Mia
by MIA FREEDMAN
I don’t know about you guys but straight after I have a baby, all I want to do is put on a bikini and high heels and have my photo taken for a magazine. I like to do this soon after coming home from hospital, even before my internal stitches have dissolved. Baby? Oh yeah. She’s around here somewhere but have you seen my abs? Let me tell you all about them along with my meal plan and how much weight I’ve lost. And have you met my personal trainer? He’s changed my life. Along with, you know, the baby who is also great obviously. So should I put on a different bikini for the cover?
Baby as after-thought. This is the perverse way we now see famous new mothers through the warped prism of air-brushed bikini covers and diet plan endorsement deals. The moment a celebrity pregnancy is announced, magazines and weight loss executives hurriedly write giant cheques while salivating over the fresh new-mother meat coming their way. Meat they can turn into money.
Let’s be honest, this whole post-baby-body caper is morally dodgy and a little bit weird.
Earlier this month, Katie Couric’s new TV show, Katie, premiered with a world exclusive interview. This was a big gig and a prestigious one. Couric could have interviewed anyone. So who did she chose? Jessica Simpson. And what was the exclusive? The ‘reveal’ of Simpson’s post-baby body. Not even her baby. Her body.
Yes, this is now officially a thing. We are unveiling women’s bodies to the world like new model iphones.
Kourtney Kardashian post-baby.
“I’m very nervous!” admitted Simpson after slowly walking the length of the studio to rapturous applause. “I just had a lot of pressure on me to lose the baby weight”. Possibly, she was referring to the US$3m deal she signed with Weight Watchers soon after conception. “Today was one of my goals: getting here, feeling comfortable. I feel beautiful today!” she declared, looking expectantly at the audience who cheered her wildly by way of confirmation.
Wait, what? We’re clapping the new mother for losing weight. Ok. That’s not at all strange.
“You’ve lost like 40 lbs, right?” asked Couric. “More” corrected Jessica triumphantly. “Can you tell me…?” probed Couric as if she was interviewing a world leader about something important. “No” replied Simpson with a coy smile confirming further world exclusives are available for sale. It’s understandable, this desire to keep a few lucrative‘reveals’ stashed in her Spanx because as Simpson explained, she doesn’t receive her Weight Watchers payola until she hits her goal weight. How’s that for a carrot? Literally.
Please join me in a helicopter for a moment to hover over this whole situation because from up here, it looks a lot like madness.
Are we seriously unwrapping new mothers’ bodies like Christmas presents to be held up and admired? And when exactly did a new mother’s body become something to be bought and sold by media outlets and weight loss companies?
Plainly, I have no beef with any woman, famous or not, doing whatever she likes with her post-baby-body, including and especially, resting it on a soft surface and passing out with her maternity bra open, norks flapping in the breeze. I did rather a lot of that in the early months. Whatever gets you through, sister.
Beyonce’s post baby body reveal.
So sure, I get that many women are keen to lose weight after having a baby but why has ‘getting your body back’ become so fetishised by the media? Why is it publicly feted as a more important accomplishment than having the actual baby? Why does weight loss trump maternal mental health or keeping your relationship intact or working out how to understand a tiny squalling thing whose sole form of communication seems to be producing its own body weight in poo?
And what sadist decided the “best” way to approach new motherhood is by exercising and dieting like a maniac until you resemble a Victoria’s Secret model? Even if you weren’t one before.
Jessica Simpson enthuses that “anybody can do what I’m doing” but then admits she works out with her celebrity trainer 4-5 times a week and wears a pedometer to ensure she walks more than 17 miles a day.
Pink, doing interviews to promote her new album, keeps getting waylaid with incessant questions about “getting her body back’. She revealed she’s worked out twice a day since her baby was eight weeks old. Kate Hudson says she had to work out six hours a day after giving birth so she’d be ‘red-carpet’ ready.
This is the point at which the men reading this column can no longer contain themselves. “For heaven’s sake, silly women!” they shout. “Why compare yourself to these celebrities? There’s no red carpet in your home! Paparazzi aren’t following you round the supermarket!” Too right. Good points you make there, Men. Pity then that this comparison takes place on a subliminal level without direct input from us. Somehow, maddeningly, all this body-after-baby nonsense has seeped into our collective consciousness and recalibrated our ideas about What To Expect Immediately After You’ve Finished Expecting. At least there’s not a bikini on the cover of that book. Yet.
