Maria Fowler forced to defend herself following harsh bottle feeding criticism

Maria Fowler has responded to harsh Instagram critics who've slammed the new mum for bottle feeding her baby.

The TOWIE star, who gave birth to daughter Evie on 25th September, posted a sweet snap to her social media account showing both her and her new baby's warm drinks just days after giving birth.

Showing a cup of tea and a baby bottle sat side by side on her glass coffee table, Maria simply captioned her post 'Breakfast time'.

But what was meant to be a simple and sweet post, quickly became a heated debate on why the 30 year old was bottle feeding her new baby.

Among the well wishers, one Instagram user commented on the use of a babies bottle, writing, 'How come your not breast feeding, just we've just had a baby and combi feeding! Any thoughts behind it!?'.

It didn't take long for other followers to get involved with one replying, 'Wondered how long it'd take for someone to comment about bottle feeding, it's no one's business except the parents, as long as the baby is loved and cared for, it doesn't matter one bit how they are fed!' and more agreeing, 'ether a woman breast feeds or not has absolutely nothing to the opinion of anyone let alone a f**king man 👊🏼 Get out! ..... @mariafowler_ hope you are well and enjoying every precious moment as a mummy ❤️'

Maria stepped in to reveal the truth behind her feeding choice, admitting that during her baby's traumatic birth she shockingly lost half of her body's blood and is taking time to recover.

She hit back at critics commenting, 'If you were at the birth you would understand. It's taking me time to recover I lost half my body's blood' and 'I tried but couldn't sit her on me Xx'.

The debate continued with comments from both sides, with one user pointing out that breast milk can be bottled, 'The best bit about comments on this post is how do people not know if she had pumped her breast milk and put it in a bottle so her partner could help with feeds? People are so judgemental both my kids we're bottle and there both normal and healthy x congratulations x'.