Are mums under too much pressure to lose post-baby weight?
Join the debate in the comments below More than one in four women nationally were “usually or always dissatisfied” with their post-baby body. Mothers over 35 also gained less weight during pregnancy than younger mothers. Researcher Lucia Bongiorno said an explosion in coverage of celebrity yummy mummies such as Elle Macpherson, Angelina Jolie and Jessica Alba also contributed to an unrealistic ideal, with websites devoted to famous pregnancies and offspring. “People are obsessed with celebrity babies and celebrity pregnancies,” she said. “Babies have become a must-have sort of item.” The study, to be presented at the Australian Psychological Society conference in Darwin from September 30-October 4, is the first to ask new mothers who they compared their bodies with after giving birth. The 346 mothers of infants aged 1-12 months compared themselves most with their peers with babies and child-free friends, and to a lesser extent other women and celebrity mothers. However, they felt the m
