I don't usually go on these rants but after just having my first baby I am noticing the pressure to sacrifice all else to get my body back to how it used to be. We see it everywhere in the media, celebrity women are praised for their ability to get straight back into the best shape of their lives immediately after giving birth. And this is just giving us unrealistic expectations as to how women should healthily recover from their pregnancy.
It's as if the majority of these women who have been glorified for going straight back to their 6-packs, have just handed their new-born over to a carer and gone back to their daily lives. The most disturbing images I have seen recently is another one of those 'instagram models' who appear so conscious of their figure that at 8 months pregnant she barely looks 3 months pregnant. I don't want to hate on this particular person but I (as well as the majority of her commenters) fear for the health of her unborn baby. Though plenty of commenters have stated that if she does give birth to a healthy child, then she will have set 'a new standard for womens' bodies during pregnancy'.
Seeing things like this are truly worrying and will no doubt impact many young girls expectations of how they should look whilst they are pregnant. I feel all of these things are giving us unrealistic expectations of pre and post baby bodies. I myself have fallen victim to several people who have assumed that my post baby body is actually me having 'another bun in the oven'.
The majority of the times my husband and I laughed off these clumsy remarks from neighbours and casual acquaintances, but when looking at the bigger picture the majority of people (and this is women included) have no idea what a body is going to look like after a woman gives birth.
I know writing this letter will probably fall on deaf ears but I wish that the media would take the initiative to announce that these immediate weight loss achievements of celebrity mums just aren't realistic for the average person. A normal mother is going to have her hands full with her child, even with the help of others, and she isn't going to have the time and energy for a specific meal plan and a personal trainer to work their magic. This doesn't even take into account that if you give birth early, your uterus is still going to be prepared for feeding a baby for the whole pregnancy duration and it will take time for it to shrink back to regular size.
Perhaps what it will take is a celebrity mother to take a stance and explain some of these things but I doubt that is going to happen anytime soon. I just hope that people look past the false advertising of the media and don't falsely judge women during pregnancy and after child birth.
Sincerely,
An Irritated New Mother
