Primark Body Shaming

[TheMumInsider]

😡😡😡😡 PRIMARK COMPLAINT 😡😡😡😡

On Thursday 17th May, I visited Primark to purchase some new clothes after giving birth to my first baby. I chose some different sizes of tops & jeans to try on to find my current size (whilst I work on trying to get back as best I can to my previous size 10!)

After receiving a curious look from the lady at the changing room desk, I explained myself & she said ‘that’s what happens when you have a baby’ & that I shouldn’t ever expect to fit in my normal clothes again.

I was offended by her comment as I have always worked hard to stay slim & have found it very difficult coping with my increased body size, suffering with postnatal depression following the birth. Her remark caused me to break down into tears in the cubicle before I even tried the clothes on. After realising none of them hid any of my residing ‘mum-tum’, I returned them to the woman on my way to exiting the changing rooms & explained they were too small. Her response: ‘Well, what did you expect?!’. I expected not to be spoken to like that. Who is she to make a comment on my expectations of my body after giving birth? I have been left back at square one, feeling unable to leave the house for lack of suitable sized clothes.

After seeing posts on the Primark media pages about body confidence & plus sized girls, it made me feel like I could visit the shop without being judged or made to feel completely disgusting about myself but I was left feeling just that. It seems ironic that she should pass comments like this during mental health awareness week. What should have been a morning spent enjoying purchasing some new clothes to restore some lost confidence in myself has completely shattered what confidence I had left.

I have contacted Primark who have since offered me a £20 e-gift card as a means of dismissing my complaint (which I found insulting & didn’t accept) & explained that I also want an apology from the woman & an action plan to stop this happening to anyone else. I want to make sure that nobody else is left crying in a changing room, embarrassed about how they look & to raise awareness of just how much someone’s comments can hurt. I dread to think what might have happened if she’d said this to someone in an even more fragile state of mind.

Honestly I think she was trying to be kind, only you know whether the baby weight was actual baby related or because you used the pregnancy to indulge every tiny food related whim!

So what if she did? It's hardly a crime to eat a lot when pregnant.

I put on four stone with DD1 and I've never been as light again as I was before having her. Who knows whether I needed to put on all that weight to have a healthy pregnancy, or maybe I was greedy, my BMI was about 19 so maybe I did need to eat.

The biggest difference for me was the lifestyle change after having kids and not having as much time to look after myself, exercise and eat well. In particular it was working in a stressful job and being a mum at the same time which kept weight on me.

Currently 23 weeks pregnant and nearly 3 stone up , I know I will feel shit afterwards but I know it will come off when I’m not constantly carbing out to stop sickness . Be kind to yourself OP I ruined my youngest child’s early years for myself by worrying about my weight and trying to be back to what I was before .