Tamara Ecclestone: I’m going to give up breastfeeding ...
...but only when my little girl is four and a half!
SHE has sparked parenting debates by continuing to breastfeed her daughter Sophia beyond her fourth birthday.
But now billionaire heiress Tamara Ecclestone says she’s finally preparing to stop – because her daughter is ‘done’ with the habit.
Tamara, 34, reveals she still breastfeeds Sophia, ‘three or four times a week’ in the evenings to help her fall asleep.
But she says: ‘I think the end is pretty close because now it’s something that’s just at night times and it’s not even every night.
‘It’s when she’s really tired – a comfort thing – or when she’s maybe a bit under the weather.
‘So I definitely think that, probably after the summer, she’ll be done. It’s very natural and I don’t feel like it’s been forced or it’s abrupt. I feel completely ready and I think that it’s because it’s her decision.’
Tamara, who is married to property developer Jay Rutland, said she would be ‘sad’ about the change, adding: ‘It’s the end of something that’s been such a big part of our lives.’
The eldest daughter of former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone previously proclaimed that ‘the natural way’ was to breastfeed children until they were four-and-a-half.
Sophia, nicknamed Fifi, will reach that age in September.
Yet speaking to You magazine editor Jo Elvin for her weekly podcast Is It Just Me?, Tamara admits that she never expected to breastfeed – and had even stocked up her cupboards with formula milk before Fifi was born.
‘Everyone in my family thought that I would really take to it, but I was like, “No. Having a child is not going to change my life. I’ve got a maternity nurse and I’ve stocked up the cupboards with formula.”
‘Then [Sophia] came and the maternity nurse tried to take her away from me and I was like, “Put my child down, get away from me!”’
Her outspoken views on breastfeeding have proved controversial among parents.
She has also advocated sharing her bed with her daughter and admits she gets separation anxiety if Sophia is not around.
But Tamara has dismissed the criticism.
‘I don’t mind being abused for something that I think is the right thing. And sometimes in life you’ve got to just stand up for what you believe in because not enough people do that.’
Tamara was speaking on the podcast Is It Just Me? with Jo Elvin and James William – available via Apple’s iTunes and other podcast providers – to promote her baby care range Fifi & Friends.