This Morning's Dr Zoe Williams admits she's been mum-shamed online

Dr. Zoe Williams has opened up in a new interview with MailOnline about how she’s felt mum-shamed on social media since welcoming her first child in June.

The This Morning star, 41, who recently gave birth to her first child Lisbon with boyfriend Stuart McKay, revealed she was subjected to online trolling after giving birth.

In an exclusive chat, the new mother said she also feels there is pressure for her as a doctor in the public eye to be a ‘role model’ for her fans. 

Candid: Dr. Zoe Williams has opened up in a new interview with MailOnline about how she’s felt mum-shamed on social media since welcoming her first child in June. Pictured in August

Talking about her experience with trolling, Zoe told MailOnline: ‘I think we live in a society where as soon as there’s a baby involved people feel that they have a right [to get involved].’

‘Mostly it comes from a good place where they’re worried about the health of the baby, but I’ve had people comment on a number of things whether the way my baby sleeps, whether I have my baby swaddled or not swaddled, whether my baby has a dummy or doesn’t have a dummy – people will comment on every little thing.’

‘I’m very careful that, for example, I did a post with WaterWipes and had the baby on the changing table, I made sure my hand was in the picture. One because otherwise people would criticise me, but also two I feel I am role modelling as well.’

‘For example, if I am using a baby carrier and not using it correctly, people might look to me and assume I know what I’m doing and getting it right and might copy the way I do things, so there is some responsibility on social media whilst being honest, also try and demonstrate best practice.’

Trolling: The This Morning star, 41, who gave birth to her first child Lisbon with boyfriend Stuart McKay, revealed she was subjected to online trolling after giving birth 

Zoe, who had a water birth at home without the need for medical intervention, said despite her ordeal, she doesn’t let trolls on her platform bring her down. 

‘I ignore them. It depends – sometimes I comment, mostly I would say I ignore them. Sometimes I will reply if there’s a reason to, it’s quite rare but occasionally I will respond, but if someone’s being abusive then I will delete them – life’s too short.’

Nonetheless, the medical professional feels that now more than ever, it’s important to be honest about what’s it’s like to welcome a new baby – especially in the age of social media.

New addition: Zoe told MailOnline: ‘I think we live in a society where as soon as there’s a baby involved people feel that they have a right [to get involved].’ Pictured on ITV’s This Morning in July

Home birth: Zoe, who had a water birth at home without the need for medical intervention, said she doesn’t let trolls on her platform bring her down

‘I think it is, because never have I realised more how much we don’t talk about the realities of being a parent and I think compared to many I would say I haven’t had a tough time – I didn’t have a difficult birth, my baby sleeps reasonably well but I think that post-partum period for most women, it will be the most difficult time of their life so far.’

‘I think we see a lot of the time on social media, we do just see the highlights of people’s lives and obviously the cute baby pictures and we’ll see those days where they have managed to put a full face of makeup on and wash their hair whereas the reality is the majority of their days don’t look like that.’

‘My baby vomits quite a lot so I post some Instagram vs. reality pictures in his cute, nice little outfit and then five seconds later he’s vomited all over it. I think being real and being honest on Instagram it just helps other people out there see the other side of the story. 

‘I think it’s important to see people like myself as a mother, because people think I’m a doctor, I’ll have it all sorted, I’ll have it altogether whereas actually as a doctor I’m still a first-time mum and I think it’s important just to be honest and share that.’

Insta vs. reality! The medical professional feels it’s important to be honest about what’s it’s like to welcome a new baby – especially in the age of social media

However, despite celebrities often sugar-coating their experience as a parent, it was Zoe’s role as a practitioner which ultimately helped her to feel prepared for motherhood. 

‘I’m a GP, I’ve seen what the real mum looks like when she’s had a baby that’s been up all night with a temperature and she’s worried about the baby and she’s been crying so I’ve probably been exposed to the realities of parenthood through my work, and therefore my expectations have all been quite accurate or in some ways accurate but it’s almost prepared me for the worst.’

‘The same with being pregnant – I see women who were having an extreme experience of symptoms so hyperemesis gravidarum (severe nausea and vomiting) and severe back pain so I went into pregnancy knowing what the worst case scenario would look like so therefore when I had quite a positive view about my pregnancy, even though I did experience a lot of those symptoms: the tiredness, the back pain, I know there are people that had it much worse than I did and not everybody gets that experience.’

‘I know most people out there only see what’s in the media but also in TV and movies or what we see from our own family and friends who tend to put a brave face on and show us just the highlights reel.’

Motherhood: However, despite celebrities often sugar-coating their experience as a parent, it was Zoe’s role as a practitioner which ultimately helped her to feel prepared for motherhood

Zoe, who is taking a year off from her work as an NHS GP to spend time with her new arrival, is now using her medical knowledge to partner with WaterWipes® to support their launch of ABC Of Baby Skin – a resource to help parents access trusted information about common baby skin concerns.  

Zoe has seen many patients come in and out of her clinic with questions about baby’s skin conditions, as well as having dealt with her own, and the odd ‘nappy disaster’ or two. 

‘Many nappy disasters! We’ve had nappy explosions for sure. From a skin point of view his skin has been really good. Very, very early on he did have a slight bit of sensitivity in the nappy area but it’s been really good since then.’

‘Also he did have baby acne which is something that not many people know about but it’s very common and he had it quite, well bad is the wrong word because it’s not harmful, it doesn’t scar it doesn’t cause any lasting problems, but when you look at your newborn baby with what looks like teenage acne it’s… bless them, there were a few days where we didn’t take too many pictures, let’s just say that. ‘ 

The WaterWipes ABC Of Baby Skin has launched today – visit their website for more information. 

 Aw! Dr Zoe pictured with Stuart and their baby boy