AMARAH BRYAN-BROWN expected to get a few likes and maybe the odd share when she posted a video of her seven-month-old daughter on TikTok.
But she was stunned by the flood of cruel comments that blasted back about the appearance of baby Mia-Rae.
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Amarah, 20, says: “Mia-Rae was only about seven months old and it was a simple video of me doing her hair in the morning, getting ready to go out.
“It went viral and has had more than 2.3million views.
“At first the reaction was really positive but the more people watched it, the more cruel the comments became. First of all they were saying I was damaging her hair. Then people started on about her weight.
“She was quite a chubby baby but she was healthy. People were saying things like, ‘That baby is a sumo wrestler,’ and calling her overweight.
“The comments were coming from all over the world. They don’t know me or my baby.”
And little Mia-Rae is not the only baby to become a victim of vicious online trolls.
The X Factor singer Jake Quickenden revealed earlier this year that his girlfriend Sophie Church was told to “drown your baby” after posting photos of their son Leo on Instagram.
Jake, 33, called for a change to the laws governing online abuse, saying the comments were impossible to ignore and had been affecting his mental health.
In May, mum Courtney Tait, from Middlesbrough, was horrified after finding photos of her nine-month-old son Hudson, as well as a friend’s stillborn baby, uploaded on the now deleted @Ugly_ Babies_ account.
For Amarah, of Nottingham, the comments about Mia-Rae, who turns two this week, made her angry. But they have not stopped her posting on social media.
She says: “I was hurt but then I began to question what gave anyone the right to comment on my family. My daughter is healthy and well. We are happy.
“The trolls can say what they want about us — it will not change that.”
Mum-of-three Rebecca Taylor, whose photos of her youngest child Kody were met with hurtful comments, ended up removing the pictures she was so proud of from social media.
She says: “Kody was a little puffy eyed, he had splotchy skin and at 8lb 4oz, he was bigger than my two previous babies.
“But he was healthy and, in my eyes, he was perfect.
“I never use filters and I’d never Photoshop my babies’ pictures. I was just thrilled to share the news online as he was a healthy, happy baby who arrived on January 12 this year in the midst of Covid.
“Within hours, the trolling had started. Some people commented that he was bug-eyed and insect- like.
“People I didn’t even know were leaving comments online, which shocked me. One person labelled him fat and ugly. Another said he was fat because I’m a fat mum. People were commenting on his ‘baby acne’.
“I’m not blind, I knew he wasn’t an Insta-gorgeous baby. But I was shocked people could say such horrible things about a newborn.
“All babies look a little red and puffy when they are born. I thought he was precious.”
Targeting babies to cause max distress
Psychologist Jo Hemmings explains that trolls target babies because it is a way to cause the ultimate amount of distress.
She says: “In their mind, it’s one thing to abuse an individual but it brings them even greater pleasure to take a pop at the appearance of babies or children. They are aware this can cause even more distress, just when people are at their happiest and most proud.”
Underwriting services assistant Rebecca, 31, of Dover, Kent, reveals that when she had her daughter Sophia, four, and son Jaxxon, three, she got a very different reaction online.
She says: “Sophia only weighed 5lb 8oz and looked like a china doll. People cooed over her.
“When I had Jaxxon, he had a scalpel cut on his nose during a C-section and people messaged me because they were worried.
“Then here was Kody, a happy and healthy baby who fed and slept well and no one had a nice thing to say. He was barely a week old and already being shamed.
“I was devastated. I started deleting comments but for every one I deleted, another post appeared.”
They were so upsetting Rebecca took her photos down.
She says: “Taking aim at my baby is just wrong. Kody is perfect in my eyes and he’ll grow up to be a gorgeous lad and I’ll teach him to be kind on social media.”
Rebecca, who is married to Michael, 32, a sales adviser, reported the comments about Kody but only got an automated response from Instagram saying they did not contravene standards. She says: “More must be done to stop trolls, especially when babies are involved.”
Jo says that trolls are looking for a reaction because they “tend to be loners”.
She adds: “They may have low self-worth or an exaggerated sense of self-esteem.
“But more likely than not, they lack a good social or family support circle. This means they are more likely to direct their abuse at those who have exactly that.
“They enjoy the sadistic nature of abuse. It is totally unrelated to the looks and health of your children, or your love for them. If you do get negative responses, pity them, ignore them and block them.”
Kelsey Ketley, 40, who lives in Surrey with her daughter Ella, eight, and son Leo, four, posted photos of the children during lockdown.
She suffered a string of nasty comments about Leo’s ginger hair.
Kelsey, a parenting consultant, says: “People ask where his ginger hair comes from, as if he might be somebody else’s child. I was ginger as a baby but why should I have to explain that to anyone?
“All this has acted as a good reminder that social media is not always a great space and there are people who get kicks out of making mean comments about children.
“Whether they would come up to my face and say it, I don’t know.”
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