'Jersey Shore' star reveals 1-year-old son's foot condition while shutting down mom shamers
Deena Cortese, a star from MTV's "Jersey Shore," is clapping back at those who apparently criticized her for not putting shoes on her 1-year-old.
Cortese took to Instagram Wednesday where she revealed her son, CJ, has a common condition known as "metatarsus adductus," which causes the front part of the foot to turn inward.
Metatarsus adductus typically happens at birth, which was the case with CJ, Cortese noted in her post.
The 33-year-old mother of one said she was receiving messages about CJ's feet on how he walks and that she was ridiculed by others for not putting shoes on him.
"We've been to the doctors and xrays," Cortese wrote on Instagram. "It's not that I "don't'" put shoes on him ... he literally can't get shoes on his right foot."
Dr. Edith Bracho-Sanchez, a primary care pediatrician and assistant professor of pediatrics at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, who has not treated CJ, said it's likely Cortese can't put a shoe on his foot presumably because of the degree to which it's turned.
"In the vast majority of children who have metatarsus adductus, it resolves itself on its own," Bracho-Sanchez told "Good Morning America." "In the small percentage of kids in which treatment is required it can range from simple stretching exercises to a cast or surgery, depending of course on the severity."
"This is yet another example of a potentially scary condition that is actually very treatable and this mom sought the appropriate care and support that her child needed," Bracho-Sanchez added.
In her post, Cortese also shared how CJ is getting fitted for night braces to help correct the condition.
She also said she noticed the issue when her toddler was 10 months old, and advised her mommy followers how it wasn't polite to call her out before "asking for facts first."
"I appreciate the concerning messages but maybe come in asking and not telling .. that doesn’t make a mother feel great," she wrote.
