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Mindy Kaling Gets Honest About Breastfeeding Her Daughter, & Nursing Moms Will Love It

Mindy Kaling has kept many details of her pregnancy and early motherhood pretty mum. (For example, fans are still obsessing over who baby Katherine's father might be, even though Kaling clearly has no intention of revealing that identity anytime soon.) That being said, the new mom has recently been sharing more about what it's been like raising Katherine. In an interview, Kaling said breastfeeding helped her get to know her daughter, and nursing mothers will totally understand.

Kaling gave birth to Katherine in December 2017, meaning the baby is about 5 months old now. "She is a really happy baby. When she was born, she was kind of skinny and anxious," the mom-of-one told Shape magazine for its June cover story, E! News reported. "I think she was like, Can this woman take care of me? But during our many breastfeeding sessions, we've gotten to know each other, and she's learned to trust me over time."

Many breastfeeding moms refer to nursing as a bonding experience for mother and baby, and it's clear that Kaling had a similar experience. She also joked about one of her best tactics to really enhance the breastfeeding experience for her daughter.

"What's great for me is that my doctor told me that incessant chatter is good for a baby, and I've lived my whole life waiting to have a captive audience," she told Shape. "So I spend the days narrating to her ... I'm constantly doing voiceover for her, as I did in The Mindy Project. Honestly, I feel like her first words are going to be, 'Just stop. Please!'"

Motherhood came with plenty of surprises for Kaling. She also told Shape that she wasn't expecting to have to be home so much:

I didn't realize how tethered to my house I would be as a new mom. I'd thought that I could bring the baby with me everywhere. I also couldn't quite believe that every three hours I needed to be home to feed her. I'd go on these little jaunts out of the house, and they'd feel like secret, illicit excursions. It was exciting, and it made my life seem kind of dramatic. What also helped was that I'd just moved into my home, and it was fun to break it in. I'd think, I should feed my daughter in our fancy new living room. And there I'd sit with her, and it was like, Oh, this is really nice.

In March, Kaling opened up about how the joy of parenting has also exacerbated her sense of worry. She told TODAY:

I knew how much I would love her and love the experience of being with her. I never understood how much I would worry and how much that worry is unceasing. Happiness for me, now, is just a feeling of relief. I’m in a constant state of worry but I’m enjoying it too. I hope she’s developing correctly — I’m anxious constantly. I’m hoping that will change a little bit. I haven’t even thought about when she’s bigger.

Despite the anxieties that have come with motherhood, it's clear that Kaling feels more confident and capable as a parent every single day. In fact, she hopes her sense of confidence will inspire her daughter. She told Self:

I want my daughter to be really confident all the time. I'm going to do that by always making her feel like she is good enough and not being stingy with encouraging comments. That goes against my nature a bit because I'm a critical person—of myself, of the things I work on—but it's very important to me to make sure I instill confidence in my daughter.

Considering the strong bond that Mindy Kaling and her daughter already have — not to mention, how wonderful, talented, and accomplished Kaling is — inspiring her daughter shouldn't be a problem.