Bachelor Nation alum Ashley Iaconetti on choosing not to breastfeed: 'The past 9 months have been so hard on my body'
Bachelor Nation's Ashley Iaconetti is opening up about why she's not breastfeeding her newborn son Dawson.
The reality TV personality, who married her Bachelor in Paradise co-star Jared Haibon in 2019, spoke to Us Weekly this week about how not breastfeeding has made everything "a little bit easier."
"That has been a nice way for my body to just take a break," she explained.
Iaconetti, who gave birth to Dawson in January, said the past nine months have been "so hard" on her body, and that breastfeeding would have pulled her focus away from her little one.
"I just have had so many people say that they tried [nursing] for a very short period of time, and it just stressed them out so much," she said. "I was like, 'I don't want to stress myself out during … this huge life change.' It's been really good for him. He loves his bottles. He slurps it down."
Iaconetti documented her pregnancy journey on social media. In August, she announced on Instagram that she and Haibon were welcoming a little boy.
In January, she shared how she wanted to deliver her child at the hospital where her father has worked as an anesthesiologist for decades, writing, "Birth has been a top fear of mine that I knew one day I would probably have to face. My dad has known my doctor for decades (I love my OB/GYN practice so much!) and I've spent a lot of time at the hospital for school assignments and volunteering. Plus, when your dad is one of the most senior docs in a group of anesthesiologists, the epidural service should be top notch…RIGHT?! Haha. All of this put together, I know this is the right decision for me."
Iaconetti also got real with her fans about some of the stranger aspects of pregnancy. On The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast, she said she was experiencing pica, a condition in which one craves things that are not food.
"I have pica, and I want to eat cleaning products," she told her co-host Ben Higgins. "Like I have a strong desire to eat cleaning products."
When it comes to breastfeeding, Iaconetti isn't the only new mom in recent weeks to open up about struggling to nurse her child. Olivia Munn, who just welcomed her first child with boyfriend John Mulaney, wrote on Instagram that she "cried and cried" over breastfeeding, due to her low milk supply.
"Breastfeeding is good, and so is formula," she captioned her post. "To the mamas out there: Do whatever you need to feed your baby and don't let anyone make you feel bad about it."
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