Keke Palmer Gets Candid About the Struggles of Breastfeeding: 'It Isn't That Easy' (Exclusive)

The multi-talented Emmy winner shared the ups and downs of motherhood, telling PEOPLE of breastfeeding that "more often than not it’s difficult"

Keke Palmer has never shied away from being candid, and talking about life as a new mom is no exception.

While in glam for her campaign with fashion eyewear retailer Zenni Optical, Palmer, 29, shared the highs and lows of parenting her 4=month-old son Leodis "Leo" Andrellton, whom she welcomed in February with Darius Jackson. Those lows include the challenges of breastfeeding, which Palmer told PEOPLE was the biggest surprise about motherhood so far.

“Although breastfeeding is 'natural,' it’s not instinctual,” she told PEOPLE, adding that it’s been “a doozy.”

“I really went through the journey of just trying to figure out how to do that and how to support my baby — how to deal with the pressure of trying to do that right,” Palmer explained.

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Related: Keke Palmer Slams Airport for Allegedly Threatening to Throw Out Breast Milk: 'Why Is That Not a Crime?'

The multi-talented Emmy winner said she didn’t know where to start at first, when she was struggling with breastfeeding — but eventually found a lactation consultant that helped her tremendously.

“You don't even really know what to search,” Palmer said, “and how to really prepare yourself for something like that. So shout out to all the lactation consultants because mine really, really made the difference for me.”

But Palmer is fully aware that not everyone is able to afford a lactation consultant — or even find a good one. “I wish that everybody had access to lactation consultants,” she said. “It sucks that it’s kind of like a luxury. They have people saying breast is best, breast is best. But not everyone can even get support. That’s a mess.”

The Nope and Hustlers star also called out how unrealistic the expectations around breastfeeding are — and how they don’t set up anyone for success.

“[People] make it seem like, ‘Oh, this is natural and the whole breast is best gag,’ and you know, it ends up making you feel like s--- ... it’s like tying your shoe,” she explained, “Tying your shoes is easy, but you had to learn how to tie your shoes. So it becomes easier. In the beginning your fingers were like butter fingers — and that's the same thing with breastfeeding. It isn't that easy. And if it is for you, wonderful. But I think more often than not, it's difficult."

As for how she’s been preserving her mental health while in the throes of new parenthood, Palmer said therapy is a huge part of it. “I'm definitely honest and I talk to my support team — my family, my mom and my sister,” she shared. “They're there for me, which is amazing. I also talk to a therapist. Therapy is something that's always been a part of my life since I was about 17, and that helps a lot. Then getting back to my life also helps a lot.”

For Palmer, returning to work has also helped her regain a sense of identity as well. Even though she says being a mom is “the best job,” the film actress and TV personality is happy to be getting back in front of the camera for Zenni.

“You don't want to overwhelm yourself,” she said. “But I do think having some level of what your life was before your baby is important, because your relationship with your partner changes. Your relationship at home changes so much.The only thing that you can kind of go back to the same is work, or whatever your outside activity is. I think that’s helped because it's reminding me of how I existed before.”

“Now it’s very exciting to be back in glam,” she continued. “I'm appreciating it more than I did prior to my baby. I wanted to give my skin a break, and so I think pregnancy for me was really like an opportunity to let all that go like my whole entire pregnancy.

Palmer also said she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work with Zenni because she had a personal connection to the campaign. “I love glasses,” she said. “I wear glasses and people have always been like, ‘You should get Lasik.’ But I feel like glasses are so much a part of character — that they're an accessory."

"I've been wearing glasses since I was 8. But at a certain point, I started feeling like, well, I actually want to wear my glasses, especially when I started doing daytime talk. That made me feel more comfortable.”

Right now, she says she feels “better than ever.”

“I feel so much more empowered by my son,” she shared. “I don't know if it's the way that he looks at me or if it's what we've gone through together — obviously the birth and nine months, and everything else in between.”

She’s also loving being a part of “the mom club.” “I can't believe that I was out of this club,” she said.

“The mom club is such an amazingly cool club where everybody just gets it," Palmer said. "The first thing that a mom says [to another mom], 'You're doing great. Girl, you got this.’ It's really this amazing, amazing feeling and it's an amazing superpower.”

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