It's Supposed to Be the Simplest Part of Being a Mom. These TikTok Influencers Are Ruining It.

"On a recent Tuesday at 3 a.m., I was cradling my 5-month-old daughter's head against my left breast while doomscrolling the depths of motherhood TikTok when I came across an aptly served post from user @Mama_Pey. The video begins with a close-up of the shelves inside Pey's freezer, a towering, upright, industrial-appearing appliance that is nearly overflowing with staggered bricks of glistening, butter-yellow frozen breast milk."

"I scrolled away. Immediately, I encountered Bailey Kisiel, a nursing student turned stay-at-home mom to two children under 3, who has also filled her grid with high-dairy content. In Kisiel's most popular TikTok post-5.7 million views and counting-she casually speaks to the camera while pouring bottle after bottle of pumped breast milk into 48-ounce mason jars until several stand gleaming and full."

"I was wondering the same thing. To be fair, there is a certain soothing, ASMR-friendly rhythm to the sound of a full-fat beverage splashing, copiously, against the translucent glass walls of a cylindrical vessel. Even so, in the sleep-deprived delirium of my postpartum existence, these videos stirred a viscous mix of intrigue, envy, outrage, and fear. While I have no reason to think my own breastfed baby isn't getting enough to eat, I also don't produce anywhere near that kind of surplus."

Several TikTok users post videos showing extraordinarily large surpluses of frozen breast milk, including industrial freezers and rows of filled mason jars. These displays foreground visible abundance and the mechanics of pumping and storage. The sensory elements of pouring and the gleam of glass create an ASMR-like appeal. Such content elicits mixed emotional responses, including intrigue, envy, outrage, and fear, from viewers navigating postpartum uncertainty. The juxtaposition of surplus milk and variable personal supply underscores differences in lactation capacity, public performance of intimate acts, and evolving social norms around breastfeeding visibility.

Read at Slate Magazine