I was on Teen Mom after having a baby at 17 – midwives didn’t take me seriously and strangers glare at me in the street
MANY mums will vouch that being a parent is tough - but for one young woman, becoming a mum at the age of just 17 was a total shock.
Whitney, 18, from Portsmouth, gave birth to her son Khalil when she was just 17-years-old, in September 2022, after falling pregnant at the age of 16.
Starring on the latest series of Teen Mom UK: Next Generation, we saw Whitney open up about becoming a mum at a young age.
Recently we spoke to to understand more about how she found being pregnant whilst a teenager, as she explained that she would get odd stares from people in the street and even felt judged by midwives because of her age.
Whitney told Fabulous: “I was in my first year of College when I found out I was pregnant, but then I had to drop out because of how bad my morning sickness was.
“I felt like a failure because I had to leave college.”
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Whitney explained that after accidentally getting pregnant, she was terrified to tell her family the news.
She said: “I decided to keep the baby but I didn’t want to face my mum, I was scared to tell her, I didn’t know what she would be thinking.
“My dad isn’t in the country, so I had to tell him over WhatsApp, I was too nervous to call him.
“Within the African community, it’s a big thing getting pregnant young - a lot of the time they are quite stereotypical in the sense that you do your education, get your degree, get married, get a house, and then you have your baby, but obviously I did the baby step earlier.
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“I was expecting him to shout at me, but he instantly asked if it was a boy or a girl.
"It was really nice knowing that I had the support around me.
“My partner was 17 when we found out. He could have left.
"A lot of teen dads want to go out and live their life but he stuck around, he got a job straight away.”
Whitney claimed that when out in public, she was often glared at by strangers.
She continued: “My partner is white and so I’ve got a mixed baby.
"When I went out in public with my bump, people would look at my bump, look at my face and then look at him.
“I got so many odd looks. I just kept my mouth shut, but it did really irritate me.”
Whitney shared that she even felt judged by midwives too.
She admitted: “When I was in hospital, I was asking the midwives for paracetamol and I had to wait three hours.
“Because I was 17 at the time, they didn’t take me seriously.
"They said ‘she’s just 17, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about, she’s just exaggerating’.”
The young mum also revealed that since having her child, cruel trolls have made nasty remarks online, but she won’t let them get to her.
She shared: “A troll came onto a Live video [I was doing on Instagram] and claimed ‘Whitney’s not got money to feed her kid.’
"It’s rubbish but it really got to me.
“My baby is happy and that’s all that matters.”
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Teen Mom: Next Generation is available to watch now on Paramount+
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