Lottie Tomlinson is starting to talk to her son about her late mother, to ensure she can be a part of his life

Speaking on ITV's Lorraine, she said: "My little boy is just turning three, so we are just starting to introduce the idea to him now.

"Just because she's not physically here, it doesn't mean she can't be a part of their life.

"I would always want them to know about her and know how important she was to me, so I'll definitely make sure they know who she is."

Lottie admitted it was "really hard" giving birth to her two kids without her mum there, especially as Johannah was a midwife.

She said: "It's been really hard.

"My mum was a midwife, so we would always speak about the fact she would help me through the birth and everything.

"So, not having her there for that was really tough.

"Then when you have a newborn there are questions you want to ask."

Lottie has found it "hard to come to terms" with the fact her mother won't ever meet her children.

She said: "It's just the fact she's not going to know my kids, which is such a hard thing to come to terms with.

"But you just have to keep trying to remind yourself that they're watching.

"All the lessons she taught me, I take on, and I'm so grateful for that.

Last year, Lottie admitted she didn't expect things to get any worse when her mother died - but family tragedy struck again in 2019 when her sister Félicité suffered a fatal overdose at the age of 18.

She said previously on Lorriane: "I think it was really hard that we knew we were going to have to go back to square one [when my sister died].

"When something as big as losing a parent happens, you never expect it to get any worse than that.

"And then it did.

"So it was a really tough time for the whole family but we've really stuck together and we've managed to come out the other side."