Khloe Kardashian explains why she decided to stop breastfeeding

It’s been nearly three months since Khloe Kardashian gave birth to her first child, True. Now the new mom is getting real about one aspect of motherhood that is totally relatable for many mamas. On July 7, Kardashian revealed on Twitter that she is no longer breastfeeding her daughter:

“I had to stop breastfeeding,” she wrote. “It was really hard for me to stop (emotionally) but it wasn’t working for my body. Sadly.”

When someone suggested that a lot of water was the key to successful breastfeeding, Kardashian responded that she had tried “every trick in the book”:

“Ugh it wasn’t that easy for me,” she wrote. “I tried every trick in the book – water, special cookies, power pumping, massages etc. I tried so very hard to continue.”

A fan let Kardashian know that she could relate, as she also had to stop breastfeeding and was relieved when she finally let go of that stress. Kardashian replied that she, too, felt an enormous weight off her shoulders when she no longer felt pressured to produce enough milk to feed her daughter:

“I didn’t realize what a relief it was for me to not stress and worry anymore,” Kardashian revealed.

Kardashian shed light on a common and frustrating issue for many news moms. In addition to low milk supply, which Kardashian experienced, other common breastfeeding challenges include painful latching or failure to latch, plugged or blocked ducts, painful engorgement, a bacterial infection known as mastitis and thrush (a type of yeast infection).

Women often feel an enormous pressure to breastfeed and are met with the common refrain of  “breast is best,” leading many new moms to feel inadequate when they struggle with breastfeeding. Although the benefits of breastfeeding are well-documented, plenty of moms find that, like Kardashian, it doesn’t work for them.

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Dr. Claire McCarthy, a primary care pediatrician at Boston Children’s Hospital, says it’s important to remember that formula feeding is a valid — and sometimes necessary — choice.

“When we demonize formula we also run the risk of shaming women who, for any number of good reasons, choose not to breastfeed,” she wrote in a post for the Harvard Health Blog. “There are many other ways besides breastfeeding to help babies grow and be healthy; it’s important to keep that perspective.”