This Morning and Capital Breakfast presenter Siân Welby has opened up about regretting a tough decision she made after giving birth to her first daughter, Ruby in 2024

Sian Welby has spoken about her decision to have a certain amount of maternity leave (Image: Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

ITV’s This Morning and Capital Breakfast host Siân Welby has admitted wishing she’d taken a longer maternity break.

The 39-year-old presenter, who shares 18-month-old daughter Ruby with fiancé Jake Beckett, welcomed her baby in June 2024, but has since revealed she would have preferred more time at home with her newborn, given the choice.

Discussing her concerns about how becoming a mum might affect her flourishing career as one of Britain’s most recognisable broadcasters, Siân has shed light on those pivotal early months.

Speaking to The Sun’s Fabulous about her brief maternity period, she said: “That’s the reality, isn’t it? You have to make decisions in life.

“I had momentum, and I thought: ‘I can’t totally let this drop because what a shame, I’ve finally got these shows that I want to do’.”

Sian Welby has also called for the paternity and maternity leave systems (Image: Getty)
The Capital Breakfast show co-host also addressed the limited paternity leave available to fathers.

She argued that the current system must evolve to reflect modern families where mothers sometimes out-earn fathers. Siân noted: “It’s not always fair on dads that they get two weeks’ paternity leave, and that’s that.

“For some people, it suits them way more to have the dad at home. It might be that the mum is the one who has the better job.”

This isn’t Siân’s first candid discussion about her pregnancy journey, having previously revealed on Giovanna Fletcher’s ‘Happy mum Happy Baby’ podcast that she deliberately kept her pregnancy under wraps from numerous people.

Siân Welby (Image: Mike Marsland, Mike Marsland/WireImagevia Getty Images)
As for the reasoning behind it, Siân revealed that, once more, it stemmed from anxieties about job security and a need to demonstrate her capabilities: “When you first start a job, you think ‘nobody knows what I’m actually like, that I’m trustworthy’ and you have to prove yourself.

“I felt like I had proven myself [on This Morning], that I can do this and that – when I got that first cover with Dermot, I knew I was pregnant but I didn’t tell anyone.

“In the back of my mind I was thinking, ‘If I tell them I’m pregnant, will this put them off getting me in again? And will they think I’m gonna be off for ages?’

“So many women must feel [the same way] in any job, especially if they’re starting a new one. It’s the fear that you’re going to be immediately judged or dropped or they’ll ask why you didn’t tell them.”