Fashion designer Karen Millen issued a grovelling apology, after branding mums who breastfeed beyond six months “selfish” and saying it becomes an “addiction” for the child “because they only know the boob.” After her comments on Vanessa Feltz’s Channel 5 show triggered a backlash from mothers, mum-of-three Ms Millen, 64, issued a video apology from her Kent cottage, saying: “I know I have upset a lot of people.”
One of those left upset was seamstress Emma Hawes Taylor, 50, who lives in Oxfordshire with her telecoms manager husband Andy, 58, and their two children. Emma breastfed Lilia, 15, until she was 8 and Gabriel, 10, until he was 6 and says: “I didn’t have preconceived ideas about how I was going to do things. I got together with my husband, Andy, in my early 30s. We married when I was 34 and he was 42, and started trying for a family immediately. When I got pregnant after miscarrying my first pregnancy, I read a few books, attended antenatal classes and made only one firm decision – I wanted to breastfeed, if I could.
“My friend Nikki had two children and was my go-to for information. She had fed her children long beyond the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) recommended two years minimum. I told her, ‘I do want to breastfeed, but I don’t want to do it as long as you!’ I secretly thought it was a bit weird to feed a child that was walking and talking.
When Lilia, was born in 2009 I was pleased to feed her immediately after birth, but we started to experience issues with pain and latch which weren’t resolved until she was ten weeks old. The harder it was for those weeks, the more determined I was to breastfeed her. One day I sobbed to my health visitor ‘I think I’m going to have to formula feed her, this is too hard!’
“She said ‘I think you really want to breastfeed and that’s why you’re so upset. I think you’ll regret it if you stop.’ And she was right. It mattered to me. I didn’t judge other women for making different choices, but breastfeeding felt really important, maybe because I’ve always had a difficult relationship with my breasts. They were always a tiny A cup against my broad shoulders. I had implants when I was 27 and they ended up a bit bigger than I wanted. But breastfeeding my baby felt like what they were designed to do and I was finally at peace with them.
