Adele slams Jamie Oliver's new breastfeeding campaign

Jamie Oliver's comments about the ease of breastfeeding have angered Adele. Photos / Getty

British singer Adele has thrown a tirade of disapproval at chef Jamie Oliver, following comments he made about breastfeeding.

The TV chef, who is expecting his fifth child with wife Jools, spoke out recently about Britain's low breastfeeding rates. Oliver controversially said bottle-fed babies risked a raft of health problems, and that the nation's mums needed to make more of an effort to breastfeed their babies.

In response, Adele addressed the pressure new mothers faced to breastfeed, and slated Oliver during a live question and answer session at a recent London concert.

When a fan asked her about "breastfeeding mummies", the 27-year-old turned serious. "You know what, the pressure on us is f**king ridiculous," she said.

"No worse people who put pressure on. You can go f**k yourselves, alright? Because it's hard. Some of us can't do it!

"Some of my mates got post-natal depression from the way those midwives were talking. Idiots."

The singer knows about the topic firsthand, as she struggled to breastfeed her son, Angelo. She told the hometown crowd that she would have preferred to have been able to feed her son naturally, but found formula brands did the job just as well.

"Breastfeed if you can but don't worry, [formula milk] Aptamil's just as good. I mean, I loved it, all I wanted to do was breastfeed and then I couldn't and then I felt like, 'if I was in the jungle now back in the day, my kid would be dead because my milk's gone.'"

The 20,000-strong sellout crowd chuckled at her forthright anecdote, but she made it clear she meant business.

"It's not funny, that's how some of us think."

The singer's comments come in response to a recent campaign, launched by 40-year-old Jamie Oliver, which aims to make it easier for women to breastfeed.

The celebrity chef declared those who "care about child health" must get behind the campaign.

He told LBC Radio that Britain had a "problem" with breastfeeding, with one of the lowest rates in the world and made a series of startling claims, such as feeding babies with bottle milk can lead to obesity and stunt their growth.

'We need to support the women of Britain to breastfeed more, anywhere they want to," he said.

"If you think about it, breastfeeding is the beginning of the story - before school dinners, before sugar. It's something that's very natural to us - it's easy, it's more convenient, it's more nutritious, it's better, it's free."

READ MORE: • Steal Adele's style • The Adele image puzzling the internet

However, the comments have sparked criticism, forcing the outspoken chef to clarify his intentions.

"I understand that breastfeeding is often not easy and in some cases not even possible but just wanted to support women who DO breastfeed and make it easier for them to do so," he said in a tweet.

"As a father - and father to be - I would never wish to offend women or mums as I know how incredible they are and I would get a kicking when I got home!"

- nzherald.co.nz