An Olympic gymnast has been mom-shamed after sharing a video of her baby's "first flip" on Instagram.
The footage was shared by 28-year-old Shawn Johnson, who recently became a parent with husband and NFL free agent Andrew East. Their daughter Drew Hazel East was born just three months ago, and in that time, Johnson has been forced to contend with mom-shaming online.
The footage in question was captioned: "Roo’' first flip!! @drewhazeleast ? (she was PERFECTLY safe... so don't even haha) #momlife #milestone @andrewdeast"
Take a look at the footage in question right here:However, despite telling her followers that the three-month-old was perfectly safe, Johnson was slammed for her actions.
"While she may have been perfectly safe, sometimes you are a bit rough handling such a young baby, and not making her warm enough when you take her out," one critic wrote. "She needs at least socks if not shoes, as well, and hats."
However, the gymnast did have her supporters.
One wrote: "People need to leave you alone and let you be a mommy and not shame you. I dont [sic] like seeing you having to defend yourself. Until your child is perfect shut your mouth and lift this mommy and baby up not down."
On Monday night, Johnson took to Instagram stories to explain why mom-shaming is such a problem.
"Mom shaming is a real thing. Like a real, real thing. And I truly don't understand it," she said in an Instagram story. "There's comments that come across like, 'You're doing this wrong. How could you do this to your child?' And those just aren't good, those aren't nice. Those aren't worth the effort, and they make mamas feel like crap. All of us mamas are doing the best that we can. We're trying, we're crying, we're pushing our way through it."
The 28-year-old then encouraged her followers to "celebrate all of the mamas out there" as they all learn the ropes of motherhood in their own time and ways.
"I mean, let's be real, none of us know what in the heck we’re doing and we’re all just trying to figure it out. But be kind," she continued. "Talk to people the way you would want your daughter or your son to talk to people. And just be nice. And stop picking on our little babies, ok?"
