One Tree Hill actress, Jana Kramer, recently opened up on her podcast, Whine Down , about why she chose not to breastfeed her son.
The actress, singer, podcaster, and mother of two has always been transparent about her family-life and marriage on her podcast and on social media.
This means there’s a lot of room for judgment.
Most of the time, the judgment is about Jana’s marriage to husband Mike Caussin.
Mike, who has admitted to struggling with a sex addiction , has told his truth on their podcast, as well as in the media.
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When discussing the Justin Timberlake cheating scandal last month, Jana came under fire for saying she would “slaughter” Mike if he touched another woman.
Fans felt this was a bit hypocritical as her husband has admitted to cheating on her with multiple women throughout their marriage.
“Ummmmmm, @KramerGirl is the last person to speak on anyone’s marriage when she’s married to a full time cheater. Girl, bye,” wrote on Twitter user.
“Your husband claims a sex addiction after cheating on you and says if you ever cheated, he’d leave you and you still stay. Girl, sit down,” wrote another.
And while the critiques of her marriage aren’t totally cool, they’re at least MUCH more understandable than the insane amount of mom shaming she’s received.
I mean, she was literally shamed for looking “too good” after having her second child.
Her followers on social media heckled her for bouncing back “too quickly” after pregnancy.
SMH.
She shared a cropped photo on Instagram, calling out anybody that has a problem with her postpartum figure.
“I wanted to post this photo (showing my stomach) because I wanted to show my journey back to healthy and my goodness I’m so glad I didn’t which is why this photo is now cropped,” she captioned the post .
“It’s amazing the comments and how rude some people can… A few things, no I didn’t get a tummy tuck, no I don’t have a personal chef, no I don’t have fortunes so I didn’t train everyday.”
She continued, “Wow here I am defending myself. Why?!? If I would have posted the photo of my actual stomach in this photo I would have probably been shamed too even when I was wanting to be vulnerable with my journey.”
“Why do we women have to compare ourselves to each other and then shame?”
Unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the last time Jana had to face the army of mom-shaming trolls that prowl the web.
She mentioned on her podcast in January 2019, that she felt scared to bottle feed her son publicly and be criticized for it.
While some women believe breastfeeding is the healthiest option, there is nothing wrong with going the formula route instead.
Jana’s preference is the latter.
“I feel like I have to hide the bottle when I’m in public because people are judging me. I feel judged,” she said.
But instead of cowering, she decided to face the music by posting a photo of herself feeding her son on Instagram .
“FED IS BEST! You have all asked or commented wondering if I was breast feeding or formula,” she wrote.
“I have wanted to explain myself because I felt like I had to, especially in a world of shaming. But here’s my decision…I don’t have to explain s**t. I’m doing what’s best for me and my baby!”
“Not everyone can or decides to breastfeed…including me. I have been very vocal about FED IS BEST,” she wrote in another post.
Not everyone can breastfeed and not everyone wants to. Mom knows best!
Anyway, it had been about a year since Jana last addressed her decision not to breastfeed, until this week’s episode.
“I had no desire. I wasn’t breastfed,” she explained.
“I didn’t feel like I had to have that connection with my baby.”
“Personally, I don’t like my nipples being touched. I don’t like it. I don’t want someone sucking on ’em.”
Fair enough.
She revealed that her husband initially urged her to try breastfeeding.
“But it was really important to Mike so I said , ‘Okay, I’m gonna try.'”
“[But] my milk didn’t come in and then they wanted me to supplement and they wanted me to pump, and it was so stressful.”
“I was just crying…” she admitted .
Ultimately, Jana thought it would be best for her and her baby to switch to formula.
“I remember getting so much shame and so much hate,” she recalled .
Breastfed or not, this is one healthy, happy looking little boy!
Good for Jana for sticking up for herself and her preferences.
You go, mama!