Kristen Bell: husband Dax had to nurse my breast when I got mastitis

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Kristen Bell has that new YouTube series with advice for moms, Momsplaining. If I cared more I would watch it, but the one episode I just watched was enough. I can only take her in small doses. A lot of you love The Good Place and it gets very positive reviews so she’s got that going for her. (I tried to watch it, it wasn’t for me.) Anyway she was talking to new mom Katie Lowes (Scandal) about how new babies are strangers in their home and breastfeeding is weird or something. It just seemed like both of them were trying too hard to sound edgy. She shared this little tidbit on her show that is typical Kristen. She said that when she got mastitis, which is a blocked milk duct while nursing, husband Dax Shepard had to suck it out for her. She told all this is detail while miming it because of course she did. You can watch the video below. Her comments below start at about 3:00 in.

I’ve had mastitis three times. If it gets to be an infection it can spread to your bloodstream. I had to get on antibiotics twice. The third time I had it I was in Atlanta. We couldn’t call a doctor, and this was right after the baby stopped nursing… So I said to my husband, ‘I really need you to suck this out. We could talk about it, we could be weird about it, or you could just go ahead and nurse.’

He pulled it out. He had a cup next to him. He was pulling out and spitting into this cup, and I’ve never been more in love. In my life.

He spits he doesn’t swallow that’s what I figured out.

[From Momsplaining video via People]

After that Katie Lowes drank her own breastmilk, which I have zero problem with but they played goofy music over it and it seemed like a stunt for views.

I got mastitis just once when breastfeeding. I realized what it was, googled it, and then used hot compresses and squeezed it out myself. It never got infected bad enough for me to have to go on antibiotics. I’m not saying I wouldn’t have asked my husband to suck it out for me, but this never occurred to me. Everything I read said to use heat and massage. I don’t think it’s weird that Dax did this for her, it sounds really supportive and helpful actually. I think it’s weird that she told this story for an anecdote on her show. This is something you tell your best friend, it’s not even a good story for a party. Like a lot of the other personal stuff she shares we’re now talking about it though, so mission accomplished.

Here’s the video:

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Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard during an appearance on ABC's 'The View.'

The 24th Screen Actors Guild Awards as seen on TNT.

Photos credit: WENN and Youtube/Momsplaining/Ellen Show

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58 Responses to “Kristen Bell: husband Dax had to nurse my breast when I got mastitis”

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  1. Jack Daniels is my Patronus says:

    I had a clogged duct and my husband had to assist me as well… It happens haha

    • Sayrah says:

      My husband helped me when it was taking a while for my milk to come in with our first. This isn’t that shocking. And drinking your own breast milk, so??? I tried mine once too.

      • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

        I recall that it is quite sweet- high in galactose, I suppose.

        I got mastitis when my in-laws pressured me to leave our first baby in their care while my husband and I had a weekend away. I had pumped enough ahead of time for her, and brought the pump with me for pump & dump maintenance. Man, the fever and pain and feeling extreme general sickness- the only time I have felt sicker was when I got influenza A. Bacterial infections are no fun. My obgyn prescribed antibiotics to a pharmacy where we were, and told me to keep nursing our daughter when we returned. Seems weird that she would have been able to safely nurse, but I guess it is the soft tissue and not the milk producing apparatus that is infected.

      • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

        I recall that it is quite sweet- high in galactose, I suppose.

        I got mastitis when my in-laws pressured me to leave our first baby in their care while my husband and I had a weekend away. I had pumped enough ahead of time for her, and brought the pump with me for pump & dump maintenance. Man, the fever and pain and feeling extreme general sickness- the only time I have felt sicker was when I got influenza A. Bacterial infections are no fun. My obgyn prescribed antibiotics to a pharmacy where we were, and told me to keep nursing our daughter when we returned. Seems weird that she would have been able to safely nurse, but she did.

      • Amy Tennant says:

        I never drank mine, but I have kissed my babies after they nursed, and they had drips on their cheeks so I have inadvertently tasted it. Yes, very sweet. Like milk with extra sugar. Lollyphile makes a breast milk flavor lollipop that’s totally vegan if anyone is curious. There’s no real breast milk in it.
        My husband would probably have never done that for me no matter how much in pain I was, so good for Dax,

      • minxx says:

        OMG.. I had the same problem! Pain worse than during labor, seriously. I finally put both breasts in very, very got water and kept them there until the milk came. I never thought about using my husband and I was too sore anyway, but hey.. whatever works, mastitis is no joke.

