Broadcasting live from her hospital bed...

I couldn't do the splits ten weeks after giving birth.

I'm referring to TV presenter Kirsten O'Brien's appearance on 'Let's Dance for Sport Relief' on BBC1 on Saturday night.

But while presenters and judges alike were enthusiastic in their praise for her ability to be able to bound around the stage playing air guitar, I couldn't help but view the whole affair in a more negative light.

My initial thought, even before she started dancing, was she'll be lucky if her insides don’t drop out. Ten weeks is no time to have passed to be bouncing around in front of your own bedroom mirror, never mind in front of the nation.

Quite seriously, she will have been lucky to escape injury. It takes weeks and weeks for the elastin which enables you to be flexible enough to give birth in the first place, to return to normal levels. Whilst you are all 'elastined' up you have to be careful not to be lured into a false sense of your abilities. You can very easily rip or pull something while performing feats which were once beyond your command.

Guest judge for the night Tim Minchin joked that Kirsten was probably unable to do the splits before giving birth and he may not have been aware just how close to the mark he was.

I can't take it completely away from Kirsten O'Brien. Her energy levels were quite astonishing. She didn't appear affected by the sleepless nights and endless crying or the emotional roller-coaster you are taken on as a mum in those early weeks, yet I suppose it is easy to turn it on for the camera for an hour or so.

What does concern me slightly though is that three or four minutes on the stage on the Saturday night is the culmination of about a week's training. That means unless she put in less time preparing than the others, she was in that rehearsal room when her baby was nine weeks old. I actually hope her baby was with her because to be separated from your newborn for several hours at a time would be a bit of a wrench.

The thing is, these celebrities do do this. They are so quick to get back to work as soon as they have had a child. A lot of them are doing baby pics for OK magazine just days after birth but ten weeks is still quite early for a full on TV appearance, though correct me if I'm wrong as I'm sure there are celebrities who have returned to work sooner. They would claim they have a profile to maintain.

All I can think is what a sad state of affairs that their job means they can't have a few months bonding with their new babies before they return to work.

With their line of work often comes more money and the ability to hire nannies to look after the baby while they are away. And this is nothing new. You only have to watch an episode of 'Upstairs Downstairs' to see how little time the aristocracy spent with their own children, even the mothers.

After giving birth they literally handed over their babies to the staff and got on with their own lives again, just seeing their children at selected times of the day. It must have been such a shame to miss out on all those moments like bath time and feeding times which were all carried out by the maids. I suppose many of those women knew no different as they would have been brought up in the same way by their own mothers. Some of us may wish at times we had staff to look after our babies but in reality I'm sure our motherly instinct is telling us it is our job, not someone else’s.

I think celebrities do need to think to themselves whether they are returning to work a bit too soon. I mean, how far are they going to take this? Will we be seeing mothers returning to do TV performances the day after giving birth or presenters doing live links from their hospital beds?

As a society we shouldn't penalise celebrities for taking time out to be with their newborns. We should be understanding enough to realise they have a new baby and as a result should not be expecting their presence on the screen for a while. With the pressure off, these people may feel a little less inclined to make a comeback so soon.