Nicole Richie appears on the cover of this week’s People with baby Harlow, and the little six week old is super cute and aware-looking.

In the excerpt of the article available on People’s website, Richie talks about breastfeeding and having to limit the type of foods she eats so that her baby isn’t colicky. In my experience and from what my friends report it’s true that what the mother eats affects the breastmilk, particularly in the first few weeks. This gradually goes away after a few months after which you can start adding foods back into your diet.

My son was very fussy until I cut out milk and bread. While some people say that it doesn’t matter what the mother eats and cite the spicy food and diets of different cultures, proteins from the mother’s diet do pass into the milk, especially in the first few weeks and months. I’m really glad that Richie mentioned this because it’s come up with several of my friends with their first babies and doesn’t get much attention.

“It’s almost like I don’t even remember what life was like before her. She gives life a whole new meaning and a whole new purpose.”

As for breastfeeding, “There’s just so much I can’t eat because she’s sensitive,” says the new mom, 26. “I eat really bland [food] – chicken noodle soup, vegetables, fish. I had to cut out milk, no tomatoes, no lettuce. You think you have to cut everything out when you’re pregnant, but you really have to cut everything out when you’re breastfeeding.”

And while Richie says, “I don’t know” how long she was in labor, “because I don’t know what time I actually went into labor, but I pushed for 10 minutes,” Madden, 28, said of his daughter: “She came out and she was crying. The doctor goes, ‘Well, it looks like you got a little girl!’ “

[From People.com]

The Journal of the American Medical Association says that pregnant and breastfeeding women should be careful not to eat peanuts because they can possibly cause peanut allergies in their children. From my anecdotal experience again, this is true. There were two women in my La Leche League meetings who had children with peanut allergies and said they frequently snacked on peanut butter sandwiches when their babies were little.

Congratulations to Joel and Nicole. Seeing that cute little one reminds me how quickly the time passes. Good for her for speaking candidly about breastfeeding and having to limit your diet. I know this made me lose weight quickly after my son was born as I subsisted on turkey, chicken and rice for a couple of months. I never quite got as thin as Nicole is now, though.

Nicole Richie and Joel Madden (mostly Nicole) have received a lot of passive-aggressive criticism in the press for the amount of time they’ve spent attending social events since the birth of their daughter Harlow on January 11th. Several websites have called them “Part-time parents.” Today Page Six noted:

NICOLE Richie and Joel Madden’s nanny must be raking in some serious overtime to watch the Hollywood party couple’s new baby, Harlow Winter Kate Madden. During the Grammys weekend, the couple went to several parties each night for hours. Last weekend, Richie and Madden once again left their tot at home to spend some quality time with Joel’s brother Benji and Lindsay Lohan at Teddy’s in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. They didn’t rush home until the end of the evening - “It’s almost as if they aren’t parents,” said a spy.

[From Page Six]

Are they bad parents, or is the press being too hard on the couple? A lot of people speculated that Nicole wouldn’t make a good mother because of her wild-child ways. She certainly was a regular fixture on the party circuit, and didn’t have the reputation of being the kindest person. However she did seem to truly mellow once she became pregnant – which a lot of people attributed to Joel’s influence. Considering that Joel is in a band, I would think that making appearances around Grammy time is pretty important. Should the couple have stayed home regardless? Are they putting partying ahead of spending time with their daughter? It seems like they weren’t out getting drunk and club hopping – they were attending award parties.

I’ve always heard that it’s incredibly hard for most mothers to leave their newborns home with a sitter for the first time. Several articles have said Nicole seems to have no problem with it, considering she was out and about without Harlow two weeks after her birth. It’s hard to say if people’s expectations are unfair, or if they’re assuming the worst about Nicole because of her pre-baby days. In Hollywood it certainly is more the norm to leave your kids with a nanny. But the “spy’s” comment that “It’s almost as if they aren’t parents,” seems harsh and ridiculous. If they do anything that doesn’t involve their kid in the first month, that means they’re not parents? It’s safe to assume that Grammy parties are important for Joel’s job. Most dad’s don’t stay home from work for the first month of their kid’s life. I would bet that Harlow has gotten to spend more time with her parents than a lot of babies. And though I’m never one to defend Nicole Richie, it’d be alright if people backed off a bit. They’re allowed a little time for themselves too.

