I hate my postpartum body

Question

Hey everyone,I hope youre all doing well. I wanted to reach out because Ive been feeling down lately, and I could really use some support from fellow moms who might understand what Im going through.I recently gave birth to my beautiful baby, and while Im overjoyed to have this little bundle of love in my life, I cant help but feel incredibly unhappy with my postpartum body. I know its normal for our bodies to change during and after pregnancy, but Im really struggling to accept the changes I see in the mirror.Before pregnancy, I used to feel confident and comfortable in my own skin, but now I just feel self-conscious and ashamed of how my body looks. The stretch marks, the extra weight, the loose skin... its all been really difficult for me to come to terms with. There was a short period of time when I even hated my baby for this. I felt like hes the one causing all these stress for me. I find myself comparing my body to other moms who seem to have bounced back so quickly after giving birth, and it only makes me feel worse about myself. I know I shouldnt be so hard on myself, but its hard not to feel this way when society puts so much pressure on women to look a certain way, especially after having a baby.I want to be the best mom I can be for my baby, but its hard to feel confident and empowered when Im constantly battling negative thoughts about my appearance.Has anyone else experienced similar feelings after giving birth? How did you cope with them? I could really use some advice, encouragement, or just someone to talk to who understands what Im going through.

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Hi mama, here’s mine.Coming from 42kg prepreg mama here (I was also only 24 when I gave birth so I was devastated with my weight and body, going from XS-L). I gained 18kg during my pregnancy, I was 60kg at birth, my baby? 2.6KG. I thought I could escape stretch marks but unfortunately, it started coming out at 38weeks at rapid speed. Saggy skins, flabby tummy right after birth was hard to accept. Before that I could just brush it off as “pregnant fat nvm”. It took me 8 months to get back to my prepregnancy weight and even lesser (I was 40kg), I still have that mum pouch when I sit down now. Surely, with the convenience of social media, we often see influencers who looks like Kim K right after birth or slimmed down in like 3 days? But then again, everything on the net is just for show. For commoners like myself, even people around me needs a few months to look “not pregnant”. I told myself, I took 9 months to balloon up, I should give it equal or more time to deflate. Also, I was insistent on breastfeeding (pumping) as Google said it can lose weight 😂, so yeah, thankfully bf worked for me and I did managed to shed off a lot of weight (I was also eating a lot). But do note that, I am a SAHM so it’s easier for me to cope with all the crazy pumping schedule. TBH, after awhile I just stick to loose clothings and focusing on daily life rather than my body. I didn’t even realized my weight and body changes till 6m PP when I took out my old dress and then took my weight. Mirror before that for me is just to check if there’s anything on my face or my hair looks fine, I don’t check out my body to avoid being more upset.For me, breastfeeding helps a lot on my weight loss journey and also not bothering about the body and weight. Just focus on eating well, sleeping well and recovering well. I stopped pumping at 18m, just eat normally to maintain my weight at 44-45kg range now.