Keira Knightley: If I don’t pump when I’m away from my baby my boobs explode

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Kiera Knightly and husband James Righton welcomed their second daughter, Delilah, in September. (Show of hands, who now has the Plain White T’s song stuck in their head? *raises hand*) James and Keira also have a four-year-old named Edie. Now that Delilah (hey there!) is seven weeks old, Keira is back working and promoting her film, Official Secrets, about an Iraq war intelligence translator turned whistleblower. During her interviews and red carpets, Keira’s let little bits and pieces about her new baby leak out. Literally, it turns out, as Keira is producing so much more milk this go round, she hits critical mass if she doesn’t pump.

Despite outward appearances for work engagements and otherwise, Knightley insists she’s having to take life day by day and schedule pumping for her newborn’s feedings strategically.

“We’re going to be apart for six hours in total, so I pumped three feeds’ worth,” she says in the interview, joking of using the breast pump, “If I don’t do it my boobs will explode.”

“I mean, quite literally. It’s going everywhere,” Knightley continues, also sharing that she is taking six months of maternity leave. “So, you know, that’s not happening. The pump is with me. It’s fine.”

Earlier this month, Knightley hit the red carpet for the London premiere of her new film Official Secrets — where she plays Iraq war intelligence translator Katharine Gun — after quietly giving birth to her second child.

The actress and new mom of two sat down with BBC Breakfast‘s Louise Minchin the next morning to discuss peaceful protests and her latest movie role — and opened up about her baby for the first time.

The Pride & Prejudice star went on to describe her demanding pumping schedule, including that she had pumped breast milk right before she went on camera for the interview.

“I’ve gotta get back before 6:30 because that’s the feed. It’s going to be fine, we’re going to make it,” Knightley told Minchin. “There is a bit of extra milk — which I’d love not to use, because it’s in the freezer and that can be tricky — but it is there.”

Of having to “deal with the stuff that normal moms have to deal with,” the actress said, “I definitely have to deal with pumping. Everyone has to deal with pumping — I mean, if you’re doing that and it’s working. If you want to do that and if you can do that — then yes, we’re pumping. Pumping. So much pumping.”

[From People]

Oh, how I remember the pain of a non-pumped boob full of breastmilk. And it was a double-edged sword, too, because they looked so gorgeous in that state but yes, if someone so much as brushed past me, I’d have to do a full outfit change. We talk quite a bit about not knowing what to expect with each child and this is a prime example. It sounds like Keira has a lot more milk this time and I’m sure that was a hell of a surprise when she first started dealing with it. The thing about the second child is, even though everyone tells you otherwise, you go into it thinking you know what to expect. So poor Keira is expecting the same milk flow and schedule as with Edie and Blam! she’s momentarily blinded the dog with a sudden shot of milk. However, like Keira, I think any mom would rather have too much than too little, regardless of having a pair of active volcanos attached to their chest.

As for the film she’s promoting, it looks really good. Plus the cast is great, and it was well-reviewed. But it was released in the US in August, how did I not hear anything about it?

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Photo credit: Avalon, Getty Images and YouTube

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18 Responses to “Keira Knightley: If I don’t pump when I’m away from my baby my boobs explode”

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  1. Becks1 says:

    Huh, I haven’t heard of this movie either.

    And omg, I remember the days of the too-full boobs. It went from fine to critical very quickly, lol.

  2. Lee says:

    Love both the names she chose, really lovely!

  3. FHMom says:

    I’m jealous of women who have too much milk. With my first I couldn’t even nurse because of low supply. Different story with second. I feel for her because pumping can feel like a full time job.

    She looks so good with the extra bit weight. Or maybe she’s just aging well. I never thought she was all that pretty when she was younger, but these days she looks gorgeous. Softer.

    • Eliza says:

      I had too much to the point my baby projectile vomited it back at me so many times and starts crying because she’s hungry but i need to clean up vomit before i could feed again. I couldn’t even store a lot because to bring it down I could pump only 1x a day for 10min or less. I got mastitis 2x, I’m pregnant now and already started mastitis 1x. This time I’m hoping for more middle ground, just a regular supply, but low, regular, or high it is out of my hands.

