Ashley Graham On Normalizing Breastfeeding On Social Media

Ashley Graham opened up about her first year of motherhood and all of the joy that came along with that. She and her husband, Justin Ervin welcomed their first baby boy together back in January.

The model shared that she got an extended maternity leave that she never thought she could get. She described it as a “silver lining in all of it”. The new mother further shared that she had eight months straight with him which was beautiful.

She further described what being a parent is as she said it is a lot of trial and error. The model said, “Looking for help, building up confidence along the way and just having enough confidence in yourself that Mom and Dad know what’s best for the baby. And forgiving yourself along the way.”

Ashley joked that her 1-year-old is already a chatterbox and her current words are “Dada” and “dog”. She shared that her baby does a funny thing with his lips where he goes, “Mamma, Mamma”. The model mimicked her son’s voice. She further shared how motherhood in some ways made her softer and more patient.

The model said it made her more patient not just with the world but with herself too. She said, “I am starting to see things through a little kid’s eyes and not my own, so that can be hard sometimes. You’ve lived a long life and now you have to see it through such innocent and pure eyes. They just seem different. They’re more fun and innocent and beautiful.”

“We can just truly talk about things that we are passionate about..”

Ashley has never shied away from sharing pictures of her breastfeeding on her Instagram. She told ET that she has been trying to help demolish any stigma around breastfeeding in public and social media. The model shared that the more we put something into the world whether it’s on social media or not, it is an important thing.

She said, “Honestly, the more that we put something out into the world, whether it’s on your social media, whatever it is, I think that’s the most important thing. We’ve never had this platform before. We can just truly talk about things that we are passionate about, that we want other people to know about.”

The model shared that to her breastfeeding if a mother does it or not should be normalized. She said that it is just like anything that comes with being a parent and everybody parents differently. The new mother said everybody treats their body differently and to post themselves as breastfeeding should be normalized as much as it is to give your child a bottle.

Ashley spoke about her 10-year-marriage to Ervin and explained why she loves him even more after seeing him as a dad. “Marry your best friend because that’s a really big deal,” she added, of their secret to making marriage work. “You want to make sure that you guys like each other. Liking each other is such a big deal, and talking through everything. There should be nothing that is left unsaid. Justin and I always say to each other, ‘Don’t assume.'”

The model believes that communication is the most important part of any relationship. “Justin and I, our communication is rock solid, so we really are trying to teach Isaac how to communicate with us,” she said. “Even though he can’t talk, we’re trying to teach him to sign language. It’s very difficult. It’s so hard to teach a baby sign language but people have done it.”