{"id":80435,"date":"2025-10-16T13:57:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T17:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/?p=80435"},"modified":"2025-10-16T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T18:00:00","slug":"cardi-bs-new-initiative-will-tackle-breastfeeding-stigmas-yes-they-persist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/cardi-bs-new-initiative-will-tackle-breastfeeding-stigmas-yes-they-persist\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardi B\u2019s New Initiative Will Tackle Breastfeeding Stigmas. Yes, They Persist"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Rapper Cardi B and formula maker Bobbie are pushing back against stigmas that hurt new moms. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Cardi B<\/a> has never shied away from saying what\u2019s on her mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, the award-winning rap artist \u2013 who is also a mother to several kiddos \u2013 is speaking out about the stigmas that persist around breastfeeding<\/a>, among other matters of importance to her and her fellow moms, from insufficient paid-leave policies<\/a> to maternal mortality rates<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with Vogue<\/a> this week, Cardi B (whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Alm\u00e1nzar) disclosed that she\u2019s partnering with organic baby formula maker Bobbie to raise awareness about these and other common postpartum concerns. The partnership will entail<\/a> an information blitz to educate the public on what new moms endure, and how unsupported they frequently are while grappling with those problems; a bargain on formula itself; and a push to contact local legislators to demand codified change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Breastfeeding struggles are a particularly personal pain point for Cardi B. \u201cSometimes your baby wants to eat in two hours, and sometimes your baby wants to eat in 45 minutes \u2013 and it takes me two hours just to produce two ounces of milk,\u201d she told the magazine. \u201cIt almost made me feel like, \u2018Does it make me less of a woman if I can\u2019t produce as much milk as the next woman?\u2019 I don\u2019t think people understand how frustrating it is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll admit, her words brought tears to my eyes \u2013 ones of relief, to see my own experience echoed so publicly, in ways I never have before.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n Mom-Founded Formula Startup Bobbie Buys Nature\u2019s One\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

To Be Real About It\u2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Breastfeeding was an intensely painful and discouraging experience for me, one that made the already-difficult postpartum period that much harder to weather. And I\u2019ve rarely, if ever, felt comfortable discussing that fact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to get into it now: I was never able to produce enough milk to feed my son \u2013 the problem was apparent even during those first precious, overwhelming days in the hospital. But I was encouraged (a diplomatic way to describe the pressure) by everyone from the nurses around me to our pediatrician at the time to focus on trying. Nevermind the expected soreness that was exacerbated significantly by my efforts, or the lack of results. Trying was the key, they said \u2013 the more I pumped, the more lactation-promoting cookies I wolfed down, the more feeding positions I tried and the more consultants I paid to speak with, the better things would eventually get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Only, they didn\u2019t. And in his earliest weeks, my son lost weight rapidly because my body alone just couldn\u2019t sustain him. To this day \u2013 he turned 7 years old earlier this month \u2013 I cannot bring myself to look at photographs of my son\u2019s first weeks of life after leaving the hospital, because I remain so wracked with guilt over the experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It never got easier. In fact, once I returned to work, it only got worse. I still recall jags spent standing in a bathroom stall \u2013 an amount of time on my feet that was difficult to endure in and of itself, as I recovered from a c-section \u2013 weeping silently in pain and immense frustration as I attempted to pump, only to produce a few meager droplets after 30 minutes\u2019 time had elapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What saved him, me, everything<\/em> \u2026 was formula. To me, formula is a modern miracle \u2013 manna from heaven, delivered to us not from the sky but by way of scientific advancement. There aren\u2019t words for how grateful I am to live in a time when this option existed to sustain him.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n ‘Mom Guilt’ Was Already a Thing. Then the Pandemic Made it Hell for Caregivers\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n

Silence Compounding the Problem<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When I zoom out, I see that I\u2019m actually far from alone. Studies show<\/a> that while the majority of infants are breastfed at some point (85%), certainly not all are, and often not for as long as their mothers had planned to before giving birth. Less than half are exclusively breastfed in their first three months of life, a figure that wanes with each subsequently measured length of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the same, discussing my experience has never proven cathartic before. Rather, I\u2019ve frequently been greeted by the very stigmas Cardi B and Bobbie are now pushing back against. The questions, heavy with judgement, about what I failed to test out when I struggled to produce, the dismissive comments based on others’ comparatively easy experiences… <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When moms talk about breastfeeding around me, I usually opt not to say anything at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the thing is, it was in opening up that I found what I needed to get through that tender, at-times quite scary postpartum period. My mother, who fed me formula in my earliest days, was always quick to remind me that what matters most is a baby getting what they need to survive and grow. It was a message I clung to like a talisman, warding off my struggles with inadequacy and my own doubts about the validity of my very womanhood \u2013 as if such experiences even define womanhood at all<\/em> \u2013 by grounding myself in the far greater importance of my son being properly nourished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is why Cardi B\u2019s effort with Bobbie deeply matters. So many of our struggles as moms remain unsaid, because our society continues to demand a form of motherhood that is not only flawlessly executed, but also visibly painless and flatly joyful. And it\u2019s not just the tradwives<\/a> pushing this faux-uncomplicated, all-natural-everything, breast-is-best message in 2025, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardi B and Bobbie said that, through this effort, they want to \u201chype up every feeding journey, unapologetically.\u201d The information is critical \u2013 but so is that lack of \u201csorry.\u201d ◼️<\/p>\n\n\n

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Related<\/h4>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\n \n Track Star Allyson Felix Launches First-Ever Nursery for Olympic Moms\n <\/a>\n <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The acclaimed rap artist and mom is partnering with formula maker Bobbie to \u201chype up every feeding journey, unapologetically.\u201d It\u2019s a necessary effort, Candice Helfand-Rogers writes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":80441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"Rapper Cardi B and formula maker Bobbie are pushing back against messages that hurt new moms.","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f","date":"2025-10-16T17:58:02+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3m3ddhu7sos2d","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:l2n6ydtigm3gtra4vb4rfl7f\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3m3ddhu7sos2d\",\"cid\":\"bafyreicab7vltjcotadulowb3wjlt62nixwangckbniedinfw5iiqxxf5i\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreih64dcshfyx75ep4gwigtsra62z7pahgcowcvhcqui7rppd5rawam\",\"rev\":\"3m3ddhua5gk2d\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19648],"tags":[19562,19655,19645,19682],"class_list":["post-80435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-breastfeeding","tag-maternal-health","tag-opinion","tag-women-empowerment"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nOn Cardi B\u2019s Bobbie Formula Partnership, Breastfeeding Struggles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The rapper is partnering with formula maker Bobbie to \u201chype up every feeding journey, unapologetically.\u201d It\u2019s needed, this op-ed says.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thestoryexchange.org\/cardi-bs-new-initiative-will-tackle-breastfeeding-stigmas-yes-they-persist\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cardi B\u2019s New Initiative Will Tackle Breastfeeding Stigmas. 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