A British TV presenter has come under fire from parents around the world after holding a newborn baby before the mother.
35-year-old This Morning host Holly Willoughby was visiting London’s St Thomas’ hospital earlier this week when she ran into new dad, Sam and his newborn daughter Mei leaving an operating theatre.
Born just moments earlier via caesarian, Willougby asked Sam if she could hold the baby before saying, "am I allowed to have a snuggle, are you okay with that?"
Obligingly, Sam said yes before passing his daughter to Willoughby. "I think I might like, the second person to hold you," she said looking at Mei.
"She's just so special; so magical," Willoughby gushed via live feed to her co-host Phillip Schofield.
Within moments of airing, however, viewers of the top-rating breakfast show began to rage about what the mum-of-three had done.
"I would be heartbroken to have that golden hour taken from me,” one viewer commented on social media. “Baby can still be with mum or should be with dad having skin to skin,” one said.
“No way would someone have taken my baby out of the theatre. I don’t care who she was. When you waited 9 months then baby leaves … I would have cried,” another wrote.
"Obviously don't understand how important the first hours are," another commented on Facebook.
Uninterrupted skin to skin contact generally occurs within the first hour after birth and is considered by many professionals to be an essential part of early bonding between mothers and babies, particularly following caesarian births.
Willoughby is yet to respond to comments.
