Nicole Kidman has detailed how scared she was after being unable to breastfeed after giving birth.
The Babygirl actor, 57, had previously adopted two children, Bella and Connor, with her then-husband Tom Cruise in the Nineties. However, she only went through pregnancy for herself in the 2000s.
After splitting from Cruise in 2001, Kidman welcomed her first biological daughter, Sunday Rose, with her second husband, Keith Urban, in 2008. Sunday’s younger sister, Faith Margaret, followed in 2010.
Speaking to Time, Kidman revealed she panicked when she couldn’t breastfeed Sunday. “I was so terrified, asking, what just happened? Where’s my milk?” she said.
According to research from Yale Public School of Health, nearly half of mothers globally report insufficient milk as a reason for moving to formula, and a 2021 study found that over half of new mums experience breastfeeding guilt.
Kidman continued: “I remember standing naked in the shower, and my sister helped me. She was my source of strength. She’d had five children - she had the wisdom to pass on.”
There are numerous reasons why women may not have milk after giving birth, according to the NHS. These include, poor latching, not feeding regularly enough, stress and anxiety.
Additionally, previous breast surgery, separation from the baby, illness of the child or the mother, and using a dummy or bottle before breastfeeding is established can also impact milk supply.
Last year, fifty per cent of the mothers who responded to a survey commissioned by BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour and BBC Radio Sheffield said they felt that they had let their baby down when they struggled to breastfeed and revealed they felt ashamed for giving their child formula.
Yet, the majority of women experience difficulty breastfeeding in the days after giving birth. In fact, researchers at the UC Davis Medical Center found that 92 per cent of 418 new mums surveyed said they were having problems breastfeeding three days after labour.
It comes after Kidman revealed last year that she almost quit acting in 2008 after giving birth to her daughter but was persuaded to continue her career thanks to her mother.
“I was like, ‘Well, I think I’m pretty much done now,” the Moulin Rogue star told CBS News.“We were living on a farm, and that’s when my mother said, ‘I wouldn’t give up completely. Keep a finger sort of in it.’
“That came from a woman who was from a generation that didn’t have the opportunities that I had, that she had helped create for her daughters,” Kidman added. “So that’s probably something that she wished she’d had when she was little.”
