Sian Welby Discusses Pressure to Return to TV Three Months Post-Baby

She is quickly becoming one of the busiest women on the airwaves, thanks to her roles on breakfast radio and daytime television – jobs she’s worked hard for over 15 years to get.

But when Sian Welby announced she was expecting her first child with fiancé Jake Beckett, she was understandably worried about her roles as a self-employed freelancer.

The Capital Breakfast and This Morning presenter, 39, gave birth to her daughter Ruby in June 2024 and took just three months off air with her little one.

It was the same year ITV bosses had trusted her to co-present This Morning, having previously fronted competitions and other items for the daytime staple. 

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Sian praised her ‘brilliant’ bosses for their support and how they were ‘really kind about coming back when you’re ready’ despite her eagerness to return to air.

‘But there’s also a real, just an underlying pressure of this industry or even just working in London at this pace, it moves 100 miles an hour,’ she admitted.

Sian wasn’t prepared to take the risk of potentially losing roles she worked hard for, or being left behind by the constantly changing industry that many dream of working in.

She explained: ‘I’m very realistic that I can’t be sure what would happen if I took a full year off. I don’t know many people in this industry that would take that much time out. You have to be very secure within your job and your role.

‘I have bills to pay. I have to provide for my family, and I had built this up, it was 15 years in the making, some of these jobs are finally there.

‘People might know me now from This Morning or Capital. Those jobs took a long time to get, and I wasn’t ready to potentially throw them away or let them, or the momentum slow down. I was also really loving the fact it was finally getting going.’

Sian was still working part-time as a shop assistant for New Look when a starring role in an advert for New! Magazine led to her being spotted by former Channel 5 owner Richard Desmond.

She was unveiled as the new face of Channel 5 News in 2010 and became the broadcaster’s lead weather presenter for six years, marking her ‘big break’.

The mum-of-one candidly continued: ‘I was torn. It was a very difficult time. Deep down I would have loved to have more time off. Realistically I couldn’t.

‘That’s something that loads of parents face, and I’ve since spoken to loads of people that did quicker than me. Three months for me is the longest I’ve ever had off work.’

There was also the financial implication of taking more time off to consider, with Sian bringing home a higher wage than her fiancé Jake, who works as a producer.

With limited support, the pair have created a well-oiled machine when it comes to juggling their schedules around being there for their daughter.

‘The reality is I’m the breadwinner of my relationship,’ she admitted. ‘I don’t have a nanny. I don’t have my parents nearby, they’re in the Midlands.’

Speaking as she launched ITV Studios’ new mobile quizzing app The Spin Off, Sian continued: ‘My partner’s parents are brilliant when they can help, they work full time. So I’m in a very relatable situation in terms of working parents.

‘My job’s a bit more mad, but everyone could relate to the fact of the mum and dad guilt we feel for having to go back to work. And as someone that was a career woman for so long.

‘I’ve realised that there’s not enough respect on being a parent and it’s the hardest job in the world and even though things have improved over the years, the workplace still isn’t geared up for it, and especially for a woman to be the one that has to go back as the core breadwinner.

‘I’m getting a lot of pressures that men might get on top of the mum guilt and the maternal instinct to protect my child and to be there whenever she needs me, and I can’t.’

She has high praise for Jake, who proposed to her in 2023 during a romantic holiday. 

‘We’re both frazzled, we’re both doing our best, we’re very good at sharing the parenting, we’re a good tag team. When the routine works, it works,’ she said.

‘He does drop off, I do pick up, but it’s only when those other jobs come in, and sometimes you can’t say no that you have to then work out and solve it.’

Earlier this week Sian emotionally shared her struggles when things don’t go to plan with fans, saying she had ‘hit rock bottom’ and how most days she is just trying ‘to survive the day’.

She told fans how her social media filled with glamorous posts fails to show the ’48hours of no sleep and the A&E trips and then the massive work commitments’ and choosing work or childcare.

Her raw video from her dressing room led to an avalanche of support from both mothers and fathers, though gave the trolls oxygen they craved.

Sian said: ‘Do you know what? It does remind you there’s more good than bad, and it actually reminds you social media will make you think that the parenting world is a very negatively judgmental world, and it can be. You know, people can’t help themselves. If you post something about a baby, somebody wants to educate you or correct you.

‘I do believe there’s a few trolls that do it for a horrible reason, but I believe nine times out of 10 it’s people just trying to help. And sometimes it’s when you least need it, and that’s why you can get offended by it.’

She added she almost didn’t post the clip: ‘It’s not really my style to overshare and I also don’t like to look like I’m looking for approval or pity because I get that I might be in a more privileged position than a lot of people.’

ITV Studios has launched new free-to-play quiz game app ‘The Spin Off’ offering daily cash prizes and exclusive ITV show experience available now via App Store & Google Play