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In the world of motherhood, it often feels like women just can't win. With a ton of conflicting opinions, every decision a mother makes becomes open to criticism. Jade Roper Tolbert, of The Bachelor [2] and Bachelor in Paradise [3] fame, realized recently that even choosing to cover up while nursing her baby girl, Emerson, can be met with mommy-shaming. [4]
While dining at a restaurant with her little girl, Roper Tolbert shared a simple Instagram story photo [5] on Monday that resulted in her receiving a wave of criticism. Instead of going to the bathroom to nurse, as she admitted to having done previously, she decided to nurse at the table using a cover [6], and posted a photo about it to her story with the text "#normalizebreastfeeding."
In a follow-up story video on Tuesday, she shared that after posting the photo, she quickly received comments and messages stating that she shouldn't use a cover-up when breastfeeding her baby. "People were telling me that I shouldn't cover up and I was actually getting flak for putting a cover over my baby, which I just don't understand," Roper Tolbert said in the video, as reported by People. "Why that would be something people would give me sh*t about?" She continued, arguing that it is her choice to breastfeed however she chooses.
It seems that no matter what a breastfeeding mom does, there will be some people who want to criticize how she goes about nursing. Some women get told they need to breastfeed in the bathroom [8], while other women get kicked out of bathrooms [9] for doing so. Some women are told they need to cover up [10] when nursing in public, but now Roper Tolbert is being told that covering up is also wrong.
A nursing mom has no way of pleasing everyone, nor should she have to. Choosing to breastfeed is a very personal decision, and what that looks like is totally up to the mom [12] — people should respect that.