Here’s Nicole at the LACMA’s Opening Celebration of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum on February 9th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Speculation is rife that Christina Aguilera and that guy she’s married to were paid $1.5 million for the first pictures of new son Max. Harlow Winter Madden is worth about half that, although no figure has been put on what the price might have been if the babies had appeared on the cover together.

Jennifer Lopez is set to make $4-6 million for her twins, which is similar to the high sum paid for Shiloh Jolie-Pitt’s debut, which earned a whopping $4.1 million. Her adopted sibling was not considered as cute at age four as a baby, and was worth about half that.

Why do babies make so much money for magazine covers? Is it because celebrities demand that much compensation for losing their private life? (Not that this stops them complaining later when paparazzi try to take pictures of the same child.) It’s because their covers sell.

“We just do tremendously well on the newsstand when we’ve got celebrity babies on the cover,” says Caperton (Kate, OK! magazine deputy editor), “because people love being with their favorite stars in these really important moments in their lives.”

Setting up a safe shoot with a guaranteed paycheck works out well for the parents, too.

“It’s more beneficial for celebrities to cooperate with a company like us to do their baby pictures versus not doing it, because then paparazzi will chase them and will not stop until they get the picture of that celebrity with the baby,” (Roxanne, Getty Images) Motamedi says. “But once the pictures are out, there is really no value of paparazzi chasing them and trying to get the baby shot.”

New York Daily News

Is it because we love to see how mum’s looking post-birth? They usually look way better than anyone else. There is a reason new mothers rarely send out pictures of mother and baby together in those first few days – the baby looks cute and they look like they’ve been through Hell. Probably because they have.

Or is it just because we all love babies?

Of course, babies don’t have to be fodder for checkbook journalism. Vanity Fair didn’t pay anything for rights to the first photos of Suri Cruise, daughter of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. But that September 2006 issue still sold 60% more copies on newsstands than the average for that half of the year. The sell-through was such an anomaly that the title was forced to warn against comparing September 2006 sales with the abnormally successful issue a year prior.

Plenty of editors say paying up will pay you back. “It depends on what the cost is, but it’s a nice positive antidote to the more crazy celebrity stories that go on,” said Sarah Ivens, editor in chief of OK, part of Richard Desmond’s Northern & Shell empire.

AdAge

Oh, I like that idea. I’d much rather see a baby than Britney Spears looking like a train wreck. Interestingly, Britney the train wreck must sell more magazines than her son Sean Preston, when he featured on the cover of People sales were down 15%.

Interestingly, I love babies more than ice cream, but actually couldn’t care less about a picture of one. That could be anyone’s child, one baby is pretty hard to tell from another. That’s why they are so careful putting name tags on them in the hospital. Partly because they can’t talk, but mostly due to the fact it’s hard to tell them apart.

So, I’m sensing a business opportunity here. I have a particularly cute baby at my place. Blue eyed, smiles lots, has a reasonable amount of dark hair, but not like the crazy mop Suri Cruise had. Wanna hire her? Just in case your ugly celebrity baby isn’t up to the pictures. The bidding starts at $1 million – that should pay for her and her siblings to go to college.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Remember these baby pictures of Shiloh? They were a big deal when they came out in June, 2006 and were featured in People and Hello!.

It seems that the Madden brothers, Good Charlotte rockers Joel and Benji, can really attract hot women. Firstly there’s Sophie Monk, who is hot. I remember when she first came to the public’s attention in the girl group Bardot (link leads to video) – she was steamin’. The band was lame, Australia’s first fabricated band that was a complete Spice Girls rip off.

Now it seems, in bad news for single women everywhere, that she and Benji have split. The rumors first surfaced in December, and were denied by his rep, but now her rep has confirmed it.

“Sophie and Benji have officially split. The decision was mutual and they remain amicable,” Kim’s statement read. “This will be my only statement regarding this matter.”

Daily Telegraph

That’s kind of sad. They met in mid-2006 and got engaged six months later. Amicable is the usual publicists’ line, I think we can pretty safely assume that they have definitely parted permanently, not just ended their engagement.

However, things are going very well for Joel Madden and his sexy missus.

