My mum body-shamed me with her shocking postpartum gift

"My baby is four months old; this is what my own mother got for me," a new mum has shared.

2 min read

March 25, 2024 - 12:17PM

Parenting

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The postpartum time is often one of the most challenging for a new mum. The physical recovery, hormonal shifts, sleep deprivation, and heightened anxiety, all while being the primary caregiver to a newborn around the clock, is not easy.

Social media puts enormous pressure on new mothers to "bounce back", and it's almost impossible to ignore. But what if the expectation comes from your immediate family? Enter Rei and her postpartum journey.

The new mum hosted her parents for the weekend. She expected them to bond with her baby and allow her to catch up on sleep, but what she got was a malicious and shameful gift—because Rei's mum is an "almond mum."

"In case you were wondering what it's like to have an almond mum, I'll tell you," she starts her viral video.

"I'm four months postpartum; my parents visited me this weekend. This is what my mum got me as a gift," she says in shock.

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"Yep you saw that right"

The new mum pauses to pick up something from the floor.

"Scales, yep you saw that right," she adds with a wry smile.

As if the scales weren't shameful enough, there was more - and no, it wasn't steak knives. Her mother had printed weight trackers so Rei could monitor not only her weight but also her measurements.

"An entire folder of these forms for charting my progress," she concludes with a thumbs up.

Scales and a matching weight tracker. What every new mum needs. Source: TikTok

"My husband gave me one of those"

The viral video struck a chord with millions. Viewers expressed anger towards the mother while supporting Rei, who deserves it during this vulnerable phase of her life.

"My husband gave me one of those after I had my second child. He’s now my ex," one mum shared.

"She would no longer be welcome in my home. Period," a second added.

"This is malicious and brutal. I’m so sad you're dealing with that," another shocked viewer wrote.

And this woman furiously said, "I'm holding every ounce of space for her because my postpartum rage would've had me breaking that scale over someone's head."

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"Don't comment on her weight ever again"

More messages of love and support flooded the comments section, because so many could relate.

"My mum buys me smaller clothes and then tells me 'to lose weight so you can wear them'," wrote one woman.

"The day I got home from the hospital after an emergency C-section, my grandmother stood in my entryway and greeted me. She said, 'You must be glad he is out now; you can start shedding those kgs'," shared another.

A third said, "I was four days postpartum with 27 stitches where stitches should be, and my mum asked why I wasn't wearing my pre-baby jeans."

This story was felt in particular by this mum: "When I was just a few weeks postpartum with my son, my husband walked his mum out to her car after a visit and said, 'Don’t comment, good or bad, on her weight ever again.' And it’s been four and a half years since she has said anything—after 30+ years of it!"

Finally, there was this: "When I was about six months postpartum, my mum took a picture of me and her—because she wanted to document the fact that I was finally skinnier."