Baby

Mums are abused for nine-month-old's photoshoot, but we're slightly confused

Laura Stennett is a photographer mum who has been coming up with creative ways to photograph kids for quite a while. 

So when her friend Lauren, who's a mum-of-four, gave birth to twins Liam and Lola, they had joked a smash would be down the line when they could sit-up on their own. 

And they followed through – with baby Liam perfectly sitting up when he was nine-months-old, the friends came together for the photoshoot. 

However, they didn't follow with the traditional 'cake smash' shoots, instead opting for a lighthearted cheeseburger smash. 

The alternative shoot was intended to be funny, as little Liam had great fun discovering his love for pickles. 

Now it is quite obvious to most that a nine-month-old baby would not be able to eat 20-something cheeseburgers, and nobody would allow it to happen anyhow. 

But yet it didn't stop people from mum-shaming both Lauren and Laura for allowing the shoot take place.

The pair came in for a bashing online, with many users commenting they were irresponsible, little Liam would become obese and diabetic, and that a cheeseburger smash is far from lighthearted fun.

Laura, who is a vegetarian, was responsible for coming up with the idea, but even she didn't see what all the fuss was about, nonetheless she was hurt to see the abuse with which her friend Lauren was subjected to following the snaps, offering to take them down. 

Lauren being a rock of sense, quickly realised she couldn't explain the shoot as the mum-shamers wouldn't listen, instead countering the shoot with an idea of her own – a new photoshoot with Liam's twin sister Lola – and a smash of beautiful organic fruit and veggies. 

Both mums are amazing, both have their own battles, with Laura even overhauling her diet a number of years ago for that of her hypoallergenic toddler, so she could breastfeed. 

But none of this mattered to the online world of shaming. 

We're extremely confused though – it was a lighthearted shoot, resembling that of the famous cake-smash, which also make for some of the cutest snaps afloat the internet.

However, because the mums substituted cake for cheeseburgers it caused a mountain of furore over the fact it was extremely unhealthy and a bad example. 

Nonetheless, is a three, four or five tier sugar infused cake not just as unhealthy as a cheeseburger? 

Many parents would bring their child to McDonald's for a Happy Meal or cheeseburger every now and again for a treat, or simply because their busy schedule didn't allow for homemade goodness on a given day. 

And every time there's a birthday, a christening, a wedding or any other celebration for that matter – we have cake! 

Sweet, sugary, creamy, gloriously icing filled cake; so we're leaning on the fence of 'this shoot is the cutest and funniest' thing we've seen in a while. 

Each to their own, and fair play to Laura and Lauren for sticking to their guns; let's hope people realise that there is no perfect way to parenting – should we take a step back from judgement?

We think so – but let us know what your thoughts are…

Search
Search results for
View all