Mariah Carey on US Weekly. (Photoshopped image)
Comments
77 Comments so far
Our play group is full of beautiful “real” women in all stages of motherhood. There is no airbrushing of perceived flaws. We enjoy each other’s companionship & accept each other as individuals. Playgroup reminds me that I am Perfectly NORMAL unlike the digitally over photo shopped images of post- baby mums in the media. My older son picked up on this in many a “photo shop fail” site featuring before & after images where very attractive, healthy looking post -baby mums STILL HAD HALF OF THEIR BODY CARVED AWAY to make them MORE FRONT COVER ACCEPTABLE.
Advice: you need to be able to sleep…remember sleep??? …before you have enough energy to exercise…. And eat, be healthy, be happy…THERE IS A PRECIOUS MIRACLE RESTING IN YOUR ARMS, JUST ENJOY IT!
Finally, ” all hail” resting on a soft surface with the norks hanging out of a maternity bra…ha ha…but soooo true! Doing it sister.
loading...
Hey Kenshin, just because at the last part of the opnieng credits where it shows all the captains, vice caps, Ichigo’s friends, and the Vizards ect u should freakin obviously know what the hell happens!!! but u shouldent put spoilers up like a know-it-all
loading...
Agreed, SCARY!
An entertaining read, as always Mia.
loading...
I am with you Mia! I watched the Jessica interview on Katie and it was ridiculous. I have never minded her but now I cannot stand her as Last year Forbes magazine estimated that her companies earned $1 billion dollars which is more that P Diddy and JayZ combined so this is no dumb blonde. I would have thought that they would have had better things to talk about then Jessica and how she thought all of her pregnancy weight was ‘fluid’ that came out with the baby despite stuffing her face with brownies and ice cream. I mean really????
loading...
Reading this with one boob out post feed and my baby asleep on me. Would I rather be at the gym? Hell no. I’ll enjoy these precious moments while I can. Personal trainers and Weight Watchers can wait.
loading...
I have had 3 babies and enjoy exercise and find the time to fit in a 30 minute walk on the treadmill or bike ride each night when they are all in bed to keep me sane. My grandmother ( mother of 11, 40 grandkids and 25 great grand kids ) gave us all great advice when pregnant and told us “it takes 9 months to put the weight on so give your body 9 months to lose it” I love my new post baby body, I know what amazing things it has done !!
loading...
Best line in this whole article:
“including and especially, resting it on a soft surface and passing out with her maternity bra open, norks flapping in the breeze”
Hilarious! What a visual. Takes me back a little while to when I was breastfeeding..
loading...
I get frustrated when pregnant women are told that they don’t even look pregnant as a type of compliment or when it’s received as a compliment. I have friend who’s almost 4 months pregnant post on facebook that when she was buying baby clothes the sales assistant told her she didn’t even look pregnant. This absolutely made my friends day according to her facebook status. I understand it’s sometimes said as a statement but it’s certainly as some kind if bizarre compliment at times.
loading...
Yes. I can relate to this! I am 32 weeks pregnant at the moment and I have had SO many people comment on how small I am and how I barely look pregnant. I have not received it as a compliment at all and if I had my way, I would have a gorgeous big belly to show off to the world! I was actually quite crook with morning sickness for about 17 weeks so I lost a lot of weight. This scared the hell out of me because all I wanted was to provide for my growing little bub … If that comes with stretch marks, double chins and a big belly then so be it!
loading...
Great article, this trend is so disgusting.
loading...
I am a 40 year old woman (so, not a vulnerable teenage girl). I am able to flick through these magazines and even, on occasion, read the articles and know that it is all photoshopped photos and dodgy ‘journalism’.
I know it is bullshit but I still enjoy looking at celebrities, check out what they’re wearing and read about their lifestyles. I am smart enough (and obviously in a good place in my life) to understand that what I am being presented (in the magazines) is not real life (even for a very wealthy celebrity).
What does upset me is when a celebrity advertises a product ie. moisturiser and says that using X cream is the reason she looks so young when in fact she has had cosmetic surgery.
loading...
You definitely summed up what I am thinking of this whole post-baby-body business.
Sure every mother looses some weight after giving birth to her baby(hate the term baby weight), but celebrities who ‘reveal’ their body?! Just like you said, like revealing a new a gadget. It kind of makes me think of a cattle market, just there a cow is better selling when she has more weight on.
