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Jenny Mollen Says She Feels "Super Rejected" When Her Son Doesn't Want To Breastfeed

by Michelle Stein

Actress Jenny Mollen is learning first-hand just how different breastfeeding journeys can be from one baby to the next. She and her American Pie star husband, Jason Biggs, welcomed their first son, Sid, in February 2014. Since baby number two, Lazlo, made his grand entrance on Oct. 2, things haven't exactly gone as planned in the nursing department. In fact, Jenny Mollen feels "super rejected" when her son wants a bottle instead of being breastfed. And honestly, I totally would, too.

On Monday, the mom of a 3-year-old and a 9-week-old took to Instagram Stories to share her breastfeeding struggles. As much as she has tried to convince him otherwise, baby Lazlo seems to prefer the bottle over breastfeeding from his mama. And it's breaking Mollen's heart.

“This weekend, Laz has decided … one feeding, he’ll breastfeed, and then the next feeding he’s just like, ‘F*** that, give me a bottle,’” the 38-year-old said, according to People. “This morning, I pumped because he seemed to be not hungry, but then the minute I was done pumping, he was ravenous and starving and drank every ounce of the breast milk I pumped. So it’s almost like he’s playing me.”

In her lengthy Instagram Story, Mollen admitted, according to People, that she was "really sad" and "feel[s] super rejected by" her youngest son. “I feel like … he likes his milk like he likes his women: easy, with big nipples,” she said. “I don’t know anybody who has bigger nipples than I do right now except a bottle. I’m so pissed. I’m really sad, I’m really f***ing bummed.”

Aw, poor mama. According to Mollen, her disappointment is only magnified by the fact that she didn't supplement her older son, Sid, with formula until he was 6 months old. “I’m just sad … In my head I thought, ‘Okay, at least I can breastfeed him when I have the milk,'" she said, according to People. "But now he’s kind of coming from this place of, ‘F*** you, bitch, why would I ever breastfeed [from] you?’ I can have bottles whenever I want, on tap, as much as my heart desires, with free-flowing nipples and no drama from you, so what do you think I’m gonna choose?’"

After a little retail therapy — which she also included in her Instagram Story — Mollen returned to the topic of breastfeeding. Apparently, Lazlo's doctor had advised her to switch him to size two nipples, so it would be faster for him to drink. "But why would I want it to be faster for him to drink? Then he's really not gonna want anything to do with my boobs," the frustrated mom proclaimed. You can hear the frustration in Mollen's voice — as well as the determination. She continued:

So no, I’m taking the alternate approach, and the alternate approach is this: I’m gonna make his life with the nipple on the bottle suck, and I’m gonna bring him back to me. I’m making a soup to up my milk supply and to make my milk irresistible to him. I’m gonna win him back, you guys — they all come back in the end. That’s my rule of thumb, with men in general. Even if you think they won’t, they will.

See, I've had the exact opposite problem with all three of my kids; they simply refused to drink from a bottle. Which meant that I was basically tethered to them for the first year. My oldest and middle children would drink very little expressed milk from a bottle while at the babysitter's house — and then feast from the tap as soon as I picked them up after work. By the time my youngest came along, I was working from home and never needed to use bottles. Even when my husband attempted to bottle-feed her though, she pushed the nipple out with her tongue and wailed. Ugh.

From personal experience, I found it exhausting to be the only food source for a child for that first year. Still, if the tables were turned and my babies had rejected me for a bottle, I'm pretty sure I would have had the same feelings as Mollen. Partly because there's all this pressure on moms that "breast is best." And partially because it would have been a hit to my own ego.

All I can say is hang in there, Jenny. No matter what happens, you're a rockstar mama. There's never shame in supplementing or switching completely to bottles. Because honestly, fed is best.

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