A mum has spoken out after she was cruelly shamed for her 'tiny' baby bump.
Trolls accused mum to be Brooke Barclay, 21, from Edinburgh of 'starving herself' or even 'lying' about being pregnant, after she discovered she and her partner, Liam, 22, were pregnant with their second child.
Brooke explained how, after getting further into her pregnancy, she realised that her belly wasn’t getting very big and at her 16-week gender scan, her tummy was still completely flat.
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The mum - who also welcomed Leighton, three, in 2018, said: “We were extremely happy finding out we were pregnant again. We had been planning and trying for just a couple months.
"Even though the nerves kicked in about having two children, we still cannot wait to meet our new boy.
“So far, the pregnancy has been healthy but difficult, with constant morning sickness all the way through, a lot of back pain and heartburn to go with it.
“I started noticing that my bump wasn’t showing that quickly when nobody at work believed I was pregnant.
“By the time my gender scan came about at 16 weeks, I was still completely flat stomached. I didn’t really worry because I was small in my first pregnancy too and he was over 8lbs.
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“I understand that I’m tall, so I have a longer torso so there’s more space for baby.”
Brooke is now 32 weeks and - with her little one being due in February 2022 - her stomach is still smaller, with the mum explaining the reason behind this is because of her tilted uterus.
A tilted uterus is when the womb tips backwards at the cervix instead of forward.
Brooke continued: “The reason behind me having a smaller baby bump is because I have a tilted uterus.
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“I found this out during my last pregnancy, and it doesn’t affect the baby at all.
“This is common and normal, and it is how some women don’t even know they are pregnant until labour.”
After sharing footage of her bump on social media, Brooke said she received cruel comments accusing her of 'starving herself' or 'lying'.
Now Brooke is sharing her story in the hopes to raise awareness about the reality of having a tilted uterus.
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She said: “So I decided to post a TikTok at 20 weeks pregnant, not expecting more than my friends and family to see it.
“But after a couple of weeks, the views started to go up and the comments flooded in. It had a total of 3.4 million views.
“People were saying I was lying or starving myself and even wearing a waist trainer. There were a lot of people thinking they knew my body more than me and were telling me that I am going to have a tiny baby.
“These comments didn’t bother me really I knew my baby was growing fine and healthy. People automatically assume that having a tiny bump means there is something wrong with me or the baby but that really isn’t the case at all.
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“I just wish people wouldn't judge right away. Everyone’s body is different, and that doesn’t mean I’m unhealthy or underfeeding myself and baby.”
Featured Image Credit: Caters News