WHEN you tell your mum that you're expecting a baby, you expect hugs, tears and congratulations.

You certainly don't anticipate being body-shamed - but that's exactly what one woman had to deal with when she announced her pregnancy over Christmas.

The woman told her story on Reddit, explaining: "I am not close to my mum - perhaps you're about to see why - but I wanted to tell her and my dad about this pregnancy (my second) over Christmas.

"So I kept it low-key and told them, at which point, my mum said: 'I knew it!'

"I gave her so many outs. I was like: 'Oh, because I took a two-hour nap today?' No. 'Because I haven't touched any booze this whole evening?' No, not that. 'Because I barely ate any food?' Nope.

"She had so many choices. Instead, she said: 'I was looking at your body at Thanksgiving and saw how it had changed!'"

To make things worse, the mum-to-be revealed that she wasn't yet showing.

She continued: "I am eight weeks along. I didn't take my pregnancy test until the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so there's no way I was showing three days before that.

"In fact, I've been working out a bunch lately and am in comparatively great shape.

"I was feeling great about my body and my pregnancy, and now I just feel like a body you can critique.

"I spent the rest of the evening crying quietly, because you can't tell her she's hurt your feelings because then SHE gets offended."

Other Reddit users were quick to sympathise, sending the woman a number of supportive messages.

One wrote: "I'm sorry, that really really sucks. Some mums don't know how to keep their mouth shut."

Another said: "I'm so sorry this happened to you. It makes me sick that people can't just say 'Congratulations!' or 'THIS IS SO EXCITING!'"

Others opened up about similar experiences they'd had with their family members.

One message read: "I'm dreading my stepmother finding out we're having a girl because for the last three months all I've heard from her is: 'You're having a girl because your face is fat' and: 'You're having a girl because she's stealing your beauty.'"

Another said: "When we did our announcement on Christmas Eve, my cousin goes: 'I knew it was a girl! When you have a boy you carry only in the front, when it's a girl you carry it all around' and motioned toward my a**."

Let's hope the woman's mum's comment doesn't take away from her body positivity.