I was traumatized by a toxic mommy Facebook group – New York Post

Mary Graber, 30, was up in the middle of the night, nursing three-week-old daughter Sloane while scrolling through her Facebook mommy group. She’d joined the group when she was pregnant, in search of helpful advice and reassurance. Instead, she found anxiety and shame. The already nervous new mom was stunned to discover a thread filled with judgmental comments aimed at parents who let little ones nap on them, something she had been excited to try. “My instinct was wanting to cuddle with [Sloane], but then I saw all of these comments like, ‘you’re setting her up for never falling asleep without you,’ or ‘you’re ruining her sleeping schedule’ or ‘she’ll never sleep alone in her crib.’ There were all these warnings,” Graber, a teacher from New Jersey, told The Post. “I was made to feel bad.” Mary Graber, 30, with her three-week-old daughter, Sloane.Courtesy of Mary Graber While mommy forums on Facebook and other social media platform can be a godsend for nanny recommendations, soccer sign-ups and snow day alerts, they can also be a rabbit hole of judgmental debates over breastfeeding and vaccines, anxiety-inducing boasting about developmental milestones and preschool admissions and unwarranted medical diagnoses. A new study from
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