Social media pregnancy announcements?

[Ravecat]

Just a bit curious... Who here has announced their pregnancy on social media? (or has decided they want to in the future)

At what point in the pregnancy did you do it or want to do it?

We put a post up at about 14 weeks, it was just easier to tell none-close friends and plus I've always wanted to do a cute announcement that was very 'us' 🌻

@shutupsteph aww I love it! I want to do a post/cute photo, just trying to figure how to put it together and when to post it!

We announced it with a picture of the baby about 3 days after he'd been born. Will probably do the same with this one too.
I'm not against pregnancy announcements, I think they're cute and love other people's (e.g. pps above) but haven't had the desire to do my own.

We haven’t done one. I’ve had 2 mc before this pregnancy and used to find seeing announcements upsetting, so we decided to just tell family and close friends and leave it at that.

We didn't announce ours (currently 19 weeks) and I'm so glad we didn't now as tempting as it was. I love telling people in person the reaction you get is amazing! Especially when you combine it with "oh this? Just ate too much turkey at Christmas "

I'm not planning on doing one. I have nothing against people doing them but for me when I was dealing with miscarriages it was upsetting to see. I'll probably just post a photo or two when baby is here. But I'll make that decision when the time comes.

Also second what @YessicaHaircut said which is another reason I decided not to announce. I had losses too and ended up turning off my FB because announcements were upsetting, not in a jealous way but "why didn't I get to do that" way. But that shouldn't stop anybody who's excited it was my issue to deal with.

I've only just told the majority of my work colleagues I'm pregnant - only senior management knew - 21 weeks tomorrow! 😂

I did this for my kids at 16 weeks and then thought it’d be a nice way to let people know about the pregnancy so posted it on fb. Didn’t occur to me before then to announce it.

I’m planning on doing one. A lot of my friends seem to post after the 12 week scan but I feel that’s a bit early, I think I’ll wait until after the 20 week scan instead. We’re considering a babymoon at about 22 weeks so I was thinking we could book a photographer to take some nice pictures of us (and hopefully I’ll have a bump) and just post that online.

When I had a mc last year, I did find it a bit upsetting seeing that everyone around me was having babies but tbh that was in real life also. It’s just one of those unfortunate situations and I don’t feel social media is any more in your face than online. If anything, you can hide people from your newsfeed if needed.

I did one without a scan photo

I did however message friends that I knew were experiencing their own problems beforehand to warn them as I had been very vulnerable after my own miscarriage with this sort of thing

However, I would never have wanted my friends not to announce on social media, even when I was facing infertility and miscarriage, so didn’t see why I should announce as well!

We didn’t do one. Don’t like them. Never post about dc either.

Personally I think they're really cheesy, but I get a lot of people like them. I'm 22 weeks pregnant and haven't put anything on social media, I've just told family and friends.

I didn’t put anything on social media about my pregnancy. Just a post introducing baby once they were safely here.

I didn't do it as I have friends who have had losses and struggles and it felt crass. But then I didn't tell people in rl apart from close family and friends. Most people cottoned on eventually.

I didn't the first time. about 28 weeks the second time and 36 the last time. I did it just so that people knew instead of just appearing with a baby.

I found them out extremely upsetting when going through miscarriages.
So personally don't like them.

I haven't considered it "just in case". I will probably do one when the baby is born. My friend posted a really cute one after her 20 weeks
scan which was cute. I guess it's about how comfortable you feel. My previous pregnancy turned out to have some complications after the dating scan and unfortunately we lost the baby so I dread to think what I would have done if I announced it! It was hard enough breaking the news to people we told in person.

Mumsnet is very sniffy about them but personally I find it really annoying when people don’t announce but have a visible bump and everyone has to play the are they/aren’t they game. A simple announcement makes life much easier!

I didn't but just as I don't share much on social media anyway and I know a few friends who would have found it very distressing- but if you want to then why not!

I did for my first by way of a scan photo - multiple miscarriages later I won't be doing the same if I'm lucky enough to get pregnant again - I actually find those announcements a bit cringe now but maybe my experience has sucked the joy out of pregnancy announcements

I'm sure they are absolutely not meant in this spirit but some seem a little smug.....almost a "look at me come celebrate how fertile I am!"

If you do have friends who have suffered losses then in addition to giving them a private heads-up please be mindful that scan images have particularly distressing connotations after a miscarriage, and perhaps consider not including a scan picture in any announcement.

Thank you for all your comments, it's really useful to see lots of different points of view and the reasons why.

I'm with the miscarriage ladies. In the days/weeks after my miscarriage just the simple act of going on social media could cause so much pain. It didn't mean I wasn't happy for the lucky people but you never know who's going through a loss. When I get to the telling people stage I won't announce anything online for this reason. Unless you're a mummy blogger or something I just don't see the need.