America's Next Top Model Contestant Drinks Her Own Breast Milk

Everyone who works in my department (and some who don't) know that I pump milk for my breastfeeding daughter. I have a screen that sits in front of my cubicle while I "exercise" two or three times a day while I'm at my office in an organization that provides day programming for adults with developmental disabilities.The "exercise" explanation came out of a consumer asking about what I was doing behind the curtain. Ha.

At first, coworkers don't really know what to say when they find out. Soon after though, one is bound to start finding cow and milk paraphernalia posted around work spaces. I have a collection of "Got Milk?" ads, cow magnets, and other incidentals that have been used to decorate the door of bathrooms I've pumped in (thank God for my privacy screen now!). Another interesting think about breast pumping culture is the stories and questions (not to mention the sign language and occasional offers to "help"--oh wait, that'd be my ambulance job) that arise.

Recently, some of my fellow employees were telling me about an America's Next Top Model episode they watched that included a contestant who admittedly drank her own breast milk. Shocked at first, I quickly cleared the air that no, I do not sit behind my screen and drink my own milk. My next move? YouTube the video!

24-year-old Cover Girl of the week Claire Unabia explained to judges during Cycle 10, Episode 1 that she was finding it terribly difficult to be apart from her baby girl who was still breastfeeding. She went on to explain that she was pumping her breast milk during the competition so that she could continue to nurse her daughter when they were reunited. The judges asked her if she was mailing her milk back home but her response shocked them all: Claire was drinking her expressed milk. "It tastes kind of like light soy milk," Claire shared. "I drank my breast milk only during audition week because I did not want to waste it after putting all my effort into making and extracting it. Dumping milk just seems wrong. A mother's milk is like liquid gold, so I also wanted the nutritional value back and to keep my immunity up."

The judges then went on to make a joke about it and are seen drinking glasses of milk (while one judge shouts "thanks, Claire!") before the scene changes. Wild? Crazy? Normal compared to the fact that we drink milk from cows?

What do you think?

Go to 7:33 to see the part about Claire and her milk.
Blessings,