has admitted how ‘hard’ it was going back to while suffering from mastitis.
The 36-year-old welcomed her daughter Stevie a year ago with fellow-presenter husband .
While Laura returned to hosting last summer, she has now opened up about how difficult it was dealing with mastitis – an inflammation of breast tissue which is most common in breastfeeding women – at the time.
She said: ‘I remember getting mastitis. The day we were doing the first show of the coupling up I had mastitis, so I had a fever.
‘I had great big hard boobs, one bigger than the other. In one way though, it kind of took away the pressure, there was other things I was worrying about rather than the telly side.
‘But yeah, it was hard. It was work and it was full on because you’re balancing everything.’
She added how grateful she was to have her mother’s help, thanking her for her time and ‘being there every step of the way’, which allowed her to breastfeed full time as well as host the popular ITV2 programme.
Speaking on podcast, she added: ‘It was hard because I didn’t want any part of my life to, to miss out or not get the full time and effort from me.
‘So it’s not that you can do it all, but I needed to work to provide for my family but also to have a bit of me as well.’
However, Laura insisted her return to work did take ‘a lot of planning’ and wasn’t as ‘easy’ as some people may think.
She shared: ‘I think we need to be careful how we judge because, you know, from the outside everyone’s like, “Oh yeah, just straight back to work. It’s so easy for you”.
‘It wasn’t, it was hard. It was really, really hard. It took a lot of planning and my family around me, and breastfeeding schedules.’
This isn’t the first time .
Marking Breastfeeding Awareness Week last year, Laura shared a rare image of her daughter on Instagram, captioned: ‘I get a bit anxious talking about my child on this space as I feel so protective but I wanted to talk about breastfeeding.
‘This isn’t knocking anyone who doesn’t but it’s #breastfeedingawarenessweek and I know so many new mums don’t get the support they need like the encouragement of feeding in the golden hour after birth and that it’s ok to feed in public without feeling you should hide away. Feeding your baby is your number one priority.’
Opening up about her own positive experience, Laura said: ‘I’ve exclusively breastfeed for over 4 months so far- it’s free and no washing up! I’ve also been supported, having my baby on set or being able to pump for the odd feed.
‘Anyway hoping a picture of me with my tits out doesn’t offend you and encourages women to feed if they need ! I was just so shocked a lot of women don’t have enough support or embarrassed to feed in public.
‘Breast milk is full of everything your baby needs and recommended by @who . It’s magic stuff! And remember to please support new mums and dads trying to navigate parenthood their way.’
The star was flooded with love and support from fans, with one writing: ‘You shouldn’t feel like you have to wear a cover! You see way more boob on love island than you’d see breastfeeding!’
Love Island is set to return to ITV2 on Monday, June 6.
