Mother's hilarious 'epic parenting fail' picture of fake tanned baby goes viral

Fake tan baby — Gemma Colley's picture of her tanned baby went viral on social media Gemma Colley

A mother's hilarious "epic parenting fail" that unwittingly left her baby a shade of tan, has gone viral.

Gemma Colley's baby son was left sporting a fake tanned face when she breast-fed him too soon after having a spray tan.

The baby boy's nose, cheeks and chin were left with an orange-brown tan which had rubbed off on him while she was breast-feeding him.

Sharing a picture on the baby on The Unmumsy Mum blog page she said: "From one mum to another, I'd like to let you know about my epic fail of fails.

Thanks for all the positive comments. I'm just another mummy trying to shed light on the adventures and misadventures of being a parent.

- Gemma Coley

"Yesterday I had a spray tan, a few hours later I breastfed my little boy. Cue 5 o'clock shadow and a very guilty mummy."

The post has received over 100,000 'likes' and has been shared more than 23,000 times since Ms Colley posted the picture.

Dominique Lavac, owner of spray tanning business Bondi Tans, told The Daily Mail Australia that breastfeeding mothers don't have to give up their fake tans, but can take measures to protect their babies from the effects.

"I suggest that mothers express enough milk to last for the time the spray tan has to set, and if possible even for a few feeds after that. I would recommend a two hour tan so it won't make much of an impact to feeding time. I always put a barrier cream on the nipples, to prevent the DHA and tan from getting on there at all and some clients like to use Band-aids (plasters) as well.

"After the client has washed off the tan after two hours, I would still recommend putting a dry face washer where the bubs cheek is going to lie on the breast, just to double ensure the DHA in the tan doesn't transfer onto the bub's skin.

"I would recommend doing this until the tan has completely developed - eight hours - and the client has had another shower."

Sharing a later picture of the baby, Colley revealed the facial tan had happily faded.

"Photo evidence that tonight's feed was much less orange," she wrote. "Thanks for all the positive comments. I'm just another mummy trying to shed light on the adventures and misadventures of being a parent."