A Swindon mum who developed stretch marks while pregnant has painted them on a Barbie doll to show her daughter they are 'perfectly normal'.

Kate Claxton, 35, from Swindon, suffered from postnatal anxiety and hated her stretch marks 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 stretch marks on a doll herself using nail varnish and has now urged manufacturers Mattel to do the same.

This idea received a lot of praise and support from Adver readers.

Here is a sample of the responses to our story.

Natasha Louise: "This post just proves the kind of person I want my daughter to be and that is someone who is body positive, believes in herself and normalises that we are all different.

"This woman is an absolute superhero and should be so proud of herself.

"I aspire for my children to be like her - not like Barbie.

"Thank you for being part of the mum brigade that we all need on our side."

Louisa Kent: "She's an amazing author and women's advocate.

"So many young girls have eating disorders through body images they grow up seeing, so adding stretch marks and different body shapes to childhood toys is an incredible step to normalising different bodies and breaking the culture of what a "normal" body should look like.

"Love this. Well done Kate."

Samantha Sawyer: "Fair play! Tiger stripes are normal, whether they come from pregnancy or not.

"My kids know all about them and why they happen and they are eight and six so why not!

Leanna Grace: "We love her books and think this is a great idea.

"I want my daughter to know that our bodies come in all shapes and sizes so she doesn’t have to spend her teens and twenties hating her body like every other woman I know."

Katie Louise Herrington: "Well done Kate, I think this is so important!

"Kate is an incredible author and wonderful advocate. If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all."

Nicki Hall: "What a great idea!

"Normalising bodies is important- many children (boys and girls) will also develop stretch marks during puberty.

"We have both of Kate Clayton’s books- a firm favourite in our household."

Caroline Sheffield: "Well done Kate, a fab message for girls growing up.

"I remember getting my tiger stripes during puberty and thinking it was abnormal - love this!"

Emily Jayne: "Great idea!

"This wonderful lady comes up with so many fab ideas for little ones.

"Learning through play at such a young age has a huge impact on children, well done Kate."

Kirsty Long: "But there's a reason women have stretch marks because our skin has stretched over our baby bumps.

"This is just a doll, a kids' play toy, they don't need to have it on a doll, just if they ask about stretch marks give the honest answer, that is all that's needed."

Kojo Joshua: "I don't mind stretch marks at all. It only means two things - either you were skinny and got big, or you were big and got skinny."

Zoe Fennell: "I don’t think any of you appreciate the pain and suffering physical scars impact women through pregnancy..

"Many of you may find this trivial, whilst others suffer mental issues around their visual scars.

"Well done Kate for bringing reality to normality."