It’s too bad you can’t cram billboards into baby albums because new mom Molly Baz has been busy. In May the then-pregnant cookbook author and food influencer partnered with the breastfeeding brand Swehl to create a recipe for lactation cookies. The “Just Add Milk” collaboration was promoted on a Times Square billboard in which Baz held two cookies over her bikini-clad breasts. Three days later, however, the ad was pulled amid claims it was too racy, a move that enraged many moms.
In the nearly six months since that controversy, Baz has given birth to a baby boy named Gio. She’s also back in the billboard game, this time partnering with the organic infant formula company Bobbie. Baz’s new billboard — which, yes, has gone up in Times Square — sees her breastfeeding Gio while holding a bottle filled with formula in a nod to her decision to combo feed her son (as in, giving him both breast milk and formula).
Baz tells Yahoo Life that the furor over her first billboard was a “wild, out-of-body experience.” But it also taught her the importance of standing up for what she believes in, particularly as a woman and first-time mom. So when the opportunity came up to partner with Bobbie on the brand’s “Everybody’s Gotta Eat” campaign, she didn’t hesitate to put herself out there once again.
Here’s what else the More Is More author has learned about motherhood, food, mom shaming and how society treats women’s bodies.
A little controversy shouldn’t stop you from standing your ground
Baz says she was taken aback when her Swehl billboard was pulled. The scrutiny over her pregnant body — in the lead-up to Mother’s Day, no less — stung, but the support she received from those balking over the controversy (including the probiotic brand Seed, which used its own ad space to reinstate Baz’s image) left her feeling “empowered” enough to do something about it.
“When I first heard that it was getting taken down, it didn’t hit me right away what that really meant, like the true double standard at play,” she says. “When I realized that it was, in fact, my big, beautiful pregnant belly that didn’t meet ‘acceptable content standards’ in Times Square, of all places, I started to get really fired up. Here are all these lingerie ads, women’s half-naked bodies to sell skimpy clothing or perfume, men lusting into the camera in their tighty-whities. How am I not up to standards?”
Baz also saw an opportunity to change the narrative — not by lying low but by speaking up. “I never anticipated becoming such a vocal spokesperson for mothers’ bodies and choices, but I felt empowered in that moment to speak out,” she says. “If I didn’t, who would? Women’s voices would be silenced and imagery of our bodies as mothers would continue to be removed from media.”
Sharing her combo feeding journey with Bobbie — “in the biggest, boldest way possible” — felt like the natural next step as a new mom. “We’re all in it to shift the cultural conversation,” she says.
Combo feeding works best for her family
According to Baz, 80% of Gio’s feeds come from nursing, and the rest is formula “for moments when I can’t step away, and to ensure that my baby gets the calories he needs in a day to grow.”
What does she love about supplementing breast milk with formula? “Combo feeding is first and foremost the best choice because it’s MY choice,” the food influencer says. She admits that during her pregnancy, she spent more time focusing on whether or not she’d struggle to breastfeed and didn’t consider the role formula might play as a “supporting character.”
“I have no doubt that I will be able to breastfeed longer by taking some of the pressure off of it being the only food source for my baby,” Baz adds. “I am a super hardworking person, and I will not give that up — I can’t. Introducing some formula has allowed me to continue to work in a functional, unstressful way.” Plus, her husband, Ben Willett, and her team can also pitch in with bottle feeds.
The parenting learning curve has been ‘steep but rewarding’
“I spent three months in a blissful postpartum state taking a total break from the world, laying around just topless breastfeeding every two hours, my dog Tuna curled up next to me, my husband right there by my side,” says Baz. “It was beautiful and full of wonder. I was finding my confidence as a new mom and figuring it out each day.”
Baz went back to work last month, and juggling her different roles is keeping her on her toes. “The crazy thing about motherhood so far is that every week feels like a new chapter,” she says. “Our quote-unquote ‘routine’ from last week looks nothing like this week’s.”
In the meantime, she’s leaning on two pieces of parenting wisdom that have stuck with her.
The first: “Someone told me that having a child is not unlike going snorkeling for the first time,” she shares. “You slip beneath the water, and all of a sudden, an entire new world reveals itself, unlike anything you have ever experienced to date. This pretty perfectly summarizes what becoming a parent is like.”
The second bit of advice is that “everything is a phase.” Says Baz: “Just when you think you’ve got things down to a science, the page turns and a new chapter reveals itself. This has been helpful both for reminding me [in tricky times] that no phase is permanent and for encouraging me to stay present in every moment, as the next day will never look the same. “
Mom shaming happens — but you have to trust your gut
People have strong feelings about how moms feed their babies — and just about everything else they do. “Listen, there’s a feeling, an opinion, a comment, a judgment about quite literally everything you do as a mom,” says Baz, adding that she underestimated “just how intense the judgments can be.”
She recalls posting a photo of herself eating an oyster while her baby (whom she calls “Boots”) slept in a baby carrier strapped to her chest.
“People were OUTRAGED that I was wearing the carrier too low on my body and wasn’t able to ‘kiss’ his head,” Baz says. “They were certain I would accidentally suffocate my baby. People were DMing me left and right. What bothered me about this was not that other mothers were trying to offer me advice about how to properly wear the carrier, but rather that the underlying assumption there was that I was out of touch with my own baby and putting him in danger.”
The backlash hasn’t shaken her confidence, however. “If there’s one thing I have learned it’s that a mother’s instinct is always right. My baby was juuuuuust fine,” Baz says.
Her relationship with food hasn’t changed
Because breastfeeding burns a lot of calories, nursing moms are advised to increase their calorie intake to meet their nutritional needs. Baz, for one, hasn’t noticed any big change in her appetite, however.
“I was super-excited to have this ferocious, unrelenting appetite to eat, as everyone tells you that food runs through you like water,” she says. “For whatever reason, I noticed no difference [compared to] my prepregnancy appetite. That said, I am sort of always toeing the line between feeding my body good, healthy fuel and indulging myself. I think I strike a healthy balance — restriction is not really something I believe in, as I find all it does is leave me wanting more.”
And now for the question everyone wants to know. After nine months of pregnancy, what dish did the foodie first treat herself to after giving birth? “A cold tuna sandwich!!!!!” Baz says. “Oh my goodness, was it great.”
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