Ashley Graham was “nervous” to leave her son when she jetted off to Milan Fashion Week last month.
The 32-year-old model took part in Fendi’s spring/summer 2021 show at the fashion extravaganza in Italy in September, in what was her very first runway appearance since welcoming her son Isaac - whom she has with her husband Justin Ervin - in January.
And although Ashley was worried she’d feel “guilty” about leaving her son’s side for so long, she actually found the experience to be “like a vacation”.
She said: "I have to say, it was a vacation. It was not what I was expecting - it really wasn't. In eight months, I hadn't left his side longer than five hours. And I was really nervous, like, can I do this?
"Other mothers have done it. They leave their babies even earlier. I was like, 'Am I gonna feel guilty?' But I didn't feel guilty because I knew that I was going for work. I had so much milk that I had already saved up for him, and he was gonna be here with his dad and his grandma, and everything was gonna be fine.”
The beauty was in Milan for four days, but says the experience wasn’t as glamorous as it sounds, because she was “plugged to a pump” the entire time.
She added: "Don't get it twisted - behind every backstage at both the shows and the fittings I was at, I was the girl in the corner, plugged into a pump. A lot of those girls are 18 to 24, 25, and they're kind of looking at me like, 'What are you doing?' So I'd be like, 'Oh, I'm pumping! This is milk for my baby.' And they're like, ‘Oh.'
“But also, a lot of the women that are on the teams around, they've been in my shoes before. So they're like, 'Oh, you're pumping. Are you pumping and dumping? Are you FedExing your milk?’ It's all these funny questions that you get asked that you maybe haven't even thought of. But it's a wild ride, for sure.”
Ashley also spoke about her routine when it comes to feeding her son, and said she tries not to get too “stressed”, because it impacts her ability to produce milk.
Speaking to SELF magazine, she said: "I try not to stress myself out because I feel like when I'm stressed, I don't get as much milk. I pump after Isaac's first feeding in the morning, and then I'll pump again after I put him down around 9 am, 9:30 am for his morning nap. If I'm with him, then that's the only pumping I do for the day. But if I'm not with him, then I'm pumping, like, every three hours."
