Olivia Munn On Her Struggles With Breastfeeding: 'I Wish I Could Breastfeed'

Actress Olivia Munn recently talked about her struggle with breastfeeding and how she wished she didn't have to worry about the baby formula shortage. The shortage has left several new parents at their wit's end, especially if the mother cannot produce milk or, like in Munn's case, has a low milk supply.

Several people have come up with solutions for the scarcity, some telling women to "try breastfeeding" and not depend on formulas anymore. Comments like these were unsurprisingly met with backlash from people online because not every woman can breastfeed.

In a recent post, Munn revealed how "crazy" it was for people to make such comments, especially with people going through the same struggles as her. The actress has a two-month-old son with comedian John Mulaney. She revealed that she would rather breastfeed her child than constantly search for baby formula, but she doesn't have a choice.

The current situation of baby formula shortage is so dire that celebrities are speaking up. Munn went on Twitter on Wednesday to talk about the shortage and admonished people who asked new mothers to "try breastfeeding" to make up for the shortage.

https://twitter.com/oliviamunn/status/1527078256452677635?s=20&t=55k9VgdMLb_x48SKi4ALjQ

She said, "It's so crazy when people say, 'if you breastfeed, you won't have to worry about the formula shortage!' I have low milk supply, so to keep my baby fed, I depend on formula. I wish I could breastfeed so I wouldn't be panicking about the shortage right now. But I don't have a choice."

The "New Girl" alum's followers replied to her post, offering their condolences to people in her situation. One wrote, "People downplay how much work breastfeeding is. It's an all-day job even when you're pumping instead of direct feeding. Formula can supplement the supply while taking stress off parents and help overcome a myriad of common feeding issues.

Munn previously talked about her struggle with breastfeeding and how the experience was "soooo hard" for people with a low milk supply. In her post, she wrote, "Breastfeeding is soooo hard. Especially if you have low supply. 8 weeks in, and I've taken a million vitamins, countless teas, lozenges, tinctures, and worked with two lactation consultants."

With a device around her neck, she continued, "I even wore this device filled with formula around my neck with tubes taped to my nipples so I could stimulate milk production while giving my baby the nutrients he needs."

In the Instagram video posted in February, the mother revealed that despite her struggles to produce milk, it wasn't successful. "None of it worked! I cried and cried. I felt like my body was failing. I worked; I wouldn't bond with my baby." Munn then encouraged parents to do as they saw fit as far as it fed their babies. "Don't let anyone make you feel bad about it."

With the shortage of formula, a number of people have come out to offer opinions on the matter, and most were met with immediate backlash. Actress and comedian Bette Midler recently retweeted a post by the anchor of MSNBC, Stephanie Ruhle, with some advice that Twitter users didn't take kindly.

https://twitter.com/BetteMidler/status/1524947625253945349?s=20&t=PdF6rIKlOeyTgGzew3ql4g

Ruhle's post read, "The baby formula shortage reveals an amazing secret oligopoly: 3 American companies control over 90 percent of the [market], hugely restrictive regulations (thanks to big [money] lobbying) prohibit foreign formulas. Name another industry/sector/product like this."

Midler quoted the tweet by saying, "TRY BREASTFEEDING! It's free and available on-demand." This statement isn't necessarily true because, for several mothers, breastfeeding isn't exactly reliable or feasible. Her condescending tone was also called into question by Twitter users.

Other celebrities talked about Midler's comment on the situation, describing it as "dismissive, uninformed and insensitive." Sara Haines from "The View" expressed her feelings about the issue on the May 13 episode of the talk show.

She said, "To say casually, 'Women have done this for thousands of years,' 'That's why you have breasts,' 'Just breastfeed' — I find that dismissive, uninformed, and insensitive to make it that casual because that is not the case for most people."

The host also talked about the mental strain that same with breastfeeding, at least on her end. She said, "I struggled with my mental health. I had two times of postpartum depression and anxiety with my first and my third babies. And I hit pretty rock bottom. And the breastfeeding was what set me over the edge. It tipped off my anxiety in a way that at times I wasn't functioning."

She revealed that breastfeeding set off her anxiety so that she felt "more captive breastfeeding than I did pregnant with a baby."