Britney Budhi, 29, from Bondi in Sydney’s affluent eastern suburbs said she was slammed on TikTok for calling her girl, Teyana, a ‘little monkey’. The mum, who is of Indonesian-Italian background and her partner who is Burmese-Pakistani told FEMAIL she understands the negative connotations behind calling someone after the primate.
But says in this case there was no negativity at all, the term was one of endearment and love for her now five-month-old daughter.
She said: ‘At the end of the day it is my social media and my baby.’
‘And I think she is perfect, I am absolutely obsessed with her – I know all mums are but I think I am even more obsessed than that,’ she added.
Teyana was born at 37 weeks via C-section, weighing just 2.2 kilograms. Her mother explained when babies are born so small they often have the hair covering their bodies ‘to keep them warm’. she said: ‘All babies have it in utero, and it isn’t uncommon for early babies to still have it, especially if they are tiny.’ Teyana was born early because her mother’s slight frame couldn’t support her rapid growth to full-term. ‘Because I am naturally small there wasn’t enough room for her to grow properly, doctors said she would thrive better on the outside.’
She was kept in NICU for two weeks, quickly growing and putting on weight, before her parents could take her home. And the hairy coating, which accompanied by her nickname ‘little monkey’ caused a sensation online remained for about two months. ‘It started to fall out as she put on weight – but still had on her shoulders and stuff – now she has leg hair which is really cute.’
Despite the negative comments, some even jokingly telling the mum to shave her baby, Britney said she got a lot of positive reactions too. She said: ‘Lots of people messaged to say they were also born with hair and their parents called them their little monkey too.’
She has also been contacted by people who have experienced anorexia and other extreme eating disorders who ‘developed the same thing’. ‘It’s the body’s defense, trying to keep you warm when you need to put on weight.’ Britney wasn’t too shocked when she saw her baby was born with so much hair. She had come to realize it was possible after stumbling across another hairy baby on TikTok while pregnant.
She said: ‘At the same time there was a show called Sweet Tooth, where mutant babies were born and they were half animal.’ ‘I turned to my partner and laughed that ours could come out looking like one of those.’
Britney shares videos of her daily routine on TikTok where she has 11,000 followers. The mum also jokes that her daughter is a ‘little parasite’, calling her ‘all the names under the sun’. ‘If you are going to put your life on social media like I do then people are going to say negative things. ‘These cute names come from a place of love, there is no negativity in them.’
