Gisele Bundchen backs down over breastfeeding comments after 'smug' backlash

She sounded as smug as only a supermodel can when declaring it should be illegal for new mothers not to breastfeed for six months. But Gisele Bundchen was not quite so sure of herself yesterday as she beat a hasty retreat from her comments.

The Brazilian, whose son Benjamin is now seven months old, had called for a ‘worldwide law’ to make breastfeeding compulsory.

Gisele Bundchen has expressed regret over how her comment that 'breastfeeding should be law for six months' came across in Harper's Bazaar

That made her few friends among the many mothers who have stopped breastfeeding because they found it stressful, painful or difficult. But yesterday Miss Bundchen went into damage control and apologised for her comments.

She wrote on her blog: "My intention in making a comment about the importance of breastfeeding has nothing to do with the law. I feel like I am in a constant search for answers on what might be the best for my child."

The 30-year-old, who is married to American football star Tom Brady and was modelling swimwear just six weeks after giving birth at home, said she regretted making the issue sound so ‘black and white’ in the September issue of Harper’s Bazaar.

She added: ‘I understand that everyone has their own experience and opinions and I am not here to judge.'

Gisele says she meditated throughout her labour and

practised kung fu and yoga during her pregnancy

The new mum continued: ‘I believe that bringing a life into this world is the single most important thing a person can undertake, and it can also be the most challenging.

‘I think as mothers we are all just trying our best.’

Miss Bundchen caused a row when she told Harper's Bazaar magazine how breastfeeding had helped her regain her flawless figure.

The comments are from the supermodel's interview with

UK Harper's Bazaar September issue

She said: 'Some people here think they don't have to breastfeed, and I think, "Are you going to give chemical food to your child, when they are so little?"

She then caused fury among mothers by insisting: ‘There should be a worldwide law, in my opinion, that mothers should breastfeed their babies for six months.'

The model, who is 5ft 11in and weighs nine stone, gave birth at home and apparently managed to meditate throughout. 'Not for one second did it cross my mind that I was not going to have my baby at home. I am not the first person to give birth naturally.

'Billions of other women have come before me and have done this　 -　 so why can't I do it?', she bragged.

The star practised kung fu for two weeks before the birth, did yoga three times a week and meditated every day in preparation.

'It prepared me mentally and physically,' she said. 'It's called "labour", not "holiday" for a reason, and I knew that.

'You want to go into the most intense physical experience of your life unprepared? That doesn't make any sense to me. Then I was ready and I thought, "OK let's get to work".

'I wasn't expecting someone else to get the baby out of me. I had to do it together with him.'

Gisele, 30, returned to modelling swimwear six weeks

after the birth of son Benjamin