will look back on the last two months as being brutal, exhausting, sad, physically challenging, mentally painful b*tches of a couple months," Teigen wrote in the caption of her Instagram post on Friday, Nov. 27, which included a photo of her wrapped up in a fuzzy black outfit with her face covered. "But I refuse to not find humor in both the rage-fits and the outfits."

In the meantime, her willingness to be compassionate and real about the not-so-pretty sides of parenting is a much-needed breath of fresh air.