Helen Flanagan has received backlash for her decision to wean her five-month-old

The former Coronation Street actress asked people to consider that "each baby is different" following the controversy.

Yesterday Helen Flanagan took to Instagram to announce her decision to begin weaning her five-month-old baby girl, Delilah. Weaning children can be a tricky channel to navigate and when to do it is a personal choice for every parent. Six months is about the average time people wait to begin the process, so Helen received some negative comments for her decision to wean sooner than this. Illustrating the classic point that every baby is different, Helen said that her first baby really struggled to wean, but that Delilah is loving the process:

"I always said with my second baby I’d start earlier with weaning just to get them used to it and I’d always said to my mum I hope I have a baby that will eat for me. Delilah loves her food and the spoon so I’m so relieved and it’s so cute."

Some people felt the need to add their two cents and as a result, Helen posted a follow-up post asking for an end to the mum-shaming. She said:

"I know a lot of Mums follow me so I wasn’t being irresponsible posting that I’m weaning my baby who’s nearly five months. I’m not an expert but I do think each baby is different. Matilda was walking at 11 months and some little ones take longer with that but she wasn’t great with her food. I suppose they all go at their own pace and Delilah is loving little baby fruit purées and is really interested."

Professor of paediatrics at King's College London, Gideon Lack, recently expressed his opinion that babies should be weaned sooner to combat the risk of developing food allergies, so perhaps Helen is quite right to begin the process slightly sooner than normal. In any case, we hope the negativity dies down for Helen. Like every parent, we're sure she's doing what she believes is right.