A mum breastfed on live TV while defending her decision to vlog about feeding her baby while having sex.
Tasha Maile joined Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on ‘This Morning’ via video link from Salt Lake City, Utah, US. She cradled and breastfed her three-month-old son Love throughout the interview.
The parenting vlogger had been invited to discuss the controversy surrounding one of her videos from 2015, in which she answers a question that she has been asked “time and time again”: Whether it is ok to have sex while feeding a baby.
“The baby was sleeping while breastfeeding so he was very attached to me,” Maile explained. “I think that yeah, if your baby’s sleeping and - being an adult about the conversation - I think we all like sex, there’s no secret about it.
“I think it’s totally fine if the baby is sleeping.”
“At the same time even if the baby is awake and off to the side or something, if the baby’s ok, the baby’s ok,” Maile added.
“They’re not sitting there judging you and thinking: ‘Mum and dad are having sex!’
“It’s a two- or three-month-old baby. They’re so innocent.”
Schofield asked Maile whether she was surprised at the backlash her video received, including accusations that she had involved her child in a sex act.
To which Maile responded: “I wasn’t surprised because I know people read titles and don’t actually listen to the video.”
Maile is also mum to five-year-old Josiah and two-year-old Soul.
More than 60k people have watched Maile’s breastfeeding videos.
Schofield asked her whether all of her viewers are “there for the right reason: To educate themselves”.
She replied: “In my opinion there is no right or wrong. It is what it is, and what people are watching my videos for is really none of my business.”
Willoughby and Schofield then tried to get to the bottom of whether there is an age at which Maile would stop breastfeeding her children while having sex, and they were rather shocked by her reply.
“Do I make love in front of my eldest child? No,” she said.
“I don’t really think it doesn’t become ‘not ok’, I’m sure lots of us have walked in on our parents, and just because we walked in doesn’t make it ‘not ok’ to be having sex.
“It’s not about being right or wrong. If you’re having sex in front of your children and it feels good to have sex in front of your children.”
Schofield interjected : “If you did that in this country I have a feeling Social Services would be knocking on your door.”
So then Maile clarified her statement: “I agree, you’re not having sex in front of your children, but are they sleeping? That’s the question and that’s what the video is about and I’m sure many parents have had sex in the same room that their children have been sleeping [in].”
Schofield also clarified that he understands Maile’s videos have been very helpful to many women who want to learn about breastfeeding, but he questioned her reasons for making them.
“I’ve always done it just for me,” explained Maile. “I share the videos just for me and if it happens to help somebody, it happens to help somebody.
“It is what it is. There’s not a law against sharing your life.”
‘This Morning’ airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.