“It’s really hard being away from her. I think after having Harlow we are already in love with being parents,” he said. “It’s cool to watch Harlow with Nicole because they already have a real special bond. It’s cute. I have my own little bond with her too.”

As far as Madden’s bond with Richie, that’s stronger than ever too. “She’s a wonderful mother and she looks really hot already,” he said. “The girl is gifted, man. Women hate her because she looks good being pregnant and then has the baby and looks sexy. There’s something so attractive about her now. It’s a motherly glow.”

People

Aw, that’s such a nice thing to say. Nicole does look really good post-baby, a lot better than she did pre-pregnancy. Of course, it just raises the bar for all the other mummies out there who are more slummy then yummy. And that, Joel, is actually why we hate her. It makes more work for us!

Us Weekly are reporting that Joel and Nicole have gone to four parties in two days, although it seems on they just went out for a couple of hours each night. They didn’t even hire a sitter, but apparently relied on Grandma. Awww.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Benji Madden and Sophie Monk are shown out at lunch on at “Newsroom” in Beverly Hills, and heading to the parking lot afterwards. They definitely look like there’s something wrong in these pictures, but I didn’t realize until after I downloaded them that they’re a year old, from 2/5/07. Sorry about that, I saw February and assumed it was this year. Thanks to Splash News for these pictures.

I will admit that I have bashed Nicole Richie. On several occasions. On “The Simple Life” I’ve seen her act in ways that I’ve considered downright rude and never amusing, mostly to kids. So the thought of her having her own kid to taunt seemed like a pretty bad idea to me. However her fiancé Joel Madden seems to have been a good influence on her. They started a joint children’s charity, for which they’ve been really active in just the six months its been around. Now according to a little blurb in Star, Richie was incredibly gracious to both the staff and other patients at the hospital where she recently gave birth to daughter Harlow.

There’s no doubt about it - nine out of 10 hospital nurses prefer Nicole Richie to Christina Aguilera! Both starlets had their babies at L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in January, but only one of them made friends. “Nicole was a big hit with the nurses and the other women giving birth,” says a source. “She bought six other mothers having babies the same day ‘push gifts,’ including gift certificates to Target, teddy bears, balloons and a card wishing them luck. She also had all of the nurses in stitches with her wry humor” Meanwhile, Christina was not so nice, says the source. “The nurses were happy to see her go!”

[From Star, Feb. 11th 2008, print edition]

Somehow I would have expected the reverse to be true. Christina has the reputation of being a bit of a diva, and Nicole a bit of a bitch. But somehow I would have expected Christina to have been the classier of the two. Though to be fair, if I ever have to push a human being out of my body, I fully intend on being a raging bitch. Nicole has either really turned a new leaf or she’s at least hired an incredible publicist. I’ve heard almost nothing but good things about her in the last six months. Let’s hope she keeps it up and is a great mom.

Thanks to BuzzFoto for the header image.

Nicole Richie stepped out looking gorgeous just two weeks after giving birth to her first child, Harlow. She looked fabulous at the birthday party for music executive Bennie Medina. Nicole and her fiancé Joel Madden were spotted out earlier that day at baby store The Pumping Station probably purchasing supplies to help ease the transition for their baby for their first night away.

Star Magazine has a funny story about how Nicole tried to prepare for her upcoming role as a mother by asking to babysit her friends’ children. It doesn’t sound like she was successful in convincing anyone to let her watch their kids:

Nicole Richie was so scared to be a new mommy that she tried to get in some practice before the January 11 birth of her daughhter, Harlow. “Right before she had her baby, Nicole called up a bunch of friends and asked if she could borrow their kids for a day, so she could play with them and see what it was like to have a child,” says an insider. “But most of Nicole’s friends were really freaked out and didn’t like the idea of handing over their little ones so she could play mommy for the day.”

[From Star Magazine, February 4, 2008]

Maybe everyone was too busy to arrange for Nicole to babysit, or maybe this story is total bullshit, it’s from Star after all, but you could see Nicole doing this. She seems like she really prepared for the birth of her baby and that getting some hands-on experience with children would be something she would try to do. It’s a great idea for a new mother. We were talking in another thread about Jessica Alba’s fear of breastfeeding about how pregnant moms should go to a La Leche league meeting before their babies are born. It seems smart to prepare for your new baby in ways that help you feel more comfortable and ready. I know that once mine arrived it was a lot of work, but that most of it came naturally, and other mothers would probably agree.

