Author Alex Bollen and her new book, Motherdom.

After Alex Bollen’s first baby was born, the author was riddled with this deep, unending fear of being a bad mother. It’s a fear many parents have probably felt at some point, prompting feelings of anxiety and guilt.

With a background in research, she decided to go searching for answers and discovered a wealth of studies surrounding motherhood and parenting that had been exaggerated or misrepresented in the media.

These ‘Good Mother myths’, as she calls them, are an assortment of narratives, ideologies and stereotypes that shame mums. And there were so many that she ended up writing a book about it – Motherdom: Breaking Free from Bad Science and Good Mother Myths was born.

“I wrote the book because I am completely and utterly fed up with all the guilt-inducing garbage which is peddled about motherhood,” the author told HuffPost UK.

Here, she walks us through what she believes are some of the most popular ‘Good Mother myths’ – and why we should reject each one of them.

1. ‘There is a best approach – and you’ll damage your child if you do something different’

Everyone has an opinion on the best way to do parenting and, as a new parent finding your feet, it can be extremely unhelpful.

“The camps for and against different parenting approaches – like bed sharing or gentle parenting – accuse each other of harming kids. The fear of being labelled a Bad Mother can make these debates particularly agonising for women,” said Bollen.

“But........

© HuffPost