FORMER EastEnders star Melissa Suffield has posed completely naked in an empowering shot to mark Breastfeeding Week. The 28-year-old, best known for playing Lucy Beale on the BBC soap, opened up about her feeding journey with son River – telling fans that pumping is breastfeeding too. The actress gave birth in March last year with […]
FORMER EastEnders star Melissa Suffield has posed completely naked in an empowering shot to mark Breastfeeding Week.
The 28-year-old, best known for playing Lucy Beale on the BBC soap, opened up about her feeding journey with son River – telling fans that pumping is breastfeeding too.
The actress gave birth in March last year with fiancé Robert Brendan, 39, a cruise ship director, by her side.
After suffering “horrific” mastitis, Melissa turned to exclusively expressing her milk with a breast pump and feeding it to River with a bottle.
Today, she reminded her fellow mums that the goal is to feed your baby – and it doesn’t matter how you do it.
In a series of bullet points, Melissa supported her followers – insisting that breastmilk wasn’t the be all and end all.
She added: “Breastmilk really is amazing. But so are you, and whether or not breastmilk is a part of your parenting journey, it doesn’t change that.”
Explaining her picture, the star continued: “No journey is easy, every feeding method comes with it’s challenges, and it shouldn’t be divisive.
“That’s me feeding a bottle of breastmilk to River, at about 5 weeks old. We were already EP by that point.
Breastmilk really is amazing. But so are you
Melissa Suffield
“I pumped until the day of his first birthday, and as he turns 17 months in a couple of weeks, he’ll have his last pouch of breastmilk from the freezer. I certainly didn’t see that coming, but it was right for us. It would be totally wrong for someone else. And that’s cool.”
She added: “Just like, feed your kid, init.”
Melissa played Lucy on BBC soap EastEnders during the character’s rebellious teenage years, making on-screen dad Ian Beale’s life hell by drinking, smoking, becoming pregnant and even going missing.
But she was axed in 2010 amid rumours bosses weren’t impressed with her off-screen behaviour and attitude outside work after she was spotted in a London nightclub while underage.
Melissa is now focusing on juggling her new gender-neutral family clothing line, River & Six, while being a mum.
