Thirty two-year-old actress Shay Mitchell welcomed her first child, Atlas Noa, on October 20th and has been enjoying every minute of motherhood ever since. Mitchell has picked-up quickly on the mommy do’s and don’t’s, and those definitely include how to handle haters.
“I know what I’m doing,” the actress told People Magazine. “I have such an amazing support system. I’m having such a great time with her and I just don’t really pay attention to [critical comments]. I’ve really had a good experience, from even before being a mom, with dealing with negative comments sometimes and other people. But it’s never about me at the end of the day, it’s about these other people, so I’m just gonna let them say what they wanna say but it doesn’t really affect me.”
Although Mitchell has the mommy game down to a science, there is one thing that she admits to the popular news outlet that is challenging to her-being away from her daughter. “The best part is just seeing her every day, happy and healthy, and the hardest part is leaving her. She’s been such a good baby so far. I’m waiting for it to get crazy.”
Mitchell also told People that being a new mom has brought simple joy into her life. “It’s been the best thing ever but it still hasn’t hit me yet. It didn’t even hit me when I was pregnant and it hasn’t hit me even now. It’s just the most surreal feeling and wonderful experience ever.”
Additionally, Mitchell confesses that a part of that joy is bonding with her baby during breastfeeding.
“Maybe when she gets teeth and she starts biting [it might get tough]. But up until this point, she doesn’t have teeth and we’re doing well. Everybody has their own kind of journey with motherhood, with breastfeeding…this is what works for us right now and it’s nice,” Mitchell said in her interview. “Just waking up, having her next to me when we go to sleep, is such a fun thing. I’m enjoying this phase right now without the teeth. She gets aggressive and she’ll hit my boob like, ‘Mama, get it out,’ and she’ll look up and I’m like, ‘Whoa, okay, it’s coming, relax. If I don’t go fast enough, she pounds it and looks up.”
In addition to being a new mom, Mitchell is definitely keeping herself busy making time to give back to those in need as she spends time teaming up with First Star—an organization that provides foster youth with university-based college-preparatory programs and more—to give the teens BÉIS luggages filled with sneakers and school supplies.
“I just think that First Star is such an incredible organization. What they do for the kids in the foster-care system is incredible. Offering mentorship programs and the support they need to get them in school and have that education is so crucial,” Mitchell told the magazine. “A lot of these kids are going from place to place and they have a garbage bag to put their stuff in and no one should have that. So I’m happy that we could offer some stuff to help them with this new, exciting chapter in their lives as they’re going to school.”
So, what did Mitchell say that the future holds for her? Well, for now, simply traveling with her her baby girl. “She’s so good and she’s such a good traveler too, so I’m just hoping that continues and she can be my travel buddy.”
Photos: Instagram
