diff --git a/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/uimanager/UIManagerBinding.cpp b/packages/react-native/ReactCommon/react/renderer/uimanager/UIManagerBinding.cpp
index e84624567aad..3b82be921bee 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) {
@@ -245,15 +255,23 @@ jsi::Value UIManagerBinding::get(
               return jsi::Value::undefined();
             }
 
-            return valueFromShadowNode(
-                runtime,
-                uiManager->createNode(
-                    tagFromValue(arguments[0]),
-                    stringFromValue(runtime, arguments[1]),
-                    surfaceIdFromValue(runtime, arguments[2]),
-                    RawProps(runtime, arguments[3]),
-                    std::move(instanceHandle)),
-                true);
+            auto node = valueFromShadowNode(
+                            runtime,
+                            uiManager->createNode(
+                                tagFromValue(arguments[0]),
+                                stringFromValue(runtime, arguments[1]),
+                                surfaceIdFromValue(runtime, arguments[2]),
+                                RawProps(runtime, arguments[3]),
+                                std::move(instanceHandle)),
+                            true)
+                            .getObject(runtime);
+            // 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();
           }
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,
+    );
+  });
+});