Celebrity & Everyday Breastfeeding Role Models

Best for Babes is thrilled that more and more celebrities are sharing publicly that they are breastfeeding!   Here’s why we are working to bring celebrities to the breastfeeding cause:

• Celebrities can help change the image and perception people have of breastfeeding, giving breastfeeding a makeover quicker than you can say “Brad’s beautiful picture of Angelina nursing on the cover of W magazine.”
• New moms need new role models . . . most of our mothers didn’t breastfeed (they didn’t know!) so hearing celebrity stories can motivate and inspire us to succeed, as well as help dispel myths and misinformation.    
• Celebrities can be a powerful agent for change.   Breastfeeding has no Bono, Gates, Gere or Gore to put pressure on the barriers to breastfeeding success.   

If you have a celebrity friend with a story to share or who wants to get involved, contact us at Bettina@bestforbabes.org! 

Best for Babes’ Favorite Celebrity Breastfeeders:

Sideways Actress Alysia Reiner  shares her story of being inspired by our interview with Gabby Reece to breastfeed longer than she had planned, and how she donated her breastmilk to a friend who was having difficulty breastfeeding. We hope her story raises awareness of the next best choice to mothers’ own milk, and the need for more human milk banks.

See our exclusive breastfeeding interview with Gabby from Celebrity-babies.com!   Named by ESPN as one of the world’s sexiest athletes, Gabrielle Reece is admired for her beauty and her brains, her incredible strength, tenacity and femininity as well as her record-breaking actions on volleyball court. Gabby is a hands-on mom with a hot career, yet, she still manages to stay grounded and put first things first.    We were thrilled and honored that she shared candid details of her breastfeeding experience with Best for Babes (and yes, Laird Hamilton weighs in!).  Gabby is a terrific supporter of our cause and we thank her for helping us to inspire, prepare and empower more moms to nurse successfully.

Marilu is a Founding Board Member of the Best for Babes Foundation; she understood and believed in our vision from the very beginning.  Acclaimed actress (she won us over in the TV series “Taxi”) and New York Times best-selling author, Marilu has championed a vigorous, healthy lifestyle for over 20 years and has inspired millions of people along the way through her website and Total Health Makeover (R) experience.  Read her breastfeeding story “It’s Your Baby, Babe” from our launch in August 2007 with Stork Magazine.

 Breastfeed Twins Like Angelina Jolie!  For this Celebrity Baby Blog story, we contributed our best tips for breastfeeding moms so they can succeed in nursing twins!   While breastfeeding twins can be challenging, it is definitely doable with the right support and help.  We also brought in leading experts like Dr. Jack Newman, MD, FRCPC, founder of the Newman Breastfeeding Clinic and Institute, and Dr. Lawrence Gartner MD, former American Academy of Pediatrics Breastfeeding Chair and founding member of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine to share evidence-based information.   

Actress Salma Hayek recently made headlines when she nursed a malnourished baby in Sierra Leone.  Best for Babes was quoted in PEOPLE magazine’s March 2, 2009 issue, pg. 51:  “As long as the donor mother and baby are free of diseases like HIV or hepatitis, it’s safe.”   By “cross-nursing” a hungry baby, Ms. Hayek’s selfless and instinctual act of leadership and love can  help raise awareness of the many cultural taboos against breastfeeding-Sierra Leone has the highest infant mortality rates, which more breastfeeding would lower!     We were also quoted in Celebrity-babies.com.    

More Information on Expecting and Breastfeeding Celebrities

Looking to find more information on celebrities who are expecting, have breastfed or are currently breastfeeding?    We are working on getting the scoop!   In the meantime, here are our favorite links:

Expecting Celebrities:   Celebrity-Baby Blog, our favorite website for everything about celebrity moms and their families, has a convenient photo gallery showing who is currently expecting.  It is updated regularly, and is easy to click through quickly.    They also carry more in-depth info on expecting celebrities and moms-to-be. 

Breastfeeding Celebrities:   Celebrity-Baby Blog also has in-depth information on any celebrities that are breastfeeding.   If a breastfeeding celebrity has been covered in the news, you can count on Celebrity-babies.com to report it, as the founder Danielle Friedland is super supportive of breastfeeding and of Best for Babes (see our features above).   Since Celebrity-babies.com is owned by People, and receives 10 million page views per month, we are hugely grateful for Danielle’s efforts!   You can listen to a great podcast with Danielle Friedland at the Motherwear Blog, where she discusses breastfeeding celebrities (and don’t forget to check out the cute mother-daughter t-shirts!