    • Geekychick says:

      Clogged duct almost every week for the first three months of bfing! and of course he helped me, I don’t even get what’s strange about that? He massaged, nursed, held my hand when I cried, ran to drugstore, ran to store for the cabbage….my god, when I think about it, we went through a lot to succeed in ebf, but looking back-it was totally worth it! (I seriously think that my son had four colds and just once a mild fever in his two years because, in large part, of breastfeeding and moderately healthy food.)
      You’re raising a child together, you made it together, why should you go through any kind of problems or dilemma concerning your baby alone(unless you want to)? bo.

    • Sisi says:

      Lol I remember an anecdote from my ma, who made so much milk she could squirt all over the room and made the kids choke instead of feed. After a while frustration took over and she just yelled at my dad ‘MAKE IT STOP RIGHT NOOOW!’ And he was like ‘OK’.
      Lol
      It happens

    • toDaze says:

      Came on to say the 1st date night w Hubby I had while breastfeeding…I came home and little one was ENTHRALLED w new babysitter so much that he pushed me & engorged breast AWAY. (Turns out babysitter had given him his 1st M&MS, ;.Also dumbAsRocks babysitter had let little one “play w the pump parts” (for real) and the parts were all over the house disassembled. So, yes, Hubby had to “assist” and said it tasted like warm ice cream.

  2. Surely Wolfbeak says:

    I don’t care, I like her. She gets a forking pass from me.

  3. Red says:

    They are incredibly annoying and desperate for attention.

  4. minx says:

    Oh, these two.

  5. Léna says:

    I remember when a patient of my dad offered him handmade yogurts with her own breast milk. I wish I could have seen his face at that moment

  6. Jag says:

    I fully support breastfeeding babies, inducing lactation to breastfeed and/or donate milk, and also Adult Nursing Relationships, but will admit that reading that headline and the story shocked me for a second. I had to do a double take. lol

    It’s funny how ingrained some things can be regarding “you don’t talk about such things in plublic!” Thank you for writing and posting this because it gave me the chance to not listen to my mother’s voice in my head.

    As for her husband helping her, that’s wonderful. Sometimes babies can do it on their own, but what I had read was to use warm compresses, warm showers, and use a quality breast pump to get it out. Having a significant other do it is just another option, and I’m glad that she talked about it so openly.

    • Geekychick says:

      sometimes it just hurts so much that another has to do it because you just can’t make yourself do it to yourself. I was crying, weeping under the shower when I got home, my ducts were totally clogged. I felt like such a failure and without my husband’s help I’d possibly have given up and then I would feel totally down.
      It helped so much, not just with that particular problem, but it proved to me once more that we were in all of this together, clueless and confused, happy and anxious, but always together.

  7. Amaria says:

    Somehow, with a different couple I would shrug. With these two, I cringe and wonder when we’ll get their divorce announcement.

    I’m so glad you shared, Kristen. You share so much.

    • Ankhel says:

      If you think she shares a lot now… Just wait for that divorce.

      • Amaria says:

        If it happens, it’ll be a mess. Even if she goes the Goop way, with unconscious uncouplings and whatnot, there’ll be tons of TMI.
        I just realized that Bell&Shepard annoy me and Kardashian-Jenners don’t (not anymore anyway). If you outrun reality stars in thirst, it’s bad.

  8. Linda says:

    More fodder to get attention. Very thirsty.

  9. littlemissnaughty says:

    So private.

  10. JA says:

    Ok so this is weird BUT dudes congratulate when other bodily fluids are ummm consumed?? Agree I’d never share with the neighbors but yea no biggie. Breasts actually serve a purpose and it’s not to be ogled and satisfy male sexual fantasies.

  11. Newyorking says:

    Oh no, not again. These two are just so desperate for attention and it is just TMI. Social media and the like has lost all need for keeping something private, everything has to be discussed and shared. How about keeping something personal? Private? Everything doesn’t have to be up for grabs. I didn’t need to know this but obviously I clicked and am now commenting on it!!!

  12. Elena says:

    I had a plugged duct last month and just pumped or nursed every two hours. Never would occur to me to ask my husband.

    Mastitis IS an infection, not “can be.” Of course they could have gone to a doctor. There are urgent care centers and minute clinics all over. It’s their choice if they didn’t want to though.

