Mum who was shamed for giving birth at 43 hits back with glamorous school run outfit
A mum who experienced hurtful comments when she prepared to give birth at 43-years-old decided to take a stand by dressing to the nines for the school run.
Now 47, Lucy Baker has not only embraced being a mum who gave birth in her 40s, but also inspires and celebrates other mums of a similar age through her blog, Geriatric Mum.
The mum-of-three shares advice and thoughts about being an 'older mother' on the page, but Lucy was quick to notice that getting pregnant in her 40s prompted some unwelcome negative attention.
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Speaking to The Mirror, Lucy recalled: "When I was pregnant at 42, a school mum in the playground said to me, 'Oh you're going to be 47 when the baby starts school' and I was only four or five months pregnant at that time, and that statement stuck in my head."
Lucy 'brushed a lot of comments off' throughout her pregnancy, and attempted to turn 'negativity into positivity' by starting her blog and making radio and TV appearances about being an older mum.
"When the mum made the comments I hadn't even had the baby yet, and when you're pregnant nothing is certain, so for someone to project that far ahead I thought, A) you've said something that's a bit weird, and B) I'm just trying to get through the pregnancy, give me a break," she said.
As the comment about being '47 when the baby starts school' continued to run through Lucy's mind, she decided to take a stand.
Lucy explained: "I thought 'Do you know what, when he starts school, I'm going to show that mum, and other people that making those comments is never a good thing'. So that was always a driving point towards him starting school, which happened in September."
This summer, she spoke at a panel while wearing a gold, sparkly dress. While there, she asked the room whether she should wear the dress on the day her son started school.
The supportive women came through with a resounding 'yes', and Lucy knew how she was going to prove she wasn't paying attention to the haters.
And when it came time for the school run, Lucy donned the sparkly dress.
She recalled: "I thought, 'I'm going to flipping well do it, I'm going to wear the dress'. And I took him to school wearing the gold dress. Fortunately, it was a lovely day, really sunny, so I stood out even more so it was so sparkly.
"It wasn't about me wearing the dress really - it was a message behind the dress that being judged at any stage of your life, especially as a woman, and especially in pregnancy and motherhood, is just not cool.
"The dress was also my celebration of being an older mum and I don't want people to be judged in the same way I was. If you can just hold back some of those comments, it's really helpful for other people."
Noting that women are just as capable as caring for babies in their 40s as they are earlier in life, Lucy added: "Passing judgement without knowing anything about people is really quite damaging, and really hurtful, so the message is to think before you speak and don't comment on other people's pregnancies."
Emily Brown