diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/uimanager/UIManagerBinding.cpp b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/uimanager/UIManagerBinding.cpp
index e84624567aad..a3fcfa76cf81 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/uimanager/UIManagerBinding.cpp
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/uimanager/UIManagerBinding.cpp
@@ -23,6 +23,16 @@
 
 namespace facebook::react {
 
+namespace {
+
+// Native memory that the JS object returned by `createNode` keeps alive: the
+// shadow node with its props, family and event emitter. A View with a few
+// style props takes about 2.4 KB on Android (measured with heapprofd), a bit
+// less on iOS, which doesn't keep the props as `folly::dynamic`.
+constexpr size_t kCreatedShadowNodeNativeMemory = 2048;
+
+} // namespace
+
 void UIManagerBinding::createAndInstallIfNeeded(
     jsi::Runtime& runtime,
     const std::shared_ptr<UIManager>& uiManager) {
@@ -245,7 +255,7 @@ jsi::Value UIManagerBinding::get(
               return jsi::Value::undefined();
             }
 
-            return valueFromShadowNode(
+            auto node = objectFromShadowNode(
                 runtime,
                 uiManager->createNode(
                     tagFromValue(arguments[0]),
@@ -254,6 +264,13 @@ jsi::Value UIManagerBinding::get(
                     RawProps(runtime, arguments[3]),
                     std::move(instanceHandle)),
                 true);
+            // The shadow node is freed only when the GC collects this object,
+            // so tell the GC about the native memory it keeps alive. Without
+            // this, unmounted shadow trees can pile up until the JS heap
+            // itself grows enough for a full collection.
+            node.setExternalMemoryPressure(
+                runtime, kCreatedShadowNodeNativeMemory);
+            return node;
           } catch (const std::logic_error& ex) {
             LOG(FATAL) << "logic_error in createNode: " << ex.what();
           }
@@ -339,7 +356,7 @@ jsi::Value UIManagerBinding::get(
           // rolled out
           // validateArgumentCount(runtime, methodName, paramCount, count);
 
-          return valueFromShadowNode(
+          return objectFromShadowNode(
               runtime,
               uiManager->cloneNode(
                   *Bridging<std::shared_ptr<const ShadowNode>>::fromJs(
@@ -365,7 +382,7 @@ jsi::Value UIManagerBinding::get(
             size_t count) -> jsi::Value {
           validateArgumentCount(runtime, methodName, paramCount, count);
 
-          return valueFromShadowNode(
+          return objectFromShadowNode(
               runtime,
               uiManager->cloneNode(
                   *Bridging<std::shared_ptr<const ShadowNode>>::fromJs(
@@ -393,7 +410,7 @@ jsi::Value UIManagerBinding::get(
           // validateArgumentCount(runtime, methodName, paramCount, count);
 
           bool hasChildrenArg = count == 3;
-          return valueFromShadowNode(
+          return objectFromShadowNode(
               runtime,
               uiManager->cloneNode(
                   *Bridging<std::shared_ptr<const ShadowNode>>::fromJs(
@@ -820,7 +837,7 @@ jsi::Value UIManagerBinding::get(
             return jsi::Value::null();
           }
 
-          return valueFromShadowNode(runtime, shadowNode);
+          return objectFromShadowNode(runtime, shadowNode);
         });
   }
 
diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/uimanager/primitives.h b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/uimanager/primitives.h
index 0a3d8e5f57cd..690f5a7cd53e 100644
--- a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/uimanager/primitives.h
+++ b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/uimanager/primitives.h
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ struct ShadowNodeListWrapper : public jsi::NativeState {
   std::shared_ptr<std::vector<std::shared_ptr<const ShadowNode>>> shadowNodeList;
 };
 
-inline static jsi::Value valueFromShadowNode(
+inline static jsi::Object objectFromShadowNode(
     jsi::Runtime &runtime,
     std::shared_ptr<const ShadowNode> shadowNode,
     bool assignRuntimeShadowNodeReference = false)
diff --git a/packages/react-native/src/private/__tests__/ShadowNodeExternalMemory-itest.js b/packages/react-native/src/private/__tests__/ShadowNodeExternalMemory-itest.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..7980597ee43d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/react-native/src/private/__tests__/ShadowNodeExternalMemory-itest.js
@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+ *
+ * This source code is licensed under the MIT license found in the
+ * LICENSE file in the root directory of this source tree.
+ *
+ * @fantom_mode *
+ * @flow strict-local
+ * @format
+ */
+
+import '@react-native/fantom/src/setUpDefaultReactNativeEnvironment';
+
+import * as Fantom from '@react-native/fantom';
+import nullthrows from 'nullthrows';
+import * as React from 'react';
+import {View} from 'react-native';
+
+// Must match `kCreatedShadowNodeNativeMemory` in UIManagerBinding.cpp.
+const CREATED_SHADOW_NODE_NATIVE_MEMORY = 2048;
+
+function getExternalMemoryAfterGC(): number {
+  global.gc();
+  const stats = nullthrows(
+    nullthrows(global.HermesInternal).getInstrumentedStats,
+  )();
+  const externalBytes = stats.js_externalBytes;
+  if (typeof externalBytes !== 'number') {
+    throw new Error('Expected js_externalBytes to be a number');
+  }
+  return externalBytes;
+}
+
+describe('shadow node external memory', () => {
+  it('reports the native memory of created shadow nodes to the GC until they are collected', () => {
+    const before = getExternalMemoryAfterGC();
+
+    let root: ?Fantom.Root = Fantom.createRoot();
+    Fantom.runTask(() => {
+      nullthrows(root).render(
+        <View>
+          {Array.from({length: 100}, (_, i) => (
+            <View key={i} />
+          ))}
+        </View>,
+      );
+    });
+
+    // The 100 children and their parent are alive, so their native memory
+    // stays reported after a GC.
+    expect(getExternalMemoryAfterGC() - before).toBeGreaterThanOrEqual(
+      101 * CREATED_SHADOW_NODE_NATIVE_MEMORY,
+    );
+
+    Fantom.runTask(() => {
+      nullthrows(root).destroy();
+    });
+    root = null;
+
+    // Once the tree is unmounted and collected, its memory isn't reported
+    // anymore.
+    expect(getExternalMemoryAfterGC() - before).toBeLessThan(
+      CREATED_SHADOW_NODE_NATIVE_MEMORY,
+    );
+  });
+});