    • Cayy says:

      This is the problem when “celebrities” give advice to “commoners.” They don’t necessarily give accurate or doctor-recommended advice.

    • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

      I said above that with the exception of influenza A, I have never felt sicker than when I had mastitis. I can’t imagine not seeking treatment. It’s a bacterial soft tissue infection, for god’s sake.

      • Jordan says:

        When I had it there was no way anyone was touching the bewb that had it. I was swollen and in so much pain. I had to go on antibiotics and was almost hospitalized. It’s much more serious than Bell describes it as.

    • Geekychick says:

      There is a clogged duct (and that can be mild, but it can be very,very serious and become mastitis), mastitis and abces(I don’t know how it’s called in English)-the last one can be result of mastitis or clogged duct.
      In any case-I had clogged ducts-and nothing helped until my husband helped. nothing. not the pedi, not the nurse (we have nurses available for the first month of the baby’s life-you call them and they’ll make a home visit the next day), the pumps of all kinds…nothing.
      I think there is no place for judgement, tbh. everyone is different, and that is ok.

  13. Littlestar says:

    I got mastitis too, luckily my sister had had it before and informed me about using hot treatments and I think maybe pumping it; I don’t remember, it was several years ago. It never occurred to me to have my husband help, yeah I don’t know about that lol.

  14. Nello says:

    Okay, I don’t have kids so I am confused…if the duct is infected and can spread to the bloodstream, doesn’t that mean there is bacteria in there? So it’s like sucking an oozing pimple with his mouth?? Ew…

  15. Anastasia says:

    I just really didn’t need to know this.

  16. Gigi LaMoore says:

    These people aren’t as happy as they try to come across as. There, I said it.

  17. Cayy says:

    I believe that these two are going through some kind of crisis. Not sure if it’s because their careers are in slumps, but they’ve partnered with Ellen DeGeneres for webisodes. (I don’t see Alexis Bledel and Vincent Kartheiser doing that.) Dax’s social media now says he is about to start a podcast. He’s said several times lately that the “industry is so hard.” They just posted on their social media about being in the Turks and Caicos. They weren’t there for a romantic/family vacation as the pictures indicate. They were shilling for Beaches Resorts. How do we know? Because Getty Images had the “professional” photos of them. (At least, they used a hashtag this time for their money grab.)

    I think about other famous couples and wonder why Kristen and Dax have this unending craving to be in the spotlight. Carey Mulligan and Marcus Mumford had a second child and we didn’t even know she was pregnant. Does anyone know the name of Cobie Smulder and Taran Killam’s child of the top of their heads? When was the last time we saw a picture of Maya Rudolph and Paul Thomas Anderson out together? I couldn’t tell you 3 things about Emily Blunt and John Krasinski’s private life. Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling had a second baby without the public knowing. It is possible to be “famous” and not share every detail with the world. These two need to chill “the fork” out.

    • Ginger says:

      THIS. They’re so cringey!

    • minx says:

      They do seem almost frantic to stay in the spotlight. I would think their management would advise them to give the public a chance to miss them.

    • Maya says:

      I agree that they do seem to be in a crisis, the constant talk about how great their marriage is/how much hard work it is is really thirsty. (Although, I wouldn’t say Kristen is in a career slump, The Good Place is very successful)

      • Cayy says:

        It’s not actually that successful. It’s critically acclaimed, but the ratings aren’t great. It’s continually listed as one of the least watched half hour comedies on TV. I think it’s been renewed because it’s only 13 episode seasons, so it’s not too expensive to produce. Plus, they aren’t paying much for the actors. Like Parks and Rec, 30 Rock, and Community, it has a “cult” following and critical success, but the ratings are usually less than the two other shows surrounding it.

      • Cayy says:

        Plus, KB has stated that she can’t be on another “series” because of her contract with The Good Place. So, she’s locked into a 13-episode series and has to look for other “options” that aren’t considered a “series.” She can do a webisode, podcast, movie, commercial, miniseries, etc.

    • Beth says:

      Yeah, they definitely love the attention but also as parents of young children maybe they do all of this cheap shilling; webisodes, vacation promos, laundry machine commercials; because it’s an easy way to make money without having to put in a lot of time away from home. Frankly if I were famous and people were offering me money to do stuff like this I’d probably go for it too over big, ambitious projects that would keep me from my kids for long periods.