  4. Abby says:

    Completely relate. I actually like that she’s talking about this—hopefully it normalizes the experience!

    Hadn’t heard of this movie but honestly I’ll watch anything she’s in. Need to check it out!

  5. Lightpurple says:

    Looking forward to seeing this film.. I just adore Keira.

  6. smcollins says:

    I feel her pain! I remember the days of being shackled to a pump (my son wouldn’t latch so I pumped & bottle fed) and how engorged & leaky I would get if I went too long between pumpings. The drying out process when I decided to stop was excruciating. I remember taking a shower and just the water “hitting” my breasts was so painful! Thankfully it only lasted a couple days and I was back to normal, or rather my new normal after pumping multiple times a day for 6 months 😉

    • margie says:

      Oh the drying out- that was terrible. People told me to put cabbage leafs on my boobs, turns out I have a crazy skin allergy to whatever is in those cabbage leafs, so that was a no go. I remember drinking the hell out of some sage tea (BARF) and the pain. holy sh*t the pain. The only upside to not having another kid (in my eyes) is that I won’t have to deal with milk coming in, pumping endlessly for months, and then drying out.

  7. Kk2 says:

    Keira is always relatable about motherhood. She’s also one of my celebrity pregnancy twins- our kids are close to same ages.

    But this doesn’t sound like oversupply, this is just having a 7 week old. That’s still very early! Baby is eating Q2 hr and that’s what your boobs are used to. Oversupply to me is producing more than baby eats, but that doesn’t sound like what she is saying. Having boobs that need to be pumped every 2 to prevent leaks is typical for breastfeeding at 7 weeks! It gets easier with time but she is still really early. I’m only saying this to maintain realistic expectations here- this is normal, not an oversupply problem at this point!

    • Mel M says:

      Current situation. I have an almost five week old and if I go over the three hours by just 30 min my boobs feel like they will explode and even the thought of her or a picture of a baby will make me leak. I can’t wait until it regulates.

    • Trashaddict says:

      Mm-hm. Felt like a milk cow having to hook up to something all of the time. Back at work, jackets were a godsend. Probably doesn’t work for everybody, but if I heard babies crying at work and the floodgates were imminent, I would casually cross my arms across my chest and quietly apply firm pressure. Breast pads were a must.
      Decades out though, I do have really fond memories of nursing and I wouldn’t have missed it and realize how fortunate I was to be able to do it.

  8. Alice says:

    I saw a trailer for this film and it looks great, a story around the Iraq war and a journalist I was not aware of. But… I don’t know when they filmed but it seems unfortunate that she is dealing with the nursing while doing a – seemingly late (due to baby?) – press tour. It could have been planned better, plus this is getting talked about instead of the film. It’s not just some fluff film. Seems like really bad planning if she couldn’t do press when or before it came out.

    • Eliza says:

      She didn’t pick the release date though. Most actresses talk about things other than the film to get press around the event. Pumping is annoying and time consuming and it does need to be done at equal intervals or you will feel the pain.

    • Marigold says:

      You’re hilarious to think she had any say on release dates or press tours. No one should have a baby or not based on a film release schedule, which could change at any moment. And I very much doubt she’s spending whole interviews talking about breastfeeding. She’s a professional who was being personable.

  9. Busybody says:

    I could not pump! I breastfed my babies exclusively for 6 months and then weaned them around a year, but I could only ever get let down if a baby was nursing on one side and pumping on the other. It made going back to work (thankfully, part time) a real challenge! Not for the babies since I had reserves, but for me with painful engorged boobs and leaking. I had mastitis twice (which is breathtakingly painful).

  10. Charfromdarock says:

    This looks good, Kiera is great in everything.

  11. Amber says:

    My mom says when she was breastfeeding she’d be in the supermarket and just the SOUND of other babies crying would make her boobs spontaneously leak. Which I don’t know if that’s a thing that really happens but I guess it could.

  12. BeanieBean says:

    I hear Tom Jones’ Delilah in my head. Clearly I’m older than you!