Thanks to BuzzFoto for the header image, and Just Jared for the description of Nicole and Joel’s first night out post baby.

Nicole Richie and Joel Madden’s relationship was so troubled that they not only did they call off their wedding, they were about to break up before their baby was born, claims The Enquirer. Joel was said to be upset with Nicole for refusing to stop working before the birth and was about to end the relationship, but after the baby was born they realized that their problems were insignificant and decided to make it work. The way The Enquirer describes it makes it sound kind of sweet. Still, these two have had a reportedly tumultuous relationship so it’s not likely that everything was magically fixed once newborn Harlow arrived:

“Nicole wouldn’t get off her feet and stop working, despite warnings from friends, family and Joel to take it easy,” said another source.

“She was obsessed with getting the recording of her first CD underway.”

Nicole also threw herself into the couple’s charity - the Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation - and became consumed with baby showers and planning the wedding.

“Finally, Joel said enough is enough. He told Nicole that if she wouldn’t listen to him about something as important as their child, the wedding was off,” said the source.

“Nicole was blindsided, but Joel didn’t feel he had any other option. He was ready to walk.”

“Happily, everything changed when Nicole delivered their healthy, 6-pound, 7-ounce daughter at L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

“Cradling the baby, Nicole looked up into Joel’s eyes and whispered: ‘I’m so sorry. I love you,’” said the friend. “From that point on, all was forgiven and the wedding was back on.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, January 28, 2008]

It sounds like typical pre-baby stress and maybe Nicole wanted to make sure she had accomplished everything she wanted to beforehand so that she could relax and focus on the baby. There was a story that the wedding was postponed because Nicole was warned not to get too stressed over it while she was pregnant. Joel has pledged to marry Nicole and told Ryan Seacrest that “Obviously, marriage is in our future,” but that he he didn’t “know when or where or how, but right now our priority is our family and is the baby.” Now if they do go through with it they’ll have a little ring-bearer to celebrate with them. Their two dogs are also said to be walking down the aisle in little custom-made costumes.

Harlow Winter Kate Madden has yet to make her first public appearance and everyone is wondering which magazine will get the first photos.

A colleague of my husband’s had his first child last week, and hubs reported the man had “That goofy new dad face” on. Joel Madden just lost 50% of his street cred with this gushing post on his website. It’s absolutely adorable!

Well I am finally home with my beautiful girlfriend and our brand new little daughter. Harlow Winter Kate Madden was born on January 11th 2008 at 3:13pm. She weighed in at 6 pounds and 7 ounces. She is 19 inches long and growing everyday already! She really is a wonderful addition to the GC/DCMA/DEADEXEC family.We are so blessed to have this beautiful little baby in our lives.

I want to thank everyone for all the love and kind words they’ve sentour way. We apologize we werent accepting and gifts/cards/calls at the hospital, but if you’d like to send something, we’d rather you make a donation to the Richie-Madden Foundation, which we started in Harlow Winter’s honor.

She looks so much like her mom its crazy! She eats like a little maniac and shes really sweet. She barely ever cries, even when daddy is changing her diaper, and believe me i suck when it comes to diapers, but I’m learning! I cant wait to show off some pictures, until then, THANKS!! and GOD BLESS…

Joel

It’s clear to me that Joel has discovered already one of the special secrets of daddy-hood - pretend incompetence to get out of changing nappies. I’m assuming it’s not going to take long for Nicole to learn the secret of the mommy-hood: It doesn’t matter how badly it’s done, the man must help!

Another gushing grandfather has also, er, gushed? Lionel Richie has releasea this statement about his granddaughter.

While it may take me a moment to adjust to being called granddad, I am extremely happy and proud of Nicole and Joel.

Lionel added that,

Harlow Winter Kate Madden, the newest and most beautiful addition to the Richie clan, is a lucky little girl. She was surrounded by a great deal of love at that hospital as she entered the world. Nicole and Joel are going to be wonderful parents.

