Meghan Trainor recalled the frustration she felt when she was unable to breastfeed her son, Riley.
The “Title” singer appeared on the Not Skinny But Not Fat podcast and opened up about her struggle to produce enough milk to feed her newborn. Meghan spoke of the trauma of delivering Riley via C-section and him being rushed to the NICU.
“He was in the NICU for 5 days and I didn’t get to hold him. I didn’t get no skin-to-skin,” she recalled. “My boobies never made milk.”
Meghan revealed that was the opposite of what she had expected, adding, “[The women] in my family were cows. They all breastfed, had extra milk — I had nothing.” She said her family members wondered if she was unable to produce milk because she didn’t have “skin-to-skin” contact with her baby.
The Grammy winner tried everything she could to make her own milk. “We had a feeding tube of breastmilk attached to my nipple, trying to … trick my body into [thinking] I’m breastfeeding,” she explained.
The method wasn’t only messy, she said it didn’t work. “They told me my nipples were too small so it wouldn’t get in his mouth. It was a whole thing,” Meghan continued. “After months of trying that, and I would pump — so then we would have to feed him with a bottle while I pumped. It was a nightmare.”
The hitmaker tried for three months before her child’s pediatrician told her, “Please stop. You look exhausted.”
She switched to formula after that. Meghan adds she doesn’t feel like a failure, she was actually relieved.
“As long as the coach says, ‘Tap out!’ I’m good,” Meghan said. “At least I know I went all the way I could go.”
Meghan shares Riley with husband Daryl Sabara.
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