Tamron Hall has been a new mom to her son Moses for a little over a month now, and she recently opened up about the challenges of breastfeeding.
In a new interview with People, the 48-year-old talked about how not being able to produce enough milk caused all kinds of anxiety despite her efforts to be rational about it.
“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,'” Hall explained. “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?'” she added.
“Because you can’t measure milk from your body. 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.”
Life has dramatically changed for the Texas native since she abruptly left NBC News and the “Today” show in 2017. That was right after she learned that her time slot on “Today’s Take” would be replaced by Megyn Kelly‘s talk show.
But today the new mom has another gig, “The Tamron Hall Show,” which debuts Sept. 9 in syndication.
These new career developments have come after Hall kept the news of being pregnant a secret until her 32nd week, when at the same time she revealed that she’s married to music manager Steven Greener, the baby’s father.
Hall admitted in the new interview that she’s been envious of other moms for being able to produce a lot of breast milk while she couldn’t.
“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,”’ she explained.
“[My husband] came home one day and said, ‘Are you OK?'” added Hall. “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.”
But these days, Hall has adopted a new approach when it comes to feeding Moses, which is as long as he’s properly fed and gets his daily nutrients, she won’t fret.
“A mentally healthy mom is best, and this was breaking me down,” she admitted. “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.'”