Round about the middle of the Duchess of Cambridge’s pregnancy, I remember seeing an article in a newspaper suggesting that her bump wasn’t big enough for the stage she was at. I remember thinking that that was such a cruel thing to write. So she might have a doctor on hand to reassure her that everything was absolutely fine with her baby. That might not be the case for another pregnant woman sitting at home. who might be caused anxiety by reading something like that.
Of course, I knew then that once the wee one arrived, Kate would be under intolerable pressure to lose her baby weight quickly. However, I didn’t expect it quite so soon. Ok! magazine has had to apologise for its front cover. Rather than concentrate on a happy couple leaving hospital with their firstborn, the headlines screamed about Kate’s need to lose her baby weight and how her trainer would help her do it.
Just as worrying was an article in the Daily Mail which suggested that Kate making no attempt to conceal her remaining bump was some sort of breaking of a taboo. The baby is the least of the pregnancy weight gain – the complex life support system for another human being is not going to disappear overnight. It is completely unrealistic to expect that it would. And of course that same article said that “undoubtedly she would be working hard to regain her figure” as it’s something every new mother should think about.
I’m glad to see that Jo Swinson has had a bit of a go at the media over this. From today’s Sunday Times (£):
Swinson, whose baby is due on Christmas Day, said women were being put under “appalling” pressure to lose weight in the weeks after birth. With the Department of Health, she has put together a specialist group to help new mothers find ways to cope with the pressure.
“The government’s body confidence campaign has put together a steering group of midwives, health visitors and other experts to look at how to raise awareness of the issue among health professionals,” Swinson said.
Health visitors meeting mothers who have just given birth will be trained to spot signs of depression in new mums over their post-baby weight. They will reassure them that losing pounds gained during pregnancy need not be a priority.
A senior Whitehall source added: “It shouldn’t be a taboo to have a bump after giving birth — it takes nine months to grow, why would anyone be under the impression that it would vanish overnight?
She added:
At a time when new mums are focused on building bonds with their newborns, the media unhelpfully churns out a set of impossible standards on losing baby weight within ridiculous time frames.”
We need to move away from the idea that women have to shed their baby weight quickly and that they’re failing somehow if they don’t — surveys show this is a concern for two- thirds of new mothers.
This is just the tip of a very large iceberg, though. It’s not just pressure to lose weight which can blight a new mum’s confidence. The media warns them against letting their partner feel left out, tells them that they need to get their lives back to normal within weeks. This is nonsense. There is no such thing as getting back to normal after you’ve had a baby. You will, over time, develop a new normal, but that’s not going to happen overnight.
It would be good if the media could reassure new mums, telling them to trust their own instincts because they will know what’s right for their baby and for them. I’ll not be holding my breath for that, though. I am glad, though, that women have a good friend in Jo Swinson who can take action to counteract that damaging media and cultural pressure.
* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings
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22 Comments
This is all good stuff, Jo, but could you let us all know what you think of the “Go Home” campaign? It’s getting us Lib Dems a bit hot under the collar…
Rock on, Jo. Name and shame the trivialising journalists!
‘If men had the babies things would be different’.. or were these journalists women?
People who are bitchy about others are often covering up their own inadequacies.
I think it is a bit snobbish to complain about people publishing celebrity post-baby weight loss articles. Many people like reading about this kind of thing and I’m sure Kate is quite happy, rather than suffering under “appalling pressure”.
Jo will say she is fighting for women, but many women like reading baby weight-loss articles. So is she fighting for celebrities who suffer this “appalling pressure”? I am sure they can fight their own battles.
I think Jo needs to focus on policy, rather than lecturing about ethics.
Do you have any actual evidence to suggest women like this stuff, Eddie? Jo has evidence that two thirds feel anxiety about losing their baby weight quickly enough & this can be a factor in post natal depression. What fuels that anxiety? Articles like the front page of Ok.
Yes Caron I do have evidence that many women like those kind of articles. The evidence is in the sales for those kinds of magazines. I’m not saying most women like those kinds of articles, or any other kind of prejudice, but I am saying there is evidence that a lot of women like the articles.
I felt bad about being a bit nasty to Jo, so I’ll try and be a bit more