New moms can feel stressed by advice from family and friends, but a just-published study out of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln shows so-called “momfluencers” can really pile on the pressure.
That’s because like far too many influencers, moms who post from clean homes and with perfect hair and makeup aren’t reflecting their real lives.
Ciera Kirkpatrick, an assistant professor in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at UNL, looked into the negative effects of social media on new mothers and found these “perfect” posts really affect certain types of people.
“We all have this tendency to compare, but some of us are more inclined to compare than others,” she explains.
For the type of person who is always comparing themselves to others, these seemingly perfect moms on TikTok and Insta can lead already stressed new mothers to question their own parenting, the researchers say.
Kirkpatrick explains, “In some ways, there might be things that idealization is making worse for new moms. I have lots of examples of postpartum moms showing off their ‘must-haves’ — a $1,000 bassinet or a $300 bottle washer, these really expensive things — and that likely creates pressure on moms. Or the ‘typical day’ videos that show a postpartum mom meal planning or cleaning their house every night. That just feeds into the pressure.”
Kirkpatrick says more study into the topic is needed to see how to diffuse the pressure such posts cause in already vulnerable new mothers. “If we know how these posts are affecting mothers and that they are more detrimental to certain moms, then that helps us, from a strategic health communications or health professional standpoint,” she concludes.