Alanis Morissette opens up about breastfeeding on new magazine cover

Alanis Morissette opens up about breastfeeding on new magazine cover

And explains why she ‘unschools’ her kids.
April 8, 2020 11:05 a.m.
Latest Update April 12, 2020 12:00 a.m.
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It’s pretty safe to say that Canadian legend Alanis Morissette has changed lives with her music. At least that’s the general feeling from stars like Taylor Swift and Demi Lovato, who have admitted it was Alanis who opened the door for female musicians to show all kinds of emotions in their music. (Shout-out to Jagged Little Pill). Now the singer is changing people’s tunes again—this time by speaking out on important motherhood issues, including breastfeeding and postpartum experiences.For the May cover of Health magazine, which comes just in time for Mother’s Day and Mental Health Month, Morissette can be seen breastfeeding her baby son Winter in what the magazine calls a “tribute to moms everywhere.” The 45-year-old says that she wanted that image specifically because she loves women.“I love moms so much. If I talk about it too much, I’ll start crying,” she says in the interview. “I just think moms are so selfless day in and day out—women are just killing it all the time. And they are so often quietly suffering, or not-so-quietly suffering, and still going—functioning sufferers. And if there can be even one moment of respite that my humour around it or my validation of it can help—that’s why I did it.”
Morissette also opens up about therapy (she’s being going since she was 15), self-care (water and meditation), and the cathartic energy of art. She also talked about postpartum depression, which she experienced with her first two children (Onyx, 3, and Ever, 9), and the anxiety she now feels with Winter, who was born in August 2019.“My first two children, it was mostly depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety. But the depression was so in my face that the anxiety was just background music,” she said. “With this one, it’s mostly anxiety and almost no depression. I’ve come to understand that this is purely animal. With breastfeeding, your oxytocin goes sky-high. Then cortisol goes sky-high because you’re trying to protect the baby from, you know, a potential saber-toothed tiger." She added that "modern times" don't allow for the comfortable recuperation period women need."Ideally, we’re supposed to be ensconced with, like, 51 women, broths, soups, and warmth as the body is reconstructing—as your identity is reconstructing," she said. "Cut to modern times, where the world is very masculine, very alpha, which is completely the opposite. On that animal level, you’re just supposed to be up all night feeding your baby and sleeping all day when they’re napping. Who the f--- does that?"
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