And the other thing is, that most of the times(well ok every time) the pics in the mags are photoshopped ANYWAY.
Also what bugs me is celebs like Jessica Simpson saying ‘everybody can do this’. Ahm no. Not everybody has a chef, a cleaner, a 24h babysitter and what not else. So lady your world is a bit different than ‘everybody’s’.
loading...
It drives me mental too. Ladies stop buying and watching this crap, then they’ll stop covering it.
loading...
I have a 16 year old and remember being intensely irritated by the then magazine covers trumpeting that ” celebrity x has lost 20 kilos after baby.” They always seem to include the baby in the amount of weight lost.
As a naive 20 something I believed that my body would never return to its pre pregnancy state despite the example of my very slim mother; she did have the worst stretch marks on her stomach I have ever seen, however. After 3 kids my body has always returned to my normal size pretty quickly. I also don’t think my breasts are any worse than someone my age who hasn’t had children. Maybe because I have had biggish breasts and wear a bra to bed, can’t bear the feeling of them flopping around.
I suppose my point is that there are lots of different post baby experiences but I feel the media scrutiny of celebrities makes what is a natural process seem to be the outcome of diets and discipline. I am concerned that the view expressed below quite frequently that the celebs can do it because of money, trainers etc gives a false picture. They may do it faster because of this help but we can nearly all do it. Put the baby in a pram and walk.
loading...
During my first pregnancy I put on 15 kg. My baby weighed almost 5 kg and the placenta looked like it weighed about 5 kg so I left the hospital 10 kg lighter and breastfeeding took the last 5 kg off very quickly. It’s the old story, if you are at a healthy weight when you conceive you will return to that weight pretty easily. Not to mention with the help of all that walking with the baby, both in the pram and up and down the dark hallway at night trying to settle your newborn!!
loading...
Jessica Simpson walks 17 miles daily? That’s just over 27 km or over 5 hours of pretty snappy walking. The daily aim of 10000 steps is about 8 km. With my last child I did a lot of walking while the older two were at school simply because that was the way she slept. I consistently got in 14K steps and on the odd occasion I hit the 17 km mark but those were extremes. To add another 10km on top of that? Insanity.
loading...
I was a size 10-12 before my baby , went up to almost 90kgs while pregnant and now I am a size 8-12. It goes both ways. Women like myself who just lose weight without trying because its our genetic make up shouldn’t be made to feel bad as thou we are freaks who obviously live at the gym. I have not been in a gym in the last 15 years.
loading...
I couldn’t agree more. This whole thing is just sick. SICK
loading...
I totally agree with the premise that the focus on losing baby weight is utterly ridiculous, particularly when it is centered on celebrities. There are so many reasons why our persistent obsession with body image is damaging.
In my time as a trainer I cannot tell you how many women I trained that were obese because they tried stupid diet after stupid diet, often while trying to lose baby weight. This is the most damaging part of the airbrushing again era. These images gradually and insidiously change our self perception and make us think we can change overnight, which in turn gives way to desperate attempts to lose weight quickly. Ironically, the quicker you lose it, the more likely you are to fail, and once you have failed you are twice as likely to fail next time, ( scientific fact).
I do think women should exercise after pregnancies, once their bodies have had time to recover. But just moving more is usually a good enough start, and even then a good few months may be needed.
Exercise is really great. It helps with fitness, general health, injury prevention, lifestyle, mental health and, yes, weight control. But the focus should always be on health, not weight, and underlying pressure to lose weight rarely translates into the desire or motivation to get healthy, which in the end is what is best for you and your family.
loading...
Yeah i am one of those annoying women who went down to a size 6-8 after my baby when I ballooned up to 22 kgs in my preganancy. Unforunetly It was not through luck or personal trainers but serious stress and anxiety of motherhood. I walked and walked in the pram just to shut the baby up ( I know that sounds cruel) but I did whatever I could not to hear that constant shriek. After 3 kids I want no more and when I hear another baby shriek I feel my IUD goes into overdrive!
loading...
I would be anxiously working my butt off to lose the baby weight too if I knew there were cameras waiting to capture and humiliate me the second I walk out of hospital with a – gasp!- baby belly. These women are only human and you can’t blame them for feeling extra self conscious when the whole world is watching their every move.
loading...
