While motherhood can be a magical experience for many people, it’s not always glamorous. Whether someone’s rich and famous or not, it’s not necessarily a walk in the park to be a mom. One headline-making mom that knows this all too well is iconic pop singer, Britney Spears. She recently opened up on social media about how breastfeeding her two sons, who are teenagers now, was like being a “milk factory.” Following a harsh conservatorship that forced her to be on birth control, the singer’s reflecting on her experiences with motherhood and lack of control over her own body.
Spears recently reflected on her breastfeeding experiences on Instagram.
Not everyone was expecting to see a picture of Spears’ breasts on Instagram along with a few images explaining what they’ve been through. But, of course, by now, people know and love how unpredictable Spears can be. She shared that giving birth to her boys only months apart from each other made her milk production go haywire, meaning,“Literally 12 bottles of breastmilk at one point.” She spoke candidly about the trouble she’s had with leaks and other painful things about being a new mom.
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She recently had a special moment holding a baby.
While she was visiting Maui, a new mom let Spears hold her 2-month-old baby. To Spears’ surprise, her body’s muscle memory kicked into gear and she held the infant for hours while she talked to the other mom. Spears wrote, “I guess as women our bodies hold memory because it was like my back came out and instinctive came out…it was immediate!” It would seem that she’s all set to live her best mom life with a baby one more time.
Spears said she has always had ample milk production.
Too often, people believe that women only produce milk right after they’ve given birth. However, even after some time as passed, women who’ve had babies can still lactate. Spears realized that fact during a somewhat awkward moment when she was getting changed for a performance while she was on tour. She explained, “Four years after my children were born I was on tour changing in my quick change room and milk started coming out of my breasts!!! Like a lot…I couldn’t understand because there were no babies nearby—.” Without a connection to another “human being,” she couldn’t understand why she was producing milk.
She also wrote about the power of moms.
While reflecting on her own experiences, Spears comments spoke to the powerful things that moms and women are capable of. She believes that when it comes down to it, “Women have a groundbreaking way of knowing when it comes to babies” and, “The strength you can hold when you’re a mom is unbelievable.” She seems to have mad respect for the other “milk factory” moms out there.
Spears also addressed her conservatorship.
While Spears seems to be cherishing the messiness of motherhood, her post takes a turn when she discusses her relationship with her father under the conservatorship. With obvious pain, Spears explains the day that he “sat her down” to tell her that he was in charge of her life, that he was “Britney Spears” and he called the shots. She writes that she “got through it” even after having a large part of her “womanhood stripped down” while having to keep her IUD in under the conservatorship, and was forbidden from having more children. Spears truly appears to be free now, but it was a fight.
According to Spears, her breasts are “wiser” now.
Spears finished the post explaining that she still has the same breasts as she did before the conservatorship and before having children — but they’ve gone through their own emotional development. She wrote, “I still have the same boobs but a little wiser now” and tells everyone that they can make what they want of her body.
The comments were divided.
While the true Spears fans didn’t miss a beat to applaud their hero’s words, some weren’t feeling her latest IG jam. One user commented, “What. Did. I just. Read,” and the Spears supporters were immediately having none of that. Many would think after there was literally a #FreeBritneyMovement, that harsh consequences await anyone throwing shade at Spears.
Spears has also dealt with perinatal depression.
Perinatal depression is far from being just a Spears thing, as about 7% of women experience it. When announcing her pregnancy at 40-years-old which ended in a miscarriage, she remembered the obstacles of her first two pregnancies and that, “women didn’t talk about” those kinds of things then, but they do now. She continued, writing, “Thank Jesus we don’t have to keep that pain a reserved proper secret.” From milk production to prenatal depression, it seems that Spears is being true to her pregnant self.
People around the world are rooting for her.
Pregnancy and raising children aren’t easy things, but a massive community of supporters doesn’t seem like a bad thing to have when the going gets tough. Plus, as Spears said, she “got through” the conservatorship and is embarking on the next (and hopefully much better) chapters of her life, milk factory and all.
Let us know what you think of Spears’ breastfeeding experiences in the comments.
