Arkansas mom’s ‘Ugly Baby’ TikTok challenge video goes viral

(KARK) — Every mom thinks they have the cutest newborn.

One Arkansas mom jokingly admits her baby may be the exact opposite and she’s capturing the attention of people all over the world.

Lucy Baehr, the mom of stepson Cole and daughter Harper, struggled with miscarriages over the years and had given up on the idea of growing her family.

“We got a third dog at the end of September 2019 and my excuse was, ‘well, we aren’t going to have any more kids,’ and then February of 2020 we find out about Reese,” Baehr said.

After nine months of waiting they finally to got to meet Reese, their miracle baby. It’s a moment Baehr said she’ll never forget.

“I’m pretty sure I looked at my husband and was like, ‘she’s healthy?’ Baehr said.

Lucy dreamt her daughter would look just like her, instead, she came out looking anything but.

“She just had a really big nose. Even Harper, when she held her for the first time, looked up at me and said, ‘she kind of looks weird, doesn’t she?’ and I was like ‘um, you’re not wrong?’ Baehr recalled.

While many moms may not want to admit it, Lucy embraced her daughter’s unique look and shared her with the rest of the world on Tik Tok.

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“This trend started where people were saying, ‘we thought our newborn was going to be so cute and they were not.’ I was like, ‘I win, I win! I win this!” Baehr laughed.

It’s dubbed, “The Ugly Baby Challenge.” Overnight, her Tik Tok exploded. As of Thursday, she had more than 22 million views and counting.

“People have commented saying she looks like Dobby from Harry Potter and Mr. Bean,” Baehr laughed.

Baehr said she has had some haters.

“People are commenting like, ‘oh my gosh, not a mom calling her baby ugly! You are a horrible mom. She’s going to grow up with self-esteem issues,’” Baehr said.

She said she is simply keeping it real, hoping to normalize how babies really look when they are born.

“She’s fine! I’ll tell her all about it one day. This whole situation is going to go in her baby book. She is going to have a great sense of humor,” Baehr said.

She is reminding other moms that not all babies are perfect, and that’s perfectly okay.

“She just needed a minute!” Baehr said.

Baehr said the video is all in good fun and she is aware her baby is not ugly.

However, the video is paying off. She said companies are sending Reese toys in exchange for a video.