Ferne McCann makes breastfeeding admission that 'blows her mind'

Ferne McCann has been left 'mind-blown' by breastfeeding rates in the UK. The former TOWIE star, 35, has daughter Sunday, seven, with her ex Arthur Collins as well as two-year-old Finty with current partner Lorri Haines.

She has opted to keep breastfeeding her youngest, even though she is beyond the traditional age. The reality TV star decided to take action after discovering that UK has one of the 'lowest' rates of breastfeeding in the world, with many women choosing to feed their children via formula, having shared her own experience with it on social media with sets of candid images and received backlash from some followers, who she thinks may have believed she had the wrong 'intentions' with it all.

During an appearance on Wednesday's This Morning, she told Andi Peters and Emma Willis: "Society, why people have such a problem with it, is breasts are over-sexualised and I think for other people, they found it very triggering because they felt that they had failed. It wasn't to shame or to make anyone feel like they'd failed, and I had to make a decision. It's such a small community, because the UK has the lowest rates of breastfeeding globally, which blows my mind." It comes after Alex Jones fights back tears as her rarely-seen husband appears on The One Show.

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The former I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out Of Here! contestant had opened up about how she wasn't always feeling confident about breastfeeding herself, and how she had to find a new way to think about her breasts, and while she understands that some of her social media posts may appear 'shocking' to some, she is 'proud' of what she is doing to raise awareness and stamping out the stigmas.

She added: "I want to use my platform to show support because that's the main reason that women don't continue. It's down to lack of education, and support, and confidence. I had to have that mindset shift when I began breastfeeding Sunday nearly eight years ago, and that relationship with my breasts.

"They then had to nurture my baby. You do have to dig deep, and find some confidence and that can be quite a daunting prospect. I think with every negative comment, there's been 10 positive and that's so hopeful. People want you to win.

"Community midwives want you to have a successful breastfeeding journey. It's a really right network and everyone really praises I feel proud to share those visuals because, I get that it is shocking because the relationship that people have with breasts and so on, I feel proud, especially now that Finty is two, because it isn't the norm. Bottle feeding is the norm."

As it stands, in the UK, around 81% of mothers attempt breastfeeding immediately after birth but and just 1% are exclusively breastfed by the age of six months. Comparatively, a study in 2021, found that 56.7% of mothers in the US breastfed their babies beyond six months.

When it comes to the idea that Ferne is choosing to breastfeed her child beyond what is considered the normal period, she insisted that it was never intentional but that it all has to work on a case by case basis.

She added: "People are not used to saying a toddler or a pre-schooler breastfeeding. For me, I didn't have a goal. With Sunday, it was different, and it was circumstances and I had to return back to work now I work from home, it's more freeing. it's more flexible for me.

"I didn't plan to do it for two years. It's so individual and it's so relative. It's our normal and I understand that it's not everyone else's but we're just going with it."

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