• Nicole was enjoying an outing to the store with her 9-month-old baby when a stranger approached them
• The woman commented on the seriousness of Nicole’s daughter… and the fact that she was still in her pajamas
• Nicole happened to be vlogging at the time and shared the interaction on TikTok, where it went viral and caught the attention of other moms going through similar situations.

A mother enjoying her first trip to the grocery store with her daughter got a taste of the mother-shaming that affects so many.

Nicole on TikTok @NicoleWebzfilming a day in the life video of her first solo parenting weekend. The new mom was enjoying a nice day out with her 9-month-old daughter when they were stopped by a stranger in the grocery store.

“I was filming for my vlog on my first full weekend of solo parenting while my husband was away. I was just documenting the day and took my daughter to a grocery store. In fact, it was her first time at a grocery store. store and sitting in the cart,” Nicole tells PEOPLE.

The new mother enjoyed watching her little girl take in everything she saw and experienced.

“Sometimes people would come up and say nice things like, ‘Oh, she’s so pretty!’ or ‘How old?’ And this woman came up to me, and the first thing she said to me was, “Oh, you’re still in your groove…”

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The moment, captured on vlog video, caught the new mom off guard.

“I don’t think he meant any harm, but it was just a weird way to start a conversation,” she says. “There are lots of other ways to interact with babies and then she commented that she doesn’t smile.”

The woman can be heard remarking on the baby’s expression, saying: “She… is serious.”

“My daughter doesn’t even smile at me half the time, let alone at strangers,” says Nicole. “I thought it was also a strange thing. The fact that she commented on her personality or her emotions when she’s a literal stranger was weird. My daughter owes him nothing. It was just a really weird interaction overall. all.”

Nicole kept the exchange on her vlog and started getting comments about it, so she shared the encounter herself in a separate video, where it went viral.

“I was kind of shocked to see how many other moms could relate to this. It was also nice to see other people shocked and think there’s nothing wrong with my daughter being in her pajamas at a grocery store “, says Nicole.

“Everyone was very supportive that I wasn’t doing anything wrong and said, ‘You’re a great mother. You shouldn’t feel guilty about the way your daughter is dressed.” So I’m glad I posted it, not that I feel any kind of guilt, but it also keeps me from feeling any kind of guilt, knowing that people have been very supportive.”

Nicole was also disheartened to hear “how commonplace” it is for strangers to comment publicly about mothers’ education.

“The main ones are, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, keep it to yourself,” especially when it comes to other people and their children. I also found a lot of humor in the fact that grown women were commenting about still going to the store in their pajamas.”

Nicole’s video went viral at the same time TikTok was all the rage with moms admitting their “17 diapers” experiences. She says the whole situation opened her eyes to “how much anxiety mothers already deal with.”

“They don’t need comments from strangers and strangers and even, in some cases, family members to further define themselves,” says Nicole. “And I think there’s a lot to be said for taking care of your kids and having those motherly instincts. That’s what you should hear first, over the voices of literal strangers.”

The new mom hopes that being open about her experience will help other moms who need it.

“I hope other mothers find comfort in the fact that we are not alone in this. I hope society starts to change,” she says. “I hope I’m helping to build that community within my channel so that other moms can relate to some of those experiences that we’re feeling right now.”