Serena: Why I stopped breast feeding my girl
SERENA Williams yesterday opened up about how she stopped breastfeeding her daughter after six months because it caused her to gain weight.
The seven-time tennis champion spoke about the emotional decision to give up nursing as she prepared for her Wimbledon comeback.
She said the old adage that new mothers lose weight by breast feeding is false and that she actually dropped 10lbs almost immediately after stopping.
‘It was interesting because all these articles over pop culture, you hear when you breastfeed you lose weight, and you’re so thin,’ she said, adding: ‘ That wasn’t happening to me... I didn’t know that it wasn’t true.’
The 36-year- old gave birth to her first child, Alexis Olympia, in September and took more than a year off.
She said she planned to stop breastfeeding in January but then continued until April before being advised by her team to stop in order to get into shape.
The mother of one said: ‘I was vegan. I didn’t eat sugar. I literally have my chef [cook] total vegan.
‘Not French fry- eating vegan. Totally eating completely healthy. I wasn’t at the weight that I would have been had I not.’ She added: ‘For my body it didn’t work. No matter how much I worked out, no matter how much I did, it didn’t work for me.’
Miss Williams said once her daughter was six months old she finally felt she was able to stop nursing. ‘ Then it was just emotionally letting go,’ she said.
‘That was a different thing. I literally sat Olympia in my arms, I talked to her, we prayed about it.
‘I told her, “Look, I’m going to stop. Mommy has to do this”. I cried a little bit, not as much as I thought I would. She was fine.’
Miss Williams added: ‘After that, like literally I lost ten pounds in a week. It was crazy. I just kept dropping... that’s when I learned that everything was different.’
Miss Williams, who wore a stunning catsuit at the French Open in tribute to mothers who have had difficult pregnancies like her, added: ‘I wanted to say that so women out there know that’s not true.
‘Everyone takes things different. I think it’s important for us to share that message.’
Breastfeeding has long been associated with post- childbirth weight loss and is said to burn between 300 and 500 calories a day for the mother. Women are advised to feed babies only breast milk until they are six months old by the World Health Organisation, the NHS and the Royal College of Midwives. Breastfed babies are less likely to become obese as the milk has a lower fat content than formula.
Miss Williams, who is married to tech millionaire Alexis Ohanian and was among the guests at the recent Royal Wedding, took her daughter onto Centre Court last week and shared the touching moment on social media.
She said it was the first time she had taken Alexis to a Grand Slam event venue.
‘I got a little emotional when I was telling her a story about a girl who had a big dream. I started getting choked up. I never felt that before, you know. Just taking all that moment and having the opportunity to share it with my daughter and my future.
‘I’ve been to the other Grand Slam [tournaments], but I never actually brought her on-site.
‘ This was the first one. Obviously it was really special for me. I wanted it to be special for her, too.’
Miss Williams is due to play her first match this afternoon on Court One against Dutch player Arantxa Rus.
It marks the first step towards her bid for an eighth Wimbledon singles title.