Having your first baby can be overwhelming. From the sleepless nights, to bonding with your new family member, and figuring out which feeding method works best for you, there is a lot that happens in the first few months of life.
Not only is it tough for your average mom, but when you're in the spotlight, it can be more overwhelming as people's opinions about your ability to parent come to light.
Jade Roper Tolbert, who appeared on season 19 of The Bachelor and season two of Bachelor in Paradise, is receiving backlash about her choices when breastfeeding her five-month-old baby, Emerson Avery.
At the end of the second season of Bachelor in Paradise, she became engaged to fellow contestant, Tanner Tolbert. The pair got married in 2016 and welcomed their daughter in August 2017.
Last week, Jade posted a sweet snap of her snuggling after nursing her baby to sleep.
"Mommy PSA! Nursing Emmy has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life (I adore these after feeding snuggles, too). It's so incredible how our bodies transform during and post-pregnancy," she shared on Instagram.
Unfortunately her seemingly positive post got an array of negative reactions.
"I had some comments about the picture I posted of me and Emerson after I was breastfeeding and people telling me they don't look like that when they breastfeed and that I was setting up a standard that was impossible to live up to," the 31-year-old new mom shared.
She went on to explain the story that happened before that photo was snapped.
"The truth about that picture is I had a photo shoot the day before and I hadn't taken my makeup off, so that's literally the day before's makeup," she continues. "And it was slightly staged "” we positioned Emerson just right to make the picture [work], but that was literally right after I had fed her and she had fallen asleep on me and we do have those moments where we snuggle so I don't get what's so unreal about it."
She then goes on to share how she is just like every other mom beyond the spotlight.
"If you guys feel like I'm portraying some kind of falsehood of motherhood, this is my real life "” this is me on a Monday morning," Jade said. "I've already used my shirt as a spit-up rag. I have clothes everywhere that have not been washed."
But this wasn't the first time she was experience backlash from a breastfeeding photo.
In a photo she shared in her Instagram story, she shows herself breastfeeding her daughter who is not visible under a cover.
Again, what she thought was a harmless photo, turned into a collection of negative comments. She responded to those people the following day.
"Yesterday, I posted a picture of me breastfeeding at the table in a restaurant because it was the first time I had actually done it ... I have always gone into the bathroom to breastfeed because I felt like I couldn't do it in public," she begins.
She addressed the flack directly.
"And people were telling me that I shouldn't cover up and I was actually getting flack for putting a cover over my baby, which I just don't understand," Jade said. "Why that would be something people would give me s"” about?"
What do you think? Were people's comments unwarranted?
Source: Famous Birthdays / People
