Jade Roper Tolbert Responds to Breastfeeding Photo Backlash

Jade Roper Tolbert welcomed daughter Emerson with husband Tanner Tolbert in August 2017, and as many new moms do, Roper Tolbert has been breastfeeding her baby.

She recently shared an Instagram photo of herself snuggling Emerson while promoting a paid partnership with thirdlove nursing bras, with the snap featuring Roper Tolbert cuddling her daughter as the infant slept.

Using her Instagram Stories, the reality personality explained that she had received backlash for the photo, with some people commenting that the shot didn’t depict the reality of motherhood.

In response, Roper Tolbert noted that while the shot was slightly staged, the mom life she shares on social media is all real.

“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 former Bachelor contestant began.

“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 continued. “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.”

“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,” the new mom concluded. “I’ve already used my shirt as a spit-up rag. I have clothes everywhere that have not been washed.”

She also used the platform to explain another source of criticism, which she received after sharing a shot in which she covered herself while breastfeeding her daughter in a restaurant.

“People were telling me I shouldn’t cover up,” she said. “I was actually getting flack for putting a cover over my baby which I just don’t understand why that would be something people would give me s—t about.”

“And my baby is feeding right now and I’m still going to cover up because that’s what I feel the most comfortable with,” she concluded. “I feel like I don’t need to share all of that with the world, that’s not the message. It’s just that women should be able to do what they feel like they need to do for their babies.”

Photo Credit: Instagram / @jadelizroper