Ashley Graham very quickly went from model to model breastfeeding mom (and also still model) when son Isaac was born in January. Her social media accounts are a treasure trove of photos proving how committed she is to nourishing and bonding with her child — and the way she normalizes doing so in the public eye is cause for celebration. Her latest post to Instagram marks a new phase of breastfeeding that comes with toddlerhood, even though her baby is just 9 months old!
“Standing feedings are a thing now,” she wrote. “My big boy! He’s not walking, but crawling and pulling himself up everywhere!”
In the pic, she’s in an empty outdoor bar, sitting low enough to the ground that the little guy can stand on the ground while getting his meal. It looks surprisingly comfortable for both of them.
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As continue our admiration of Graham and her superhero body, we also want to pause to acknowledge that breastfeeding isn’t for everyone, and every parent should feel empowered to make the choice that’s right for them and their child. For Graham, though, breastfeeding appears to be just one more part of the parenting journey that she’s so openly sharing with her fans and attempting to destigmatize, just as she shared naked pregnancy photos, too.
In the August digital issue of Elle, Graham talked to fellow mama Kristen Bell about the body changes pregnancy brought. “When I look at my new stretch marks and the changes that my body went through, it reminds me that, as women, we’re all superheroes,” she said. “I’m always reminded that our bodies were built to do this. It’s such a beautiful thing to be able to give birth, but I didn’t realize it until afterward. … At first [my body’s changes] felt devastating, and then when I met Isaac, I said, ‘No, this is exactly what every woman has talked about for ages. This is not just a battle wound. This is something that has changed my life forever, and I’m going to celebrate my new body.’”
Husband Justin Ervin’s photo shoot of that body gave us evidence of its power, so even if she’s not technically breastfeeding in it, we think this belongs here:
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Just chillaxin’ by the pool? Sure, but baby Isaac looks anything but but relaxed as he lunches — just look at that iron-first grip he has on his mama’s boob.
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Here, Graham is pumping so she can give her babe the “breakfast of champions.” Also note her multi-tasking mama skills as she checks her email too.
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We had no clue that breastfeeding could look downright majestic until she shared a photo (also shot by Ervin) of herself feeding Isaac in the middle of her aunt’s farm in Nebraska for Vogue.
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Her public breastfeeding journey began when her son was two weeks old, and they introduced baby Isaac on her YouTube show, Pretty Big Deal.
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Isaac was off-screen napping for most of the show, but when he finally woke up, she plopped him on her boob and let him nurse away. Though the camera was on Ervin and away from Graham for the latch-on process, the fact that the edit was so quick makes us a wee bit jealous of how easy it seemed.
The following week, Graham shared a “coffee and milk” outing, as she and Isaac enjoyed their morning beverages at a Brooklyn café.
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The model was less glam after that, when she showed us what breastfeeding looks like for her at home. “Multitasking Sunday,” she wrote of a pic of herself in bed and on her phone as Isaac nursed. This is all such a natural extension of Graham’s willingness to bare all to her fans.
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Graham reached a new milestone in breastfeeding later in February, marking the occasion with a video on her Instagram Stories.
“First pump in an Uber,” she wrote. “Ever so slightly awkward.”
If Graham wasn’t being sarcastic about that “ever so slightly,” then she’s even more impressive than we thought, because pumping is the worst. Maybe it’s just me, but without the snuggling cute baby in hand, it feels more than slightly awkward to strip down and attach a plastic contraption to your breasts. And yet, that’s precisely how working moms like Graham can keep the breastfeeding journey going while not cutting into the other things that need to get done. When we see moms like her pulling out the pump in a car service, we can all feel so much better about doing the same.
A version of this story was originally published on February 26, 2020.
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