A TikToker shared what her body looked like after pregnancy to make other women feel seen. She's faced a flood of 'nasty' comments in response.
Mia Somerville is a 24-year-old mom who shared a video of her postpartum body on TikTok.
Most comments were supportive, but Somerville described some of the remarks as "nasty" and "mean."
She responded to negative commenters, urging them to "celebrate all postpartum bodies."
A TikToker who documented how the appearance of her stomach changed after giving birth responded to "nasty" comments about her body.
On January 6, 24-year-old Mia Somerville, who has 12,000 TikTok followers, posted a video showing a photo of her wearing a bikini.
Somerville said the photo was taken when she was four weeks pregnant, saying, "I had a great stomach, loved my body, was very body confident... and pregnancy changes things."
According to Somerville, after she gave birth she was told by two physiotherapists that she would need plastic surgery to give her navel the same appearance it had before her pregnancy.
She said she was pregnant for 46 weeks and her stomach stretched a lot during that time, and that she also experienced a mild prolapse — which is when the pelvic organs migrate down towards, often causing a bulge in the vaginal area.
@miasomerville1 Thought I was gonna be one of those girlies who looked exactly the same pre and post baby but so much stretching happens and my belly button will probably never look the same 😅 #postpartum #postpartumbody #postpartumrecovery #postpartumjourney #3monthspostpartum #newbaby #baby #firstbaby #newmum #k18results #fyp #birth #labourandbirth #labourandelivery ♬ original sound - Mia | First Time Mum
"I'm not saying that my new body is bad, it's just different," she said, proceeding to lift up her sweater and show her viewers what her stomach looked like three months after giving birth.
Many commenters thanked Somerville for being open about sharing her body in the video, which received 2.3 million views, but other commenters made negative remarks, in particular saying the video made them feel apprehensive about having children.
On January 7, Somerville posted a follow-up video in response to the negative comments.
@miasomerville1 Replying to @Ashley ♬ original sound - Mia | First Time Mum
She said, "I went into pregnancy and postpartum with the expectation that because I am young, I'm only 24, and because I was skinny to begin with, that I would look exactly the same after giving birth. My mom didn't have stretch marks, my grandma didn't have stretch marks, they had no loose skin."
She continued: "As someone who placed a lot of their self-worth on what their body looked like, I had to completely change my mindset to get my gratification from other things."
Somerville said she thought the negative comments were "mean and unnecessary," adding, "My intentions were to spark conversation or to make other women feel heard and seen and validate their experience."
"We don't need to be negative and be nasty. My experience is my own and I have a healthy, happy daughter and she doesn't care what my body looks like. Neither should you," she said.
Commenters underneath Somerville's follow-up post were overwhelmingly supportive, congratulating her for standing up to hateful comments.
"Great message! Let's spread body confidence PLEASE!" wrote one commenter.
Somerville has since posted several other videos showing loose skin and stretch marks in response to negative comments under her original post.
@miasomerville1 Replying to @Cait💕 literally no one can tell me that a postpartum body is horrible. Anyone who does is just nasty. Celebrate all postpartum bodies because what they do is incredible 🫶🏼 #postpartum #postpartumbody #bodylove #bodypositivity #firsttimemum #newborn #babygirl #postpartumrecovery #postpartumjourney #3monthspostpartum ♬ original sound - Mia | First Time Mum
"Celebrate all postpartum bodies because what they do is incredible," she captioned a post from January 7, which was made in reply to a comment that referred to the appearance of her stomach as "horrible."
Influencers and celebrities have spoken out against body-shaming around their postpartum bodies in the past.
In 2016, Blake Lively, who is the mother of three children, told The Sun she thinks it is "absolutely absurd" for women to feel pressure to change their bodies right after giving birth.
In mid-January, Australian influencer Ruby Tuesday Matthews also responded to negative comments on a post about her post-pregnancy fitness challenge, which accused her of editing her results.
"To all you horrible women trying to take away what I achieved and say have photoshopped an image when I've been the most vulnerable I've ever been with sharing images of myself after having a baby. Fuck you..." an on-screen caption on Matthews' response said.
Mia Somerville did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
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