Celebrity Baby Blog

Aww, it gives me the warm and fuzzies.

A friend of Nicole’s says that she won’t be rushing to lose her pregnancy pounds, and that she “quite likes those extra curves.” I think that it’s great she won’t be bowing to pressure to lose the weight, although there almost seems pressure on mums to embrace their weight gain and those extra pounds are a badge of honour. I’m sure she looks great. Actually she probably looks sleep deprived, but that’s nothing a little make up and six weeks sleep can’t fix.

Given all the gushing that’s going about this baby, one would have thought a few pictures have been taken by the proud family? None have surfaced yet - who got the exclusive deal? People? In Touch? Let’s see how much this baby is worth!

Picture note by Celebitchy: Nicole Richie and Joel Madden are shown at the Launch of the Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation at Los Angeles Free Clinic in Hollywood on 12/3/07, thanks to WENN.

It looks like it’s no longer neck and neck… or in this case uterus and uterus… between who will give birth first, Christina Aguilera or Nicole Richie. Us Weekly is reporting that Nicole, 26, is in labor at Cedars-Sinai right now. Christina was widely believed to be due before Nicole, though these things obviously aren’t an exact science.

Nicole Richie is giving birth. Joel Madden was spotted walking into the delivery area of L.A.’s Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was overheard saying, “She’s going to start pushing soon.”

Bro Benji is also there. She entered the hospital through a secret entrance late Thursday, a source tells Us.

[From Us Weekly]

Us is also reporting that Nicole’s mom Brenda Harvey, dad Lionel Richie, and half-sister, Sophia have arrived at the hospital, and were escorted by security officers. They did erroneously refered to Brenda as Lionel’s wife- the pair divorced in 1993. But I’m going to assume the rest of the report is accurate, and they’re just so excited over at Us Weekly that they can’t focus. I’m really hoping for a birth-off between Christina and Nicole, a la Katie Holmes and Brooke Shields.

UPDATE BY JAYBIRD: Nicole and Joel’s rep at Handprint Entertainment announced that Nicole has given birth to a baby girl and has already left Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with the newborn, a mere hours after arriving. They named their daughter Harlow Winter Kate Madden. She weighed 6 lbs., 7 oz.

“The beautiful healthy baby girl left the hospital with her ecstatic parents,” says the rep, who confirmed the birth to PEOPLE exclusively.

[From People]

Congratulations to Nicole, Joel, and their families!

Nicole Richie is going to pop out baby Madden any day now - and she’s scared of giving birth.

Nicole Richie is terrified of childbirth. The closer she gets to her delivery date the more her anxiety she’s building up. She’s afraid of the pain and obsessing over all the bad things that might happen. To get a grip on herself she’s being treated by the same hypnotist who’s helped her in the past to give up smoking. This specialist has worked with a lot of Hollywood clients who need to deal with dieting or with assorted addictions, including drugs. He’s helping Nicole to relax and stay calm and think positive thoughts as the big day approaches.

Janet Charlton

Nicole Richie is terrified of giving birth, and I don’t think this is unreasonable at all. Next time you see a little newborn baby, which is tiny and cute sure, but not THAT tiny. Think about how big the baby is and then think about the size of the exit passage, then buy yourself a big pack of condoms. Someone should have told Jamie Lynn Spears about this.

Reports are circulating that Nicole Richie and baby daddy Joel Madden have moved in together in Los Angeles, preparing for the birth of their child. Which is really nice, for some reason I just really like this couple. They seem so normal, but waaay cooler than most people.

The wee baby the couple are expecting is a boy, as revealed by Nicole’s father Lionel. I actually think the kid will be a girl, and that Lionel Richie was just trying to throw us off the scent! Can we gamble this online somewhere?

I can’t wait for this baby to be born. Not because babies are cute, but because I’m betting Nicole will lose that baby weight in days. Two weeks tops. And then when Paris Hilton has a baby there will be a big contest to see if she can lose the weight faster. Sure, you might think this is stupid, but you have clearly never been in a room with a group of new mothers. They also compare birth stories. And nipples.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Nicole Richie and Joel Madden are shown at the launch of the Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation at Los Angeles Free Clinic in Hollywood on December 3rd. Thanks to WENN.