Fat-shaming babies needs to stop, mom warns

Hear her roar.

A self-described “mama bear” is swatting back at fatphobes who have criticized her 9-month-old daughter for being “full” figured.

“In [my daughter’s] nine months of being alive, I have had seven women comment negatively about her body,” said incensed mom Arianna Schlossberg, 30, from Michigan, in a trending TikTok tell-all. 

“I’m not talking about the, ‘Oh, look at the cute little chunks,’” she added, assuring her audience that the rude remarks made about her tot were nothing like the lighthearted compliments people often give growing babies. 

“This happened,” said Schlossberg, a fitness trainer and health coach, “and I honestly still can’t get over it.” 

In the popular post, which has scared up over 297,000 views, the blond recalled a recent encounter with a baby-body-shamer — a friend’s mother-in-law, whom she’d never met before — who said her little girl looked a little too “full.”

“This woman comes in, walks over and looks over at my daughter [who was] sleeping on my husband,” remembered Schlossberg. “[The woman] takes a second, turns around, looks me dead in the eye and goes, ‘Your daughter is full.’”

Flummoxed by the questionable comment, Schlossberg replied, “I’m sorry, what?,” to which the ill-mannered lady flatly restated, “You know, your daughter is full,” while miming heft with hand gestures.  

“I go, ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about. She’s perfectly proportioned,’” said Schlossberg. 

But rather than apologize for bad-mouthing a baby, the unnamed woman cruelly laughed off Schlossberg’s retort. 

“My friend, when her [mother-in-law] left, was like, ‘Ooh, mama bear came out,’” an angered Schlossberg recalled. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah, no s–t!’”

“If women — especially moms — have the audacity to say this stuff out loud, in 2023, [about a baby who’s] 9-months-old, what are we doing to our little girls?” she asked. 

Schlossberg’s fear over the emotional toll body-shaming has on young children and adolescents turns out to be unfortunately timely.

In May, an episode of kiddie cartoon “Bluey” came under fire for allegedly promoting the “fat-shaming” trend to tykes.

And later that month, a group of parents spoke out about the perils of fat-shaming on social media, saying content about “beauty” and “appearance” drove their kids to suicide.

A recent report from mental health awareness site HelpGuide.org warned that “hearing negative comments about your appearance can impact your body image and leave you feeling anxious, embarrassed and self-conscious.” 

The analysis also noted that fat-shaming could ultimately result in eating disorders — such as anorexia, bulimia and binge eating — and body dysmorphic disorder, an unhealthy obsession with a perceived flaw in appearance.

Schlossberg says she isn’t letting bullies send her daughter down that path. 

“It is, I believe, my job to help her feel confident about her body and who she is,”  she said. 

“I know kids are going to be mean … But moms? I’m sorry, but I freaking expect more from you,” the millennial mama scolded before revealing that her little one’s harshest critics have been women within her age demographic. 

“Come on, millennials,” she implored. “We were so traumatized with ‘skinny’ everything, with all of this crap.”

“We have to do better.” 

However, despite her digital demand for change, a handful of Schlossberg’s commenters completely missed the point of her anti-body-shaming message.  

“Sometimes obesity or metabolic issues can be predicted by obesity in babies but it would have to be severe to even start to worry!” wrote a social media spectator, who failed to grasp Schlossberg’s plight. 

“Fat babies [will eventually] thin out,” said another weight-conscious watcher. 

“Honey don’t worry about others. Toddlers work it off,” another penned. 

But in a subsequent clip, Schlossberg set trolls straight. 

“[My friend’s mother-in-law] did not offend me because [she said] that my daughter is not healthy or that she’s large,” explained the protective parent. “She hurt my feelings for my daughter.”

“When I received these [type of] comments as a kid, I would have wanted my mom to say something for me. To stick up for me,” she admitted. 

“Adults should also just know that it’s inappropriate to say anything and should just keep their mouths shut,” Schlossberg urged. 

“Unless you’re saying something nice, there’s no need to say anything at all.”