Serena Williams Admits Being Emotional After Deciding to Stop Breastfeeding: 'We Prayed About It'
Tennis superstar Serena Williams opens up about ending her breastfeeding journey with her 10-month-old daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian.
Before winning her Wimbledon match against Arantxa Rus on July 2, Monday, Williams spoke to the press in London Sunday to talk about a lot of things, including her experiences as a first-time mother with her and husband Alexis Ohanian's child.
One of the topics that she opened during the press interview was her decision to wean her daughter from breastfeeding six months after her birth.
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According to the 36-year-old tennis player, she initially planned to cease breastfeeding in January but decided to push it back a little longer.
"For me, it was really important to make it to three months, and then it was important to make it to four months. And then I was like, 'Okay, I can do six months,'" the first-time mother said during the interview that was reported by People.
She also revealed that she never really lost the baby weight that she gained when she was pregnant by breastfeeding her child, contrary to the popular belief that women lose weight when breastfeeding. According to the grand slam tennis player, she already did a lot of things in order to shed off her unwanted pounds.
Williams revealed that despite being vegan and completely omitting sugar on her diet, she still packed on some weight. This is contrary to what she was expecting.
However, she realized that not all women have the same breastfeeding experience.
"What I've learned through the experience [is] every body is different, every person is different, every physical body is different. For my body, it didn't work, no matter how much I worked out, no matter how much I did," she also said.
There is an ongoing debate about whether breastfeeding can actually make mothers lose weight or make them gain more. But based on an article from Grassfed Mama, there are several factors why mothers have different ways of coping with body weight while breastfeeding.
In Williams' case, she just continued to keep the excess weight, but she managed to make it until her daughter is six months. By the time that she decided to stop breastfeeding, she admitted that she became somewhat emotional.
"I literally sat Olympia in my arms and I talked to her and we prayed about it," she stated. "And I told her, 'Look, I'm gonna stop. Mommy has to do this.' I cried a little bit — not as much as I thought I [would]. And she was fine," she added.
After stopping her breastfeeding journey, Williams reveals that she immediately started losing her baby weight.
