Rumer Willis is pulling back the curtain on the realities of breastfeeding a toddler — and addressing those who disagree in the process.
“When someone starts judging my parenting,” Willis, 37, wrote via Instagram on Saturday, April 4, over a video of the proud mom breastfeeding her nearly 3-year-old daughter, Louetta Isley Thomas Willis.
In the video, Willis can be seen holding her child in her arms and stroking her hair while she nurses. (Willis, daughter of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore, shares daughter Lou with her ex boyfriend Derek Richard Thomas.)
The video then abruptly cuts to a woman in front of a white board, drawing two circles to signify “my business” and “your business.”
“This is my business. And this is yours. I am here,” the woman says, marking an “X” inside one circle. “The problem is, you are also here, when you need to be here.”
The women, who drew another x inside the same “my business circle,” then drew a line and arrow to the empty circle — in other words, people need to stay out of “my business” and solely inside their own.
While the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends moms breastfeed up to the second year of their child’s life — while also incorporating other necessary nutrients, including solid foods and other fluids when age-appropriate — moms are often judged, shamed and ridiculed for openly breastfeeding their infants and children.
In 2019, Coco Austin hit back at critics after they shamed her for breastfeeding her and Ice-T’s daughter, Chanel, when she was nearly 4. (Austin, 47, breastfed her daughter until age 6.)
“[You] need to have a baby to understand it,” the actress exclusively told Us Weekly at the time, days after she shared a candid breastfeeding photo via social media.
“What I think confuses people is they saw the picture and they think Chanel doesn’t eat food,” Ice-T (real name Tracy Lauren Marrow) added in defense of Austin. “And she eats cheeseburgers. She only breastfeeds … like, when she cries [and] she just wants to get close to her mama. She throws the boob out and … holds on. She’s not doing it for nourishment. This chick eats chili fries, OK?”
Austin further explained that her decision to continue to breastfeed her daughter well into toddlerhood wasn’t just about nutrition, but about love.
“It’s about giving love to your child and bonding with your child and also giving them good nutrition,” she explained to Us. “Beast milk is like liquid gold. All around, it’s a good thing.”
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