They’re known as “sancto-mummies”; judgey parents who hang out in online baby forums ready to “help” (read: criticise) your pregnancy or parenting decisions – and TV presenter Sarah Harris says she’s their latest target.
In her column in the Daily Telegraph, the Studio 10 host, who is pregnant with her first child, said she has been “struck” with criticism over her decision to drink coffee and bleach her hair.
“I’m only half way through my first pregnancy and I’ve already been stung… Giving up soft cheese is one thing but I work in morning television – coffee is a necessity,” she wrote.
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“It it’s hard not to feel like a failure when viewers tell me that if I really cared about the health of my unborn baby, I wouldn’t dare wear stilettos to work… or bleach my hair.”
While some women decide to stop dyeing their hair completely during pregnancy, a study published in Canadian Family Physician in 2008 found that using hair products containing chemicals is unlikely to increase the risk of adverse effects on the fetus.
In a review of data on the topic, co-author Dr Angela Chua-Gocheco concluded that given the evidence "suggests there is minimal systemic absorption of hair products... personal use by pregnant women three to four times throughout pregnancy is not considered to be of concern".
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