I’ve carried around some extra weight since I started having my babies 9 years ago, and only just got into the right headspace to start losing it about 6 months ago. I shed half of it, then maintained it for 3-4 months and now I’m getting ready to lose the next half. My baby is 4.5 years old and I have just started sleeping properly through the night again. That’s not to say that I haven’t had numerous failed attempts at doing this over the last 9 years, but I have no doubt that proper sleep and a good amount of time post baby has everything to do with it being more successful this time around. Go easy on yourself, they’re not babies forever.
loading...
My baby is 10. Any day now I hope to be red carpet ready!!!
I know for sure if I had a nanny, a cleaner, a personal trainer and a few million in the bank exercise would be a lot easier!!
loading...
Bravo Mia!
Loved this: “Why does weight loss trump maternal mental health or keeping your relationship intact or working out how to understand a tiny squalling thing whose sole form of communication seems to be producing its own body weight in poo?”
Why indeed!
Am not a mom nor do I intend to be, but my word, how SILLY these women are. I am all for looking and feeling good – and doing it for yourself – but the crazy (very unhealthy) extremes celebrities go to kinda makes me think of them being willing clowns in a freak circus.
Hats off to all the women who have babies, make them a priority and let their bodies heal and recover NATURALLY.
I may be the only one, but I feel sorry for Jessica Simpson & co. – they’re in a kind of prison us ‘normal’ people don’t have to be in, unless we lack the gene of thinking for ourselves. Isn’t that something all of us can feel really grateful for?
I don’t read or buy trashy magazines because it drains me mentally and make me question deeply seriously the progress we’ve made as a species. Life is short, and there are too many books to read in one lifetime. So I’m afraid the magazines and their twisted take on what we think we should like/be/aspire to/wear/look like don’t get much love from me.
loading...
I have two girls under 3 & at the moment they are doing a tag team effort with their day naps. Which means that on most days I have maybe 15 min time sans a child/baby. I choose to have a cup of tea & stare into space in those precious few minutes
loading...
I love it!! Shall be my aim when number two arrives shortly!
loading...
“stare into space”=best thing to do during some free time
loading...
I remember after my mum had my baby sister, she was encouraged by her gyno to do pelvic floor exercises to help with her recovery from the birth. That was the only piece of advice I have ever heard post baby that make some sense, mum had 5 babies and never put her body shape ahead of us. Maybe to her detriment but recently she started going to the gym and lost about 30 kg. Yay mummy! First time in 38 yrs I ever saw my mum in pants, so cute!! I have the best mum ever.
loading...
Thanks for highlighting this again Mia, we almost become immune to this type of obsession with women’s bodies and the elusive perfect-ism.
I think this is a bigger issue then the women who sign for the cheque. The companies that drive this crap are ethically not OK. What about the fact she gave birth, or produced a human being under the spotlight of the world.
I love the line “the fresh new-mother meat coming their way” it says it all really the vultures are awaiting for the next celebs to give birth and show their bits to the world so that other women can strive for that airbrushed perfection all in the name of dollars. Well done world.
loading...
I am COMPLETELY with you on this one. My little girl was born 10 months ago. I just turned 40 (last week) and when being wished Happy Birthday by my brother received a long and awkward “selling” on how great a particular weight loss program is, inevitably ending with “you should do it”. He’s not alone. I have a girlfriend who is constantly suggesting I join her for hot yoga or other organised exercises programs. I weigh 67kg now and I think that is fine. I carry a 3 year old up and down staircases, in and out of cars; I carry a pretty heavy baby everywhere (why won’t she start crawling?!), and I breastfeed alot. Why do I need to do an exercise program? And how would I fit it in to my day? It took me 18 months to get back to ‘normal’ after my first born, and I’m pretty much expecting similar this time. I eat pretty healthy and I spend time putting together flattering outfits to wear. Why do people equate pregnancy with fat!? I just had a whole human being grow inside this body. Give me some respect.
loading...
This article comes at a good time for me. I was trying on non maternity bras at a dept store yesterday, and they kindly had mirrors on all walls so you could see yourself from every.single.angle. Honestly, I was traumatised. I went home and cried and cried. My baby is 18 months old, so why hasn’t this weight gone by now? I am pleased though that I spent my time cuddling, feeding and playing with my babies, not spending 6hours a day exercising. Thank you for reminding me of that x
loading...
