Tamron Hall is preparing for her new eponymous talk show in September. She announced the show last October. This is fantastic news, of course, since Tamron is a respected and engaging journalist. The first week of March, Tamron announced that she had, at some point, married her boyfriend Steven Greener and that she was 32-weeks pregnant. Tamron is 48 years old and told People that in addition to her age, there were other medical factors that made hers a high-risk pregnancy. She’d sought fertility treatments in her 30s but was not successful so when she finally got pregnant last year, she was too afraid of losing the baby to announce it. Fortunately, she had a healthy pregnancy and gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Moses on April 24th. But, like most mothers, Tamron has met her share of challenges since giving birth. One that took a toll was not producing enough milk to feed her son.
Despite the long road it took to get her baby boy Moses finally into her arms, Tamron Hall admits she feels “insecure” about being a new mom at times.
“I went into this thinking, ‘Breastfeeding is my goal, but if it doesn’t work, fine. There’s formula. I’m going to look at this rationally,’” recalls Hall, 48, of the time ahead of Moses’ April 24 arrival. “But cut to three weeks later, and I’m not able to pump out enough milk, and my supply just isn’t there.”
“And I’m getting freaked out by, ‘Is he drinking enough?’ Because you can’t measure milk from your body,” she continues. “When he was crying, I’m thinking, ‘Is it because he’s starving?’ The anxiety went from my feet all the way up, and it affected my production of milk. It affected my self-esteem.”
It was even more difficult for the former Today host to deal with when she saw other moms succeeding at milk production, finding it hard not to compare her own situation.
“Jessica Simpson posted something showing how much breast milk she had produced, and I was shaking my fists at the sky like, ‘Jessicaaaa Simpsonnnn! You and your milk supply!’ ” Hall jokes. “[Husband Steven Greener] came home one day and said, ‘Are you okay?’ I was just lost behind the eyes because something I swore three weeks ago would not break me had, in fact, broken me. I was feeling so insecure.”
“A mentally healthy mom is best, and this was breaking me down,” she reveals to PEOPLE. “I started calling all my friends who have breastfed, and a couple of them confessed to me, ‘Listen, at night I gave formula so I could sleep.’ I’m like, ‘You’re just telling me this now? I’m about to knock back a bottle of Jack Daniels!’ “
“You see how afraid we are of being judged, and then when I would get one-on-one with my friends, we’d all peel back those masks that we put on as women, as moms, and suddenly we’re all the same,” she says.
A lot of what Tamron said is so relatable. There have been countless times that I swore something wouldn’t bother me only to have it cripple me with insecurity once it happened. Of course, everything is compounded when you add crazy postpartum hormones, which I think is one of the reasons breastfeeding affects new moms so much. That and, as Tamron said, we assume we’re being judged even if we aren’t. It’s important that we do keep speaking up about these issues. It’s not just so others know they are not alone or not doing anything wrong, but so we can share information and solutions as well.
There is kind of an unwritten assumption that if you have a baby after struggling, you aren’t supposed to complain about anything. That’s not true and I’m glad Tamron is not adhering to it. Just like Tamron talking about leaving NBC in 2017 when they gave her spot to Megyn Kelly. Leaving freed her up, she met her husband, had Moses and landed this new show she calls her dream job. And all of that is wonderful, but she still gets to complain about how she was treated on the Today show. I’m thrilled for Tamron and her new family and I can’t wait to help support her new talk show in September.
Photo credit: Instagram and WENN Photos
I’m so happy for her.
48 & no wrinkles in sight. How????
I was unable to breastfeed. i had my daughter 9 weeks early and due to my PCOS I couldn’t produce enough milk. I felt terrible, like it was my fault.
My mother couldn’t and I tell her (now) that it all turned out fine! And I can only imagine how much better formula is now than it was in the 1970s….
For Fark’s sake, why on earth are we not prepared for the fact that breast feeding is NOT a given. Why oh why are we not prepared for this!!! I honestly can’t understand. So much of the unexpected can happen. So much. I look forward to a time women are more gentle and loving with themselves. So many ladies have so many unexpected things happen. So many. There is no shame in having difficulties. None whatsoever.
I can totally relate to being jealous of my friends who described themselves as “cows” for how much milk they produced. I did pretty well but had to use formula at some point with all 3 of my kids and the sadness and frustration were awful.
I’m one of the ones that always joked and complained about the udder syndrome, leaking at our get-togethers, milk letting down every damn time I heard a baby cry, and I remember those that didn’t produce enough milk. We laughed, joked and cried about everything and never imagined not being supportive, I was lucky. When my milk came in after each kid, the pain was unbearable. In fact, for a couple of months after each kid, my breasts were completely black and blue…I looked like I was in a major car crash. My first baby ate so much my nipples cracked and bled like severely chapped lips.
