"Girls" on HBO aired its series finale Sunday, April 16. Its lead star Lena Dunham's character, Hannah, showed viewers a realistic take on what new moms experience when raising a newborn.
Five months after Hannah gave birth, the new mom struggled with keeping her baby breastfed. Her son, Grover, suddenly decided he won't latch and Hannah grew frustrated with her situation. The pressure to keep breastfeeding got worse when her best friend Marnie (Allison Williams), who's also invested in the new baby, told her there's a reason why experts call mother's milk "liquid gold."
"Girls'" final episode, aptly entitled "Latching," presented what breastfeeding mothers go through. A study in 2013 indicated 13 percent of new moms cannot complete the recommended exclusive breastfeeding for six months, as per NPR.
Plenty of new moms also expects to breastfeed easily, only to be frustrated later on. Hence, some give up on this as early as two weeks after giving birth, as per the Surgeon General's statement on breastfeeding.
A post shared by Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) on Apr 17, 2017 at 10:25am PDT
"We weren't trying to come down on pro or against breastfeeding or what's better or what's not," Dunham explained Hannah's breastfeeding struggles on "Girls," as per Variety. "It was more about Hannah's expectation of herself, and of her child, and the way in which she would feel so disconnected if that didn't work out instantly for her."
Hannah, who suffered from mental issues before she became a single mom, also manifested postpartum anxieties. She thought her baby hated her, as per Huffington Post.
Throughout "Girls," Dunham portrayed Hannah as a self-absorbed and selfish millennial with a host of self-esteem problems. The series-ender, however, showed how much motherhood is changing her and how her Hannah needed to step up because someone depends on her now. "It takes a baby for a lot of people to grow up," the award-winning writer and actress said.
