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Majority of moms (including Savannah and Hoda) experience mom shaming

No mom is safe from being criticized for their parenting (and usually by family members).
/ Source: TODAY Contributor

If you've ever posted a picture of your baby or child on social media, hoping to share a sweet or funny moment, and then received comments that made you feel like you were actually Doing It All Wrong, you're in good company: some of our own favorite TODAY Parents moms, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb, feel your pain.

According to the results of a 2017 study by C.S. Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, 6 in 10 mothers of children ages 5 and under have been criticized for their parenting, most commonly by family members. Both Savannah and Hoda fall into that category, though their shaming came in the comments on pictures from their social media channels.

Savannah recalled posting a picture of a hat-less baby Vale on a beach vacation that elicited quite a few opinions on her new parenting skills: "Her skin has never seen the light of day," Savannah said. "It was one second."

But some of the commenters felt the need to school the new mom. "Baby needs a hat," said many. "Cover that baby from the sun!"

Savannah eventually responded to that portion of the commenters. "Oh my goodness. Of course Vale has a hat, but more to the point, that was the one very short moment she was even allowed in the sun," she wrote. "Trust me, I've had skin cancer twice. I'm not about to let her sit in the sun unprotected."

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Hoda revealed that she had experienced the same thing when Haley Joy was a baby.

"I put a picture of my daughter and she was out on a blanket under an umbrella, and they were like, 'Why doesn't she have glasses?'" Hoda said.

Hoda and Savannah pointed out that because they are in the public eye so often, celebrity parents frequently find themselves the target of criticism, especially those that post pictures of their children on social media like Chrissy Teigen, Kelly Clarkson, and Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.

In the poll about mom shaming, half of the mothers who had experienced such criticism said they were likely to avoid people who had shamed them.

However, Hoda pointed out that after Kelly Clarkson was criticized by commenters for the nutritional wisdom of feeding her daughter Nutella, she responded by posting another picture — of her baby son "inhaling" cake at his first birthday. We like your spirit, Kelly!

This story was originally published June 21, 2017.