A mum who developed stretchmarks while pregnant has painted them on a Barbie doll to show her daughter they are "perfectly normal". Kate Claxton, 35, suffered from postnatal anxiety and hated her stretchmarks after she gave birth to her daughter, who is now three-years-old.
But after learning to embrace her body insecurity, she wanted to teach her little girl that they were nothing to worry about as she grew up. Her daughter is now a massive fan of Barbies but children's author Kate said she could not find any dolls which represented her own body.
So she decided to paint stretchmarks on a doll herself using nail varnish and has now urged manufacturers Mattel to do the same. Kate, of Swindon, Wilts., said: "My daughter has really started getting into Barbie's recentlyand I almost recoiled when I bought her first one.
"It was typically Barbie-like - perfectly proportioned, long legs, blonde hair. We've since brought other versions with vitiligo, prosthetic legs and fuller figures. So to their credit, they do more inclusive dolls but I could not find one anywhere with stretchmarks.
"I have written a children's book about stretchmarks and when I came to research it I found 96 per cent of women have them. But there aren't any dolls representing how normal this is, so I thought I would do one myself.
"When you look up stretchmarks it's all about creams and treatments to get rid of them and I found little evidence of people embracing them. And that's what I think mums need to do, accept they are perfectly normal and let their children know the same.
"Women are more likely to end up with stretchmarks than have blonde hair so I think it's about time Barbie got on board and made a doll to represent this. Children should know stretchmarks are natural for mummies, and any other women for that matter, to have.
"There are many ways for people to be 'normal' and I believe kids should learn that from a young age. I didn't want to pass my body hang-ups onto my daughter. I would love the manufacturers to make some Barbies with stretch marks to spread the message that they are nothing to worry about.
"I just believe it's really important to expose our children to as much diversity as possible. Kate, who lives with husband Tony, 36, said she had her own insecurities about her body after giving birth and also had stretchmarks as a teenager.
The mum-of-one added: "They really came out towards the end of my pregnancy and I hated them at first, but now I'm proud of them. I just used nail varnish to achieve the effect, I didn't use one of my daughter's current dolls, as it's now too toxic to play with.
"But I had a conversation with her about what they were. We decided to get the doll changed and she didn't mention the stretchmarks. So hopefully they are already something completely normal to her and she won't worry about them as she gets older and that's what I wanted to achieve.
"She knows mummy has got stretch marks, and they're not a big deal."
Kate has previously written a self-published children's book My Mum's a Tiger which has sold 13,000 copies worldwide, about a girl who learns why her mum has 'stripes' on her skin. The former theatre marketing manager added: "This is already something which is an important issue to me having written the book when my daughter was three-months-old.
"Children who have read the book ask if their mum's have stripes and the feedback is that it has given a lot of women confidence to show their stretch marks. I just think there's more ways of promoting this and with the Barbie film coming out too, I think Barbie should get on board."
Last year Mattel introduced a Barbie’s Fashion Doll line which focused on disability representation and diversity inclusion. They include dolls with Down's syndrome, a hearing aid, vitiligo, a prosthetic limb and a wheelchair as part of their “most diverse and inclusive doll line.”
Previously in 2016, the toy giant released dolls with fuller figures, a petite and tall Barbie as well as different ethnicities. The original Barbie doll launched in 1959 featured long legs, a tiny waist and flowing blonde locks an faced criticism it perpetuated unrealistic beauty standards.