I consider myself to be a feminist and relatively uninfluenced by images of celebrities, yet I want to look good while pregnant and as soon as possible after giving birth. In fact, I have felt more pressure and judgement for wearing high heels from people who think they have a right to tell me that, as well as being nauseous for nine months, I should also subject myself to ugly shoes. Just the other day, the bra fitter in David Jones told me I wouldn’t be able to breastfeed if I wore a bra with underwire (done it twice before, like a champion dairy cow). There may be pressure from magazines to look great, but the everyday pressure I get is to succumb to frumpiness and add looking like crap to my list of woes. Sorry, but I’ll continue to wear high heels while pregnant and shed the baby weight in a matter of weeks because otherwise I’ll be really depressed, which would be the worst possible thing for my children.
loading...
Can you buy underwire maternity bras? Or do you mean wearing them while you’re pregnant? I wore them too while pregnant and breastfed fine despite the dire warning of the shop assistant – in Myer this time. I miss underwire bras…
loading...
I’ve never been able to find one with underwire. DD cups without underwire is just a hideous prospect.
loading...
Yep, I’m a DD normally, but (oh the horror) am currently an F while still breastfeeding…
loading...
I’m a DD at least normally and I haven’t had any dramas with one style of maternity bra, but it was very hit and miss with others. I’m wearing a 16E one at the moment, it’s a Triumph one – Flourish maternity is the style. I also wore an underwire sports bra through my pregnancy and was very dubious, but these bras are good.
loading...
Those Triumph maternity bras are the best!
loading...
You can get them – I was an F cup while breast feeding, and wore the Anita 5068 maternity bra. It has a semi flexible underwire. They are expensive but the only maternity bra that was comfy, so I bought two and just washed a lot.
loading...
I had a Myer changeroom lady nastily comment to another employee that I was trying on an underwire bra while pregnant. I could hear her from inside the changeroom having a bitch about me putting looks before my babies ability to breastfeed. I left in tears (hormones!)
Looking back now I wish I called her on it. I’m quite a strong person normally so I’m still surprised at my reaction.
loading...
I think the issue is that the wire can impact on milk supply/make mastitis more likely, I think.
When we lived in the UK, I found some maternity bras that had a plastic underwire at a maternity shop. Can’t remember the brand, sorry, but they were fantastic, and I still wear them, even now I’m not still breastfeeding.
loading...
I was called irresponsible by the bra lady in DJ’s last week for wanting try on an underwire bra while pregnant. Even though another store member had helped me with my selection. End result – Myer got the sale.
loading...
Thanks, I actually really needed to read this today. I had my fourth baby 3 months ago and I have been putting pressure on myself to lose the weight. I need to concentrate on being healthy and just remember that I’ve been here three times before and the weight does come off, in my case, slowly. However, it doesn’t help that my 6 year old daughter keeps saying (quite excitedly) “Mummy, I’m sure you have another baby in your tummy. Your
tummy doesn’t look like that when you’re not pregnant”. Sigh…I’m afraid, for about 6 months after my babies are born, it does darl!
loading...
I had my baby boy (my second bub) 3 days ago. The absolute last thing on my mind is weight loss!!! I just want to nourish my baby and myself, and let my body heal.
loading...
Celebrities have one tool that we don’t have which ensures they “get their body back after baby”. It is called photoshop!
loading...
These days women have to look “hot” at their wedding, during pregnancy (when high heels are not uncommon), after birth and pretty much anytime before they are 80 years old.
There is a constant preoccupation with the state of any female celebrity’s body, someone’s love handles have a hypnotic draw and can not be left alone by the gossip media and their readers.
It’s strange to think that this is happening in a post-feminist era, that women must look sexually desirable when they are in the public eye. The prudish and backwards 50s put a lot less pressure on women in that regard.
loading...
The reason it’s such a big thing is because when they put it on the cover stupid women keep buying the magazines. If smart women declined to buy an issue that featured “how I got my body back” stories they’d soon get the message.
loading...
Who is with the baby while all the exercising is going on? Who is with any older siblings?
I wish there had been more information on what can happen to your body during pregnancy and what damage you may be left with after the pregnancy, instead of these fabricated stories. But I guess that wouldn’t sell.
Just like breast-feeding (don’t get me started) nobody seems to want to explain the possible truths, just incase it puts you off having a baby (or trying to breast feed) The truth would not have put me off having a baby at all – but I am more than sure it would have made dealing with the damage caused to my body, and for me the surgery now required to correct the damage, a lot easier to deal with.
But that is just me, and I’m guessing I am in the minority. Just like the women who don’t buy those mags.
Click to EditDelete
loading...