      • Cayy says:

        Well, that certainly seems to be their philosophy. It doesn’t, however, seem to be the philosophy of others of KB’s age group who want to be taken “seriously” as actors. KB is competing for parts against actresses like Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Carey Mulligan, Amy Schumer, Jessica Chastain, Elisabeth Moss, Rachel McAdams, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Gina Rodriguez, Anna Kendrick, Lupita Nyong’o, Cecily Strong, Kate McKinnon, Constance Wu, America Ferrera, Ellie Kemper, Emily Blunt, Aubrey Plaza, etc. (All about KB’s age and many also have children.) Maybe, as you say, KB’s decided she won’t be seen in the same league as those and is just going for the money. No shame in needing money, but it’s an interesting route to take.

        KB and DS also make money through property purchases. (Maybe Ellen DeGeneres gave them advice on this.) Here’s an interesting article about one of their purchases in Mid-City. http://www.laweekly.com/news/why-los-angeles-hates-hollywood-6534646

    • J.Mo says:

      The people you mentioned could be considered “artists,” Kristen Bell and Dax Shephard are entertainers or performers.
      Cayy, I don’t think she has a shot at roles among the actresses you listed. I’m not a fan or a hater, but she’s a tv or comedy/romcom performer.

  18. Jordan says:

    I had mastitis! I had to go on antibiotics and was almost hospitalized. It’s awful. I couldn’t lift my 8 lb baby. Felt like I had the flu.

    Still loathe this woman no matter what common ground she tries to put herself on with the rest of the world. 🙂

  19. Willow says:

    She did all that work for the SAGS and GGs and despite her show being critically acclaimed, she was paid dust. Now she is in some weird hyper overshare, overdrive that will end it tears.

  20. India Rose says:

    This is the kind of stuff no one talks about but is helpful to know. Especially when you’re a sleep-deprived new mom with no idea what you’re doing and spend most days crying and googling about boobs.

    Back when I was breastfeeding, I forgot my pump and spent half an hour milking myself into the bathroom sink. Sort of like a cow, but with less dignity. Like Ben Stiller showing how to milk a cat in “Meet the Parents”. When Robert DeNiro says, “I have nipples, Greg, think you could milk me?” I think hell yeah, I could milk you with my little thumbs and forefingers, DeNiro. It will be moderately uncomfortable, but you’ll be better off than having rock hard baseball boobs that hurt when you breathe. You can thank me in the morning, DeNiro.

  21. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    I made so much stinkin’ milk, I could simply bend over and milk rivers would flow. If I actually used my hands to squeeze, I could hose down the garage. The engorgement would hurt ferociously, but both the hubs and I would’ve gagged had he suckled for my milk lol ew. Fine for others of course, we’re just not built that way.

  22. NotSoSocialButterfly says:

    Okay, I just watched the video and found it poignantly funny. Guess I’m not as supersaturated with Bell as some are.

  23. psl says:

    Who needed to know this?

  24. Veronica says:

    I’m of two minds on this.

    On one hand, I think we should be more honest and open about the reality of women’s bodies, instead of treating them like bizarre commodities that are only worthwhile as sexual objects. Breast ducts get blocked. You do what you have to do.

    On other hand, I could have lived forever without knowing this much about these two.

  25. Jamie says:

    Oh God mastitis is so painful! It feels like your boob is on fire. I remember trying to position the baby just in the right spot on the nipple so that he’d be pulling from the part that was clogged up. That wouldn’t be an option though if the baby had stopped nursing, and then I could see asking my husband for help if I was desperate enough! It’s kind of a funny story, at least to me. From my experience the pump wouldn’t do it because it’d be hard to position it just right, and massaging and hot compresses helped a little but having some suction right on that area works best.

  26. LIONOHHHH86 says:

    Gross. Isn’t mastitis an infection?

  27. Snowflake says:

    I love this couple. To me, they come across as real, not thirsty.

  28. MissAmerica says:

    Dude, wtf. Are you all kidding me? I would NEVER let or force my husband to do that. That’s absolutely gross and frankly, unladylike in my opinion. I think I’d rather leave some mystery between us. Ok and even if someone has that type of experience, why are you sharing you? Now I have a disgusting visual of Dax Shepherd suckling at Kristen Bell’s lactating boobs. Not a good image. It’s like a fetish porno image.