When influencer Abby Howard shared some photos from a recent family trip to Disney, some of her followers zeroed in on a detail they found concerning: the plastic rain poncho that was covering Abby’s 7-week-old son.
Abby is now defending the decision. In an update shared via her Instagram Stories, she also said she’s not interested in hearing from mom-shamers. To her, there’s a difference between “genuine concern” (which would be understandable) and mom shaming, which comes across as overly judgmental of other moms’ choices.
Abby explained why the rain poncho was covering her newborn.
In a way, she was using the rain poncho for what it’s designed for: to avoid getting wet. But she had her newborn strapped to her chest while she was wearing the poncho. She explained that she didn’t want him to get wet either. Apparently, some of Abby’s followers didn’t think this looked particularly safe.
When she addressed the critics via her Instagram Stories, she emphasized that safety is a priority for her. “Hey I just want everybody concerned to know that there are no sleeves on my poncho so there is lots of air flow up to the baby,” she wrote, per People. “Like a cover on a stroller. he was very safe as I was constantly wafting air and checking on him. Didn’t want the little guy to get soaked. 👍🏼 ❤️”
To her, some people’s concerns did not seem genuine.
Instead, she simply felt like people were shaming her. “Also mom shame is never cool ✌️” she added. In a follow-up post, she continued with, “And yes, there is a difference between genuine concern to acknowledge a potential safety risk and mom shame. Some people need to learn the difference. I take my children’s well being very seriously and I won’t let that be questioned any more.”
It’s not the first time Abby and her husband, Matt, have been called out for their parenting decisions while traveling. Abby and Matt are also parents to Griffin, 4, and August, 3. Back in 2024, they sparked backlash online when they appeared to suggest that they left their young children alone in their room during a cruise.
“we ended up taking them for 5 nights and it became apparent that they weren’t enjoying it and therefore we weren’t either,” Abby wrote at the time. “So, THEN we switched our dinner time to AFTER their bedtime and FaceTIMED the monitors while we ate. And that worked out muchhhh better for everyone!”
People thought this sounded shockingly irresponsible. Later, Abby and Matt clarified that the children were never left alone and that Abby’s post had been misleading. In reality, members of Abby’s extended family were on the cruise as well.
“People started to speculate and believe that we had left our children alone in their staterooms,” Matt said at the time, per NBC News. “And that is just completely untrue, because we had someone with our children at all times on this boat, period.”
The couple welcomed their son Fischer in August.
They announced his birth on Instagram on August 17. “he’s here!!!!” the post read. “we have been soaking up every bit of this beautiful new chapter as a family of 5. can’t wait to slowly catch you all up on the past week of our life ❤️”
He was born about a year after Abby experienced pregnancy loss. On September 25, Abby reflected on this in an emotional post.
“as I was on the beach today, nursing my one month old, I couldn’t help but wish I’d had the opportunity to show myself in the hospital bed the ‘me’ exactly one year later,” she wrote. “but life doesn’t work like that. I had to feel all of that pain and then I had to learn to walk forward with it.”
She continued, “I still have tear-filled eyes of grief today, but also tears of gratitude that come from a deeper place than I could have ever felt before. I so wish pregnancy loss wasn’t a part of our story, but if you have found yourself here too, I want to remind you that there is hope. hope that comes in a million different fonts. our’s is Fischer. forever loved, Emerson Nicole Howard.”
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