Ashley Iaconetti Opens Up About Her Decision Not to Breastfeed Her Sons: 'Best Version of Myself' (Exclusive)
The 'Bachelor' alum, who just welcomed her second baby with husband Haibon, spoke to PEOPLE about her decision
Ashley Iaconetti/Instagram
Ashley Iaconetti and DawsonAfter Ashley Iaconetti gave birth to her newborn son Hayden, there was only one thing on her mind – spicy tuna.
The Bachelor alum, 36, who just welcomed her second baby with husband Jared Haibon, 35, whom she met through the franchise, tells PEOPLE that after she gave birth to her son, she was ready to have her first postpartum meal.
"I knew I was going to want sushi because I had been eating deli subs the entire time, which is the other big no-no," Iaconetti jokes. "But I was like, I can't wait to have spicy tuna. Spicy tuna is my favorite food ever."
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Iaconetti is partnering with Grubhub, who for the month of August is giving expectant moms $20 credit towards their first meal post-delivery and offering a year of Grubhub+ for free.
"I don't think there's ever been a campaign that was more of a no-brainer than the Grubhub campaign," Iaconetti says of the partnership. "It just all made sense to talk about that glorious moment post-delivery, which is just glorious in the first place because it's over, and then you get to eat stuff that has been restricted from you for nine months."
As for the delivery itself, Iaconetti shares that this time around, things were "shockingly better."
"I was just hoping for the first time experience again, but it was even better. I was induced, which I had mixed feelings about," she explains. "I've heard horror stories about inductions and stuff, but my midwife and my doctor were like, 'No, no, it's going to be so easy.'"
"And that is exactly how it went. I barely didn't have pain. It was so crazy," says Iaconetti, who has been vocal in the past about not liking being pregnant. "It was great. It was the best experience ever. I wish every woman had that experience."
Now that her pregnancy is over, Iaconetti is settling into her postpartum experience.
"I feel awesome," she says. "I think there's women who hate being pregnant and then there's the people who hate the postpartum period. And there's people I'm sure who hate both, and that's totally fine."
"But once I get that baby out of me, I'm like, 'All right, let's just do life again.' Then you're grounded because there's a baby and you can't really go out and do things, but I feel like I'm thriving."
She's also been loving watching her older son Dawson, 2, become a big brother. The two siblings first met in Iaconetti's hospital room, where Dawson sweetly planted a kiss on his baby brother.
"I think what was surprising about the moment that Dawson met Hayden was probably that he didn't seem shocked. It was like he was expecting a baby brother, and we weren't really sure if he understood that," Iaconetti says. "And I think he did."
"It got more adorable as time went on, him wanting to feed him and him just every morning, he looks into [Hayden's] SNOO and he's like, 'Where's baby?' " she continues. "He's just a wonderful big brother."
Like when she welcomed Dawson, Iaconetti isn't planning on breastfeeding Hayden. "I have decided to just not breastfeed for both kids, just for the sake of me thinking I am going to be the best version of myself for them by just not adding that extra pressure onto myself."
"So we formula feed with Bobbie and it's been going great with them, and I don't even know how I would've kept up with this kid with the feeding if I was breastfeeding because he eats every hour," she jokes.
"Every hour. I was like, 'Are you kidding me?' I was very worried. I was like, 'Am I overfeeding you?' But according to the Internet and the doctor, he's okay."
For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!
Read the original article on People.
