Pregnancy Baiting is and Always Will be Weird (to Me, at Least)

I was scrolling social media, as one does, when I came across a post from an influencer that made me physically roll my eyes. 

In the post, she begins with a close-up shot on her belly, her hands placed in the shape of a heart over her midsection. The text reads “We have an announcement to make…”.

Obviously, we know what she wants people to think: Everything about this post is textbook pregnancy announcement. But the announcement in question actually has nothing to do with another baby. Instead, the influencer announces that her family is…going to Disney.

Let’s call this what it is: Pregnancy baiting. I know I’m calling out one particular influencer here, but this is a widespread problem. So many social media creators do this, or rather, some version of this. They tease “big news” and liberally use all kinds of hints to suggest a baby may be on the way. Think: “Our family is growing!” or “Our world is about to change!” or “We’re expecting…” before launching into the real reveal. Sometimes, they'll even stretch the baiting out for days or weeks.

Sometimes creators do this before announcing a move, or a new  business launch. Other times, it’s a huge nothing burger (I’m going to go ahead and file a Disney trip in the latter category).

Either way, it’s weird to me. Not just because of the clickbait of it all, though that’s a real thing too. But more than that, it just feels so insensitive. Kind of like the whole “pregnancy is not an April Fool’s joke” thing, which we’ve talked about before over here. Pregnancy isn’t something to joke about…it’s also not a tool that should be used to drum up excitement or engagement.

Sorry not sorry, but my take is and always will be that this is tacky, insensitive, and weird. Pregnancy is such a touchy, painful subject for so many people…and we’ve got to stop wielding it around so carelessly.