I could hardly believe my eyes when I recently saw coverage of a Dolce & Gabbana fashion show and saw that most of the models were carrying a real live baby down the catwalk, as 'a tribute to motherhood'. Dogs in handbags are one thing but actual real live children?! Some of the babies didn't look best pleased either. I even felt a little sorry for the willowy models as they attempted to keep the wriggles at bay whilst wearing six inch heels.
Last time I checked we were meant to protect and nurture our kids and not use them as fashion accessories.
Right now it seems babies are the must-have fashion accessory. Look no further than Kim Kardashian and her 22-month-old daughter North West. The toddler was recently spotted on the front row of her Daddy's fashion show in New York. It was hard not to feel some sort of karma when she threw the mother of all tantrums.
The pictures of Anna Wintour and Beyonce sitting beside North and pretending nothing was happening are priceless. Perhaps Kim had been let down by the babysitter again and had no choice but to bring her. We've all been there.
At a second show that week where little North threw another tantrum, she was spotted in that oh-so-baby-friendly article of clothing, a shiny leather jacket.
Some experts are actually getting seriously hot under the collar about the celeb baby accessory thing, especially when it comes to dressing children up in inappropriate clothing. Sorry to mention Kimmie again but she recently posted a picture of cute little North curled up on a bed, listening to a story and wearing a pearl necklace. Choking hazard anyone?!
That's certainly what Alison Edwards, a senior lecturer in Midwifery at Birmingham City University, has said, "Kim is being so irresponsible as a parent and treating her child like an accessory baby".
She added, "Babies have suffered injury and even fatalities due to inappropriate exposure to harmful items that they've been wearing or dressed in. I've known of babies who have lost fingers after getting them entwined in threads from their clothes and there is clearly a high possibility of this happening with a pearl necklace."
But aside from the safety issues mentioned by Edwards why would you actually want your baby to look like a mini adult?
While it wasn't dangerous who could forget Jessica Simpson dressing her daughter Maxwell in a mustard yellow crochet bikini at just four months old. Complete with teeny tiny bikini top.
Granted I've always been slightly extreme on this front. The rows of beautiful 'outfits' for babies were slightly wasted on me as I pretty much kept my three kids in babygrows until their first birthday. My first daughter honestly got her first pair of jeans aged about five. That actually makes me sounds a little weird. But who would actually put their child in a suit with a teeny tiny tie? Why would you do that to someone who hasn't even mastered walking, let alone going to the office?
Mum of two Laura, 33, completely disagrees with me. "I think babies can look really cute when they are dressed up in fashionable clothes, it doesn't mean you're putting them in any danger," she says.
"My son wore a little suit complete with a burgundy bow tie when he was 14 months for his christening. Everyone thought he looked incredibly cute and not like a little adult at all."
And hands up I've done the 'accessory baby' thing in some form for a cheap laugh in the past too. I'm sure my nine month old wasn't that keen on dressing up as a Christmas pudding complete with little ivy hat that I almost velcroed to her head to get the full effect. I'd still argue though that this is letting a child be a child. Sort of.
Now don't even get me started on the debate around Farrah Abraham waxing her three-year-old daughter's eyebrows while she was sleeping. The latest question is whether or not little Sophia has had highlights...