I believe all of us go through so much, it’s horrifying we have to endure criticism. I remember bawling my eyes out because I hated being ‘on call’ 24/7, but unlike moms who felt bad not producing enough, but holding down jobs on top of everything, I walked around in robes as a stay-at-home mom with bewbs hanging out. I was so jealous of super moms because I felt like a bovine with the brain of one as well lol. We need each other!
I am currently on month 11 of breastfeeding and I honestly can’t imagine how someone like her could possibly pump given her unique work schedule!
Meh…I had exactly the same problem and I did not care about the ‘shoulds’, my baby was losing weight and that was my focus. She breastfed all the way to 10 months, I don’t think she ever got much but loved the contact and was supplimented with formula. It didn’t break me cause I don’t give a sh_t what other mothers say.
Aw, this is happy news! I really like Tamron. Moses is a cutie pie.
As someone who tried and failed and has accepted that failure, the thought of having a baby at 48 scares the sh*t out of me! It’s not clear from this whether Moses was a surprise or the result of continuous attempts to become pregnant.
I really like her and hope her new show does well!
I appreciate all of the celebrity ladies who are being honest about this. I almost killed myself trying to nurse all 3 of mine. A ton of pressure is on new moms to exclusively breast feed, and yes you will be shamed if you can’t or don’t want to. “Don’t you want what’s best for your baby?????” Says every nurse, pediatrician and lactation consultant from day one. I tried everything to boost my milk, whether it seemed legit or old wife’s tale-y… herbs, oatmeal every morning, eat this, don’t eat that. I had screaming babies, thrush, mastitis, and was anxious and depressed. It seems like all my friends “just did it”, with minimal drama. After all, “it’s natures way!!!”. Ugh. I started formula after a few months of hell and despite the guilt, things improved. You could not pay me enough to go through that again. We say that new moms have a choice in this, but I certainly did not feel that way! Having a newborn is hard enough without that kind of pressure!
That’s unfortunate that you were made to feel that way by professionals who are supposed to help you. I’m in the medical field and we’re taught that the most important this is the baby’s health and ensuring they’re growing adequately. There are a variety of reasons mothers can’t breastfeed or have low milk production, including significant blood loss, hormone dysregulation, poor latching by baby, etc. None of which is your fault. Everyone’s body is different. Supplementation is key when a baby isn’t growing well and mothers shouldn’t be shamed for needing to resort to that. Plus, breastfeeding is encouraged despite supplementation, but it can be difficult to manage all that. 6 months of exclusive is recommended, but a lot of mothers supplement within that time. Ultimately, it’s a mother’s choice to breastfeed or not if they are even able to. There’s benefits to baby of course, but also breast and ovarian cancer risk reduction and weight loss for mother.
I didn’t have enough for either of my children and it made me feel awful. Fortunately, in Canada I had access to domperidone which is an anti-nausea drug but is prescribed off-label for increased milk supply. I couldn’t get it in the States when I lived there so I had to bum it off my Canadian friends.
Seriously? You can’t get domperidone in the States? With my first, I had tons of milk but with my second, not so much. I was prescribed domperidone and it saved us. The second ended up nursing until 18 months. He just wouldn’t give up the boob. I’m not sure if he was getting much milk by that age. Maybe he just liked the comfort, but I finally had to just pull him off, cold turkey. Mama had had enough.
I took domperidone with my 2nd baby. A friend that is a physician prescribed it. The medication has to be compounded and was very expensive. I was able to order it from Canada at a much cheaper cost. The effects on lactation were immediate. I went from pumping 12 ounces daily to 32 ounces. I managed to exclusively pump until my daughter was 8 months. I quit pumping because it was seriously taking a roll on my mental health. I agree fed is best.
Fed is best. Do what you gotta do. When standing in a room of ten year olds there is no way you can tell which was breast fed and which wasn’t. You can tell which is a total a$$hole, which parent doesn’t pay attention to their kid, and who comes from a loving home, but not which one was breastfed. People need to stop the mom shaming.
Exactly. I think moms were better off in some ways before the Internet, because it’s so much easier to whip yourself up into a frenzy over whether you’re doing the “right” thing for your kid. Is your baby still alive? Is it thriving (i.e. gaining weight and slowly getting bigger)? If so, you’re doing fine.
This is so true!
And yet I was still ashamed that my body didn’t produce enough milk to feed my kids, despite knowing formula is just fine. Society puts expectations in our heads that we don’t even realize are there until we are forced to face them.
I applaud Tamron for being so open and honest about a very sensitive subject. Breastfeeding is hard. Very hard. Especially if you can’t produce enough in the beginning. The stress of underproducing doesn’t help, either. My LO is 7 months on Friday and I am still breastfeeding mornings/evenings and pumping during the day. My cousin couldn’t produce enough so I’m pumping for mine and her 3 month old. I work full time. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It takes a toll on your body and mind. I say we all do what’s best for our family, whether its BF or formula, or a combination of both. As long as your baby is growing it doesn’t matter!
Lele, you are an angel. I wish I’d had a cousin like you when I was struggling to feed my first … you’ll always have a special bond with that cousin and her little one.