“It’s the best job but not always the easiest.”
Coronation Street’s Helen Flanagan has responded after being mum-shamed for weaning her four-month-old daughter.
The actress was criticised by her Instagram followers on Wednesday after she revealed she would be feeding her youngest daughter, Delilah, with food other than breast milk.
She explained in the caption for the post how her older daughter, Matilda, “would never take a spoon” from her when she started weaning – and that she vowed to “start earlier” with her second child.
She added:
“Delilah loves her food and the spoon so I’m so relieved and it’s so cute.”
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The 28-year-old was soon flooded with negative comments about her decision, and followed it up with a second post.
She said:
“So this morning I posted about weaning my baby girl at nearly 5 months and I got quite a lot of negative comments.
“I like to be honest and open on my Instagram, I like to share my real experiences and it’s great if I can help other mums! I know a lot of Mums follow me so I wasn’t being irresponsible posting that I’m weaning my baby who’s nearly five months.
“I’m not an expert but I do think each baby is different. Matilda was walking at 11 months and some little ones take longer with that but she wasn’t great with her food.
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“I suppose they all go at their own pace and Delilah is loving little baby fruit purées and is really interested.
“I’m only giving her little licks of the spoon not the whole packet and on the baby packages it says from 4 months onwards and no mum shaming please that I didn’t boil the fruit.
“I am still feeding her myself and will do as long as she needs.
“I breastfeed and my toddler is still in my bed but what works for me won’t work for someone else.
“It doesn’t make you a better mum what ever your choice of feeding. I do think as Mums we’re all in it together, we should support each other, it’s not a competition.
“We’re all just trying our best really no one is perfect and we should uplift each other as women as it’s the best job but not always the easiest.”
