Tia Mowry is no stranger to being transparent with fans about her motherhood journey and now she’s opening up about her experiences with breastfeeding. The mother of two shared some insight on her nursing and pumping journey on Instagram, sharing a few images from those times with her followers.
Mowry’s moment of transparency was in celebration of National Breastfeeding Month which is recognized every August. Her children, Cree and Cairo, now 12 and five respectively.
Tia Mowry on Breastfeeding
“Since it’s National Breastfeeding Awareness Month, I wanted to share a little bit about my breastfeeding journey with y’all,” she shared in the caption of the post.
The carousel featured images of her breastfeeding both Cree and Cairo when they were infants.
“When I had Cree, I was struggling to breastfeed him. I was only able to breastfeed for 3 months before having to switch to formula.”
Mowry went on to explain that once she had her second child, Instagram came to her rescue. She leaned a lot more through the app and even found a community of women online who helped her push through. That assistance lead her to breastfeed Cairo successfully for 13 months. Nonetheless, she said the journey was still very difficult.
“I was pumping every 3 hours at work while working 14 hour days on set,” she continued to explain. “At times I would have to breastfeed on set as well.
She added that after those long days on set she would return home and have to continue breastfeeding her child. She took time to encourage mothers who are currently struggling with breastfeeding.
“It is more than okay to feed your children formula. As long as your children are fed, loved, happy, and supported that’s all that matters,” Mowry said.
According to a Breastfeeding Medicine study, Black mothers continue to have the lowest rates of breastfeeding initiation at 60 percent compared with all other racial and ethnic groups in the United States.