Maybe they do their training when the baby’s asleep? I do – put on a dvd and go for it. I don’t understand what they’re supposed to be doing with their kids every single minute of the day?
loading...
Well when you have more than one child and some of them are past the age of napping it gets really tricky to find time to work out. Plus the extra tiredness that c
loading...
that comes with an extra child!
loading...
If the older kids are at kindy or with a nanny? Or in the pram going for a run? There are lots of ways to do it if you are really determined to.
My point is that you’re not with a baby all the time and they probably don’t have to worry about cleaning, washing, cooking etc either. I just don’t see why people are so incredulous about it when it’s obviously not that difficult.
loading...
Catching up on sleep and nourishing my body and baby are the most important things to me after giving birth. There’s no way I’d compromise my milk supply by crazy dieting and excessive exercise. I think that’s very selfish to the baby. My partner has always been nothing but supportive about my body and feeding the baby, even when my breasts looked less than impressive after pregnancy and breast feeding.
loading...
Ugh, trash magazines have a lot to answer for in general, not only venerating fat-free and unnatural post-baby bodies.
I know many readers see them as harmless fun – I see them as promoting judgement of people we don’t know using lies, exaggeration and innuendo.
loading...
Just to clarify, Kate Hudson has since come out and said that she never actually said she exercised for 6 hours a day because she DIDN’T in fact exercise for 6 hours a day – a media outlet made up that statement.
loading...
Kate Hudson actually went on Ellen and said that her working out 6 hours a day after having her baby was not true at all.
loading...
Oh my gosh then how did she get so fit after baby? Maybe only working out 5 hours a day? I just saw her guest appear on Glee and couldn’t believe the shape she is in. It is as if she’s never been pregnant. Kudos to her, but I have a feeling that intense exercise has been a part of her daily routine.
loading...
It has been over a year since she had her baby. I know friends who did slim down quickly and would probably be judged on the outside as “they don’t spend enough time with their kids they would be working out all the time” but it’s not true at all. People do have different bodies and it’s important when having this dialogue about getting rid of our preoccupation with bodies bouncing back that we don’t start making assumptions and judgments about mothers who seemingly have bounced back!
loading...
Precisely! I’ve got a 4 week old and weight less than when I found out I was pregnant. It’s all in the genes for me I think. There’s certainly been no excessive exercise here, just excessive chocolate eating and breast feeding!
loading...
You don’t need to exercise 5 hours a day to look like that. I know plenty of “regular” women who gave birth a year ago and look like Kate. Are we now going to make the judgment that any new mother who isn’t carrying 20 extra kilos must be neglecting her baby and exercising 6 hours a day. Sheesh.
loading...
That gallery is really nauseating. Mia’s right — the whole “baby body bounce back” has become a media fetish. But it’s a vicious circle because the mags wouldn’t run those covers unless they knew women responded to them and bought the issue.
As readers we need to stop buying into it.
loading...
Bravo Mia! Couldn’t agree more. It’s just getting so god damn boring…same shit…different celebrity. Yawn city!
loading...
These stories always make me wild. About 10 years ago, I had to have quite considerable surgery for cervical cancer which was performed at a private women’s hospital in London, called The Portland. It was where loads of british celebs had their babies and whilst I was in recovering and reading all of the trash magazines one of these celebs was on the cover and I was chatting with the nurses about how good she looked post-baby. They all laughed and said that this is how they do it – have your baby via c-section at 34-36 weeks, so you dont put on all of the last months weight; then whilst having the c-section you have a tummy tuck at the same time (i do admire their multi-tasking) and then you go home to your personal trainer and chef – and hey presto 6 weeks later you’re looking fine. The procedure was called “the victoria”, after it’s most well-known recipient…
A small moot point, but these women also go into pregnancy absolutely tiny and usually quite fit; watch their weight (as a full time job) and have chefs etc for the whole way through the pregnancy, which also would help a lot.
loading...
Really? How do you have a baby after a ‘Victoria’? Didn’t she have four?
How do you have a tummy tuck when your uterus has not shrunk to it’s smaller size?
How do you find an OB who will perform a C section at 34 weeks for no reason but vanity?
I find this difficult to understand.
loading...
That’s so creepy that people actually double up having plastic surgery and a c-section at the same time! Surely that puts your body under even more trauma, leaving the mum in more discomfort and probably less capable of taking care of her little baby in those early stages.
