Why I couldn’t breastfeed and work, by One Show’s Alex
SHE appeared to be happily combining work and family when she returned to hosting The One Show only three months after having her first child.
Yet Alex Jones feels she went back to work too soon – and says it shattered her confidence.
The 41-year-old, who had son Teddy in January last year, said she had to switch from breastfeeding to using formula milk after her breast leaked live on air during the BBC1 show.
She said she would express milk at work after production meetings and rehearsals, adding: ‘My milk was in the fridge with all the food and sandwiches that were being given to the guests! I was like, “This is not working, this is a nightmare”.
‘I’d sit on the sofa and the titles would start playing and I’d feel this stain start coming through the dress. There was nothing I could do about it.
‘It destroyed my confidence in terms of trying to feed and be back at work. By four months I had to [switch] to formula completely. Like a lot of people I put a lot of pressure on myself, but Teddy thrived just as well on formula as he did on breast milk.’
Miss Jones, who is married to insurance broker Charlie Thomson, said that as the main breadwinner she felt pressure to go back to work quickly.
Speaking on the podcast Happy Mum Happy Baby, she added: ‘It’s a hard thing when you’re hitting your career stride in your thirties and biology dictates that we have to take time out. I’m the main breadwinner in our family, as many of my friends are, and so that raises its own questions.’
She admitted that she and her husband feel jealous of their nanny, Jess, who experiences moments with their son that they miss because of work such as the first time he crawled. But she added: ‘It’s a reality that all parents face, isn’t it? You can’t be there 24 hours a day.’