- New mom Ashley Graham shared a video of her pumping breast milk in an Uber on Tuesday and wrote: "Use[d] to answer emails on my uber rides, now I pump before my breasts explode."
- Graham has been praised for her refreshingly honest posts on pregnancy and motherhood, as she's shared photos of her stretch marks and changing her baby's diaper in a Staples store.
- Breastfeeding can be especially demanding in the newborn phase, which Graham demonstrated.
- New mothers have to pump when they're away from their babies to maintain their supply and to prevent their breasts from getting engorged.
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Model and body-positive advocate Ashley Graham has been refreshingly honest about the realities of motherhood since announcing the birth of her son, Isaac, in January. The new mother has been praised for posting photos and videos of her stretch marks, disposable underwear, and her breastfeeding her son in a cafe.
Now the model is educating fans and breaking taboos around pumping breast milk.
On Tuesday, Graham recorded herself manually pumping her breasts while in an Uber, and shared the video on Instagram, saying that pumping on-the-go has become a regular part of her routine.
"Use[d] to answer emails on my uber rides," the model wrote in the photo's caption, "now I pump before my breasts explode💥💦."
Use to answer emails on my uber rides, now I pump before my breasts explode💥💦
Ashley Graham posted a video of her pumping breast milk and fans loved it
Fans clearly appreciated her candor. Her video has collected more than 5 million views since she first posted it.
The popularity is likely due, in part, to how relatable the video is. Newborns eat every one to three hours, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), which can take a physical and emotional toll on mothers.
When mom and baby are apart, that's when the breast pump comes into play. Pumping allows a mother to keep up her milk supply, and it also prevents her breasts from becoming engorged, a painful condition when the breasts become full of milk when too much time passes between feedings or pumping sessions.
Mothers appreciated Ashley Graham's post and offered up tips
In the comment section of Graham's video, other mothers voiced their support and offered some practical pumping advice.
"GIRL get a Spectra pump they're portable and so quiet," wrote Eva Chen, head of fashion partnerships at Instagram. (Chen was likely referring to the brand's Spectra 9 pump.)
"The Elvie pump is a game changer!" wrote Whitney Wolfe Herd, CEO of Bumble.
Such posts help to normalize breastfeeding and pumping, something model Chrissy Teigen aimed to also accomplish when she was still breastfeeding her son, Miles, back in 2018. On Father's Day that year, musician John Legend shared a photo of his wife pumping breast milk in the car on the way to dinner. Like Graham, Teigen was applauded for helping to make pumping less taboo.
Some commenters on Graham's Instagram mquestioned why the model would post a video of something that's typically done privately.
However, Graham, who's long been a proponent of using her platform to support women, likely wasn't phased.
"Be your own kind of role model," she said in a 2016 interview with Glamour. "And remember that the women around you are women you can lift up. You can change their lives."
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Watch: There's a shady market for breast milk in the US where parents risk buying contaminated milk
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