Motherhood should be filled with joy. Yet, in North America, it is all too often filled with insecurity and an unhealthy obsession with portraying an image of the perfect mom. Maddeningly unattainable photos of picture-perfect moms and their picture-perfect babies are no longer reserved for Hollywood celebrities. They are everywhere: in ads, on TV, on Facebook and Instagram. These images are making new moms feel overwhelmed, insecure, and even incompetent.

Prior to launching Baby Dove, we commissioned a study to better understand millennial moms and the pressures of motherhood. We discovered that these pressures are very real in our market. And very alarming:

•99% of moms feel pressure to be perfect.

•81% question if what they’re doing is good enough.

•56% of moms felt a great deal of pressure to regain their looks after the birth of their baby.

•75% feel unable to cope at times