You may remember Stage as the model skinny-shamed earlier this year because her Instagram followers thought her pregnant belly was "too small." She later gave birth to a healthy baby boy... the baby boy at the center of the latest brouhaha over one of Stage's photos, this time from Snapchat.
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In it, she poses in a teal gown while baby James chills out on the floor. Take a look:
Well, saints preserve us. She put a baby on the floor... as have multitasking mothers for who knows how long.
Of course, if you look closely, you'll see the baby is lying on a green blanket, and Stage sent a close-up shot of the baby on the blanket to TMZ to prove she hadn't put the little guy on a dirty dressing room floor. Good for her.
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But should a mom really have to defend against this to begin with? This is a reality of motherhood. One of the beauties of babies is that they're immensely portable. Moms do not have to stay locked away at home just because they've given birth. We can go out. Run errands. Shop. Even try on pretty dresses in mall dressing rooms.
But when you're out and about with baby, you can't hold them in your arms at every blessed moment. Anyone who has tried has realized it's impossible. They're cute and cuddly, but they can be very difficult to work around.
And so sometimes, moms put their babies down. Heck, sometimes they even put them on the floor.
Why? Because contrary to popular opinion, babies — especially 8-month-old babies who are likely at crawling stage — are not made of glass. They can be set down. They can even be set down on the floor of a mall dressing room, provided there are no sharp objects or other hazards in easy reach (and from the looks of this photo, there weren't).
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As for the cry that the floor is dirty, the miracle that is hand-washing applies to babies, too. What's more, encountering germs with your baby is hardly the worst thing in the world. Although doctors warn moms to be wary in the newborn stage, by the time they're infants, encountering germs is part of building a healthy immune system. While moms certainly shouldn't encourage their baby to gnaw on the handle of the grocery store cart, we've all seen it happen... and our kids have survived.
So the next time you see a mom put her baby down so she can make use of both hands for a moment, instead of chastising her, consider this: Maybe she was just doing the best she could do to multitask as a mom.