No Filter Here! This Mama Just Showed Us What New Motherhood Really Looks Like
February 15, 2017
Have you ever looked at a new mother's social media feed and asked yourself, "Why doesn't my life look like that?"
Maybe you compare your postpartum body to hers, or maybe you wonder how she manages to keep her house so perfectly clean with a new baby keeping her up all night. Maybe you're envious that her breastfeeding selfies look so flawless, while your nursing reality is far more chaotic. Maybe you ask yourself how she looks like she slept 12 hours, got a massage and applied a full face of makeup while you look like...well, a sleep-deprived new mom.
Whatever the case may be, Shannon Peterson has some news for you: Those "tiny squares" you see on Instagram? They don't tell the whole story. Not even close.
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The mama, who blogs at Much Most Darling, shared an honest look at her life as the mother of a four-month-old, and the message is pretty wonderful. As a blogger with an impressive social media following, we'd guess that Peterson knows just how to curate her digital presence to convey a specific narrative—and while her Instagram feed is filled with enviably polished shots, her recent post is proof that even moms who appear to have it all together struggle from time to time.
And that's just fine.
"Just in case you thought my real life was anything like these tiny squares, I give you: this is 4 months," the mom captioned a photo of herself breastfeeding her son. "The other day I spent THREE HOURS like this, people. J had to be swaddled, on his back, in my arms. While I was bouncing on my giant exercise ball (never once used for its intended purpose). With my boob perfectly resting in just the right spot on his chin. Our house was (is) a mess, my breakfast (lactation smoothie) sitting abandoned behind me, dirty hair and desperately in need of a shower (and 5 minutes without someone touching me), and at the brink of tears."
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The blogger even admitted that while this photo and the caption beneath it represent an unfiltered snapshot of motherhood in the figurative sense, they're not literally unfiltered:
"And you better believe I VSCO and heavily edited the you-know-what out of this picture to make it look light and airy and 'fit my feed'. Because I'm stuck on the couch under a 4 month old cluster feeding little dude who won't have anything to do with anyone but me," she wrote. And you know what? We have to give her credit for owning up to the fact that social media feeds are almost always the product of some serious altering.
What this mama is saying is important—there's really nothing worse than working through an incredibly tough day with a new baby, only to come across these perfectly posed photos so many users post and feel like a total failure. So the next time you're beating yourself up over this, remember: Your life as a mama may not look like someone else's social media feed...but her life probably doesn't look anything like that either.
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