“I wish someone would’ve told me how hard breast-feeding really was. You see your friends who are new moms feeding their babies make it look so easy. But no one tells you how hard it really is,” the High School Musical star, 35, wrote in an essay published Thursday, June 24, to her Frenshe website. “I think there’s this pressure around the subject of breast-feeding, and that those who do it are the best moms, but that’s not true. Our journey started on day one in the hospital when Jupiter was having trouble latching.”

The New Jersey native went on to detail how much her newborn — who she welcomed with her husband, Christopher French, in March — loved drinking from her bottle.

“That was the moment I realized that maybe breast-feeding isn’t meant for us. I pumped all day, and never looked forward to pumping. I would look at the pump like it held me back from really being in the moment with Juju and enjoying my first weeks of motherhood,” she wrote.

After telling the composer, 39, that she felt they were “striving and not thriving” when it came to breast milk, the Suite Life of Zack and Cody alum decided to turn to formula.

“The thing about formula is that you still have that same special moment with your baby that you do with breast-feeding,” she wrote. “You’re still looking into your baby’s eyes, whether it’s with your breast or a bottle.”

Tisdale noted that social media can make moms who don’t breast-feed feel isolated.

“I know it’s super popular right now to post an Instagram picture of you breast-feeding, but what about the other moms who don’t have that experience?” she asked. “The moms who try it, and it just doesn’t work out?”

Since welcoming their daughter, the former Disney Channel star and her husband have been loving parenthood.

“I knew @cmfrench and I would have a cute baby, but I wasn’t expecting how beautiful she would be,” Tisdale wrote via Instagram to celebrate Mother’s Day in May.

According to the “He Said, She Said” singer, the pair, who wed in September 2014, waited so long to grow their family for “selfish” reasons.

“[I wanted to] have Chris all to myself,” Tisdale wrote in a September 2020 blog post. “Honestly, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”

This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Sophia Vilensky