I think there may be a lot of kids who grow up thinking that their birth was kind of an inconvenience to their parents who just wanted it to be over and done with so they could both have their ideal body back… pretty sad.
loading...
Thank you Mia. 12 months down the track my partner as brilliant as he is cannot understand 1. why my body has not just miraculously gone back to the shape it was before the baby; 2. why i would want to waste money on a trainer because just pushing a pram around for 20 mins a day should do it. (i put on 20 kilo’s. the pram pushing while good is just not going to get me back to the shape i was in).
He has once and only once ( i think he’s to scared to do it again) bought up a celeb and asked why so many of them can get back to shape so quickly. Don’t get me wrong hes not a complete trogladyte he cooks and looks after bub and still finds me attaractive, he just wants skinny me back.
As for all the people that have asked me when my bub is due because my stomach did not go flat in 6 weeks, Hmmm,although i did shut the last one up by explanng the massive medical complications that i had due to my pregnancy and birth and that shut her up and garnered an apologly as well.
New mums have enough going on without this pressure.
But Yay for Christina applegate on the view telling them that at 2 years she has only just gotten out of maternity jeans. why??? because it was more fun to play with her baby than go to the gym. You only get one shot at this mum thing. why waste the best part in the gym….
A bit more of that a bit less of Jessica simpson i think. maybe then we’ll get the badly needed reality check on this topic.
loading...
Mine too. My husband is lovely, but I don’t think he understands that my body may never be the same again. I’ve had 2 kids, my youngest is 6 months and I’ve just lost all my baby weigh. But, (but,) my tummy has not bounced, and will not bounce back. I was saying the other day that I think that’s it, my body is now how it is and he said ‘don’t worry, you’ll get there…” Hmmm.
loading...
Oh gosh. I don’t know if I’m helping or making things worse by telling you that my last pregnancy was nearly 14 years ago, I go to the gym several times a week and my stomach is still pretty loose and stretched. It will never be flat again.. I’ve had to learn to live with the new me.
loading...
Yeah, no worries, I’m with you. My bikini days are over anyway!
loading...
omg i just went through the photo gallery and noticed the headline on pic 9: “body after baby -winners and losers” OMG. that has to be the worst one ever. no wonder new mums feel like crap. they arent a size 6 after growwing a human and giving birth (the most amazing thing the human body can do) and they are a LOSER???? infuriating.
loading...
Oh hey I totally forgot Christina Aguilera had a child! And so it would seem your column is correct. Baby? What baby?
loading...
I absolutely agree. Why is the media celebrating those you spend 6 hours a day working out, rather than spending that time actually looking after their baby?
loading...
working out 6 hours a day??? with a BABY? who has that kind of time??? its hard enough to find the time to have a shower or get out of your PJs or even feed yourself. that is just madness.
what is wrong with eating healthy (during pregnancy & after) and light exercise (like taking your baby for a walk) to get the weight off in a reasonable time frame?
as for ‘get your body back’ the odds of getting your body back exactly as it was before baby are slim because your body is forever changed. there is nothing wrong with wanting to look and feel your best – but be aware it will be different than it was before. also – shapewear is your friend!
your baby doesnt care if you can fit back into your jeans in 2 weeks, they just want to be snuggled, fed and loved. the newborn stage is so very special, and so fleeting. i wish new mums would take the time to appreciate it, because you can never get that time back. .
loading...
“Well stated”,Mum to a girl and boy, …couldn’t agree more.
loading...
Achievement addiction! We have to be the best at everything. People don’t run 10kms anymore, they run marathons. They get pre baby body back in record time etc etc. We (people) need to be marvelled at. Do what you want with your body and that includes marveling at what it has just done! Make your OWN choice not to follow the leader – aka media, and feel proud of your body what ever shape that may be.
loading...
My baby boy is just over 12 mths and I love my post baby body! It’s given me my most precious gift, him. Seeing my saggy tummy skin and boob stretch marks actually make me smile and a smile says a lot
loading...
So… is Mariah Carey normally sans bellybutton?
loading...
Bitchy me thinks that their pelvic floor is probably stuffed. A nurse was very clear to our mother’s group that strenuous exercise before six months was a bad idea for that reason.
It’s sad that the ‘post baby body’ is what we focus on, and whilst I never worried about my body too much, I’ve had so many comments. Even the day after my son was born, visitors commented on how my tummy looked. Doesn’t really bother me, but people are definitely interested in how you look after having a baby!
loading...