Olivia Bowen Marks End of Breastfeeding with Cosmetic Clinic Visit
Olivia Bowen has publicly announced that she has finished breastfeeding her baby daughter, seizing the opportunity to immediately visit a clinic for cosmetic "tweakments". The 32-year-old Love Island star, who shares three-year-old son Abel and six-month-old daughter Siena with husband Alex, took to her Instagram Stories on Tuesday to express her joy.
Celebrating with Skin Rejuvenation and Botox
In her social media posts, Olivia gushed about "having the best day" as she celebrated the milestone by undergoing skin rejuvenation treatments and Botox injections. She explained that this was to "make up for lost time" during her breastfeeding period. A selfie from the London clinic showed her wearing a plastic sheet over her face, pouting and throwing up a peace sign for the camera.
Her caption read: "This mumma has finished breastfeeding & it means we're going innnn. Let's make up for lost time, just had my Botox, then IPL & now waiting for Morpheus. What a time to be alive I'm having the best day."
Understanding the Cosmetic Procedures
The treatments Olivia received include:
- IPL (Intense Pulsed Light): A non-invasive procedure used to treat sun damage, pigmentation, rosacea, acne, fine lines, and remove unwanted hair.
- Morpheus8: A non-surgical treatment combining microneedling with radiofrequency energy to tighten skin, reduce wrinkles, and smooth imperfections.
After her clinic visit, Olivia shared a short clip on the Tube showing the results, with her face visibly covered in tiny spots of blood from the microneedles. She humorously quipped: "Post Morpheus not quite travel friendly but we move."
Previous Health Struggles with Mastitis
This revelation about ending breastfeeding comes just two months after Olivia disclosed that she had called an ambulance to her home due to suffering from crippling mastitis. This condition involves painful inflammation of breast tissue, commonly causing hot, swollen, red, and tender breasts, often accompanied by flu-like symptoms such as fever and chills.
Most common in breastfeeding women due to a blocked milk duct, mastitis typically doesn't require medical treatment. However, in some cases, it can lead to pus buildup and abscess formation, necessitating antibiotics or, rarely, surgical draining.
Health Anxiety Following Traumatic Birth
In January, Olivia explained on Instagram that she had been up all night in pain with mastitis, which became so severe that she "thought she was gonna pass out." She called paramedics after "spiralling" due to health anxiety following Siena's traumatic birth.
She said: "Ever since Siena's birth I have quite bad health anxiety so I literally spiralled last night. Thank you to the paramedics that came to help you guys are angels, just incredible." Olivia also thanked husband Alex, noting: "Alex has gone to get my antibiotics bless his heart up all night with me. Even got the kids all awake and ready to get in the car to drive me to A&E."
Recalling the Near-Fatal Birth Experience
The reality star has been very open about her health anxiety after "nearly dying" when she gave birth to her daughter in August. Speaking in October on her ITV2 reality show Olivia & Alex: Parenthood, she broke down in tears as she recalled losing a huge amount of blood after suffering a major haemorrhage during her C-section.
Viewers saw Olivia attempting a home birth with a birthing pool before struggling so much with pain that they had to call an ambulance to rush her to hospital. She explained: "We had a plan but it didn't come off. I felt something that didn't feel right. I was only 5cm dilated after 10 hours but I was determined to push through, I then felt a lump in my vagina and we made the decision to go to hospital."
She revealed that "my bladder had fallen down into my cervix and was obstructing the exit for the baby," necessitating a c-section. "I was really scared, it's a surgery and it's a big thing and it's not the easy way out," she said. "She came out crying which was incredible and beautiful and I had her on my face and I started to feel dizzy."
The Terrifying Haemorrhage Details
Olivia described the frightening moments: "The nurse started calling out how much blood I was losing and all I could hear was 1.5, 1.6, 1.7 and it was going up and up quickly and the fear sunk in really quickly, it was really scary." Breaking down in tears, she continued: "They started yelling, major haemorrhage across all the surgery room and that's all I remember. There was doctors in and out and no one was telling me what was going on. I felt so sick and dizzy and Alex said the blood just drained from me."
She recalled thinking: "Don't close your eyes because I thought I'd pass out or even worse. It was very close. I ended up losing 2.8 litres of blood and you only have 4.5 litres so the blood loss... to feel that you are that close to losing your life, was very very scary."
Gratitude and Recovery
Olivia expressed deep gratitude to the NHS for "saving her life" and explained that she "feels so lucky" to be alive. She said: "The doctors were absolutely incredible. The NHS were amazing, they saved my life." While she noted that she had now "processed" the terrifying ordeal, her husband Alex admitted he was "traumatised."
Olivia told him: "I feel like I've processed it, we got through 20 hours of labour at home, I think you were more traumatised." Alex agreed, adding: "Yeah its the worse thing I've ever seen and never want to go through it again."
Now, with breastfeeding behind her, Olivia is embracing self-care through cosmetic treatments, marking a new chapter in her postpartum journey while continuing to be transparent about the challenges of motherhood and recovery from traumatic health experiences.
