Rams QB's wife Kelly Stafford hits out at 'mom-shamers' on Instagram who slammed her for using formula and incorrectly buckling her child into car seat
Kelly Stafford, the wife of Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, has hit out at 'mom-shamers' on Instagram who slammed her for using formula and for buckling her child in a car seat incorrectly.
The mother-of-four, 32, spoke out about the 'pressure' piled on parents from other people on social media in a new episode of her podcast The Morning After Kelly Stafford.
'It sucks being a parent right now when there's so much pressure,' said Stafford.
'You have to do it perfectly, or else someone's going to say something.'
She was joined by her own mom Leslie Hall for the episode, titled 'The morning after you find out it's damn hard to be a parent these days', where they discussed the difference between being a parent now and back when she was a child.
Kelly Stafford, the wife of Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford, has hit out at 'mom-shamers' on Instagram. Stafford, her husband, and their four children
The mother-of-four, 32, spoke out about the 'pressure' piled on parents from other people on social media in a new episode of her podcast The Morning After Kelly Stafford where she was joined by her own mom Leslie Hall (pictured)
Stafford grew frustrated as she slammed the 'mom shaming' she has endured from people 'judging' her parenting on social media.
While she said there were some benefits to being a parent in the digital age, she described the pressure for parents to be perfect 'insane'
'We have so much knowledge now about our kids' wellbeing and things like that, which is great, but I also sometimes think ignorance is bliss,' she said.
'I think the pressure on parents right now to do everything perfectly is insane.' \
Stafford pointed to two specific times where she has been mom-shamed by other social media users.
The first was an incident a few years ago where she was slammed for incorrectly buckling her child's car seat.
'I get the whole safety of the car seat I think I posted a couple years ago,' she said on the podcast.
'We weren't even leaving and someone was like, 'they're not buckled in right, you need to tighten the clip'.
Stafford with her husband in 2017. She said she had been slammed by people on social media for choosing to use formula instead of breastfeeding her fourth child and for buckling her child in a car seat wrong
'It was like 'woah, ok, I got it, we do know that but we just weren't even pulling out of our neighborhood'.'
Stafford then gave a second example where she said she was blasted by some people for choosing not to breastfeed her fourth child.
'I came out and said I used formula with my last one because I was miserable trying to pump and take care of kids, and I got crushed for it,' she said.
While some people publicly supported her choice, she said others were 'so judgmental.'
'I mean there were a lot of people who were like i'ts so awesome that you're doing what's best for your family...' she said.
'But then there were people who were like 'how dare you. You have all the time in the world. Why wouldn't you feed your kid the best stuff?''
In July 2020, Stafford shared in an Instagram post her decision not to breastfeed her youngest daughter Tyler.
In July 2020, Stafford shared in an Instagram post her decision not to breastfeed her youngest daughter Tyler (above)
'I decided before I even had my baby I would be a better, less stressed mother to all four of my kiddos if I was not strapped to a pump all day,' she wrote at the time.
'I pumped for the last 3 girls and couldn't have been more miserable.. and the decision to formula feed her has been one of the most liberating thing i have done.'
She added that 'I support all of it...breastfeeding, pumping and bottle feeding, and formula feeding' but feels that 'sometimes women stress themselves so much' over doing what they think they should do.
'So if your a mom out there feeling guilty about wanting to formula feed your baby.. don't,' she wrote.
'Don't let the stigma make you feel a certain way.. do what's best for your baby AND YOU.
'I know everyone in this house is grateful I decided to formula feed... especially this little smiley girl,' she added, alongside a photo of her smiling baby.
On the podcast, Stafford's mom accused the 'mom-shamers' of having 'way too much time on their hands'.
Stafford (with her husband and three older children) said she was slammed for incorrectly buckling her child's car seat which she said 'we just weren't even pulling out of our neighborhood'
Stafford (with her children) said it 'sucks being a parent right now when there's so much pressure'
'Those kind of people have way too much time on their hands,' she told her daughter.
'Maybe they need to find something else to do if they're spending that much time on social media critiquing.'
Stafford responded, telling her 'it's called mom shaming - it's a thing.'
Leslie told her daughter that her generation of parents didn't face the same pressures because there was no social media and they were just 'busy trying to survive.'
'We didn't have to deal with any of that because we didn't have social media, so nobody was judging us or watching us,' she said.
'We were all just too busy trying to survive.'
Stafford gave birth to her fourth child with her husband last summer - just over one year after she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor.
Stafford gave birth to her fourth child with her husband last summer - just over one year after she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor. She is pictured recovering from surgery
She was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma in April 2019 after suffering dizzy spells.
She underwent brain surgery which she was told had a 50 per cent chance of causing her to lose her hearing.
The surgery was a success and she recovered, going on to announce her pregnancy months later.
Stafford's husband transferred from the Detroit Lions to the Los Angeles Rams this year - months after his wife slammed the NFL for publicly announcing the results of his COVID-19 tests.
Matthew received a false positive after testing negative twice, before testing negative three times again.
The league publicly released the news of the false negative by placing him on the reserve/COVID-19 list even though he didn't have the virus, sparking what Kelly described as a 'nightmare.'
'I have been losing my mind because of how my Family has been treated since my husband was put on COVID-IR,' she wrote on Instagram at the time.
