"New mothers are often hit with the message that their bodies should "bounce back" almost instantly after giving birth. Scroll through social media and you'll see celebrities and influencers showing off flat stomachs and toned physiques just weeks postpartum, usually with captions about "hard work" or "losing the baby weight." Magazines and wellness accounts pile on with diets, detox teas, and postpartum fitness plans marketed as the key to "getting your body back.""
"It disregards recovery. Giving birth—whether vaginally or by cesarean—is physically demanding, and recovery can take months or even years. Expecting an immediate return to a pre-pregnancy body dismisses the reality of medical and emotional healing. 2. It fuels shame. When women don't "snap back" quickly, they may feel inadequate—not only by cultural beauty standards but also in their roles as mothers. This shame can feed into postpartum depression or anxiety, which are already common in the weeks following childbirth."
Social media, celebrities, and wellness marketing encourage new mothers to quickly return to pre-pregnancy bodies through images of flat stomachs and postpartum fitness plans. Those messages are rooted in diet culture and narrow beauty standards that celebrate pregnancy but then shift focus to erasing visible signs of childbirth. The expectation to "snap back" ignores that childbirth is physically demanding and that recovery may take months or years. The pressure fuels shame, can worsen postpartum depression or anxiety, and reduces the body to a problem to be fixed instead of recognizing the strength of carrying, birthing, and nourishing a child.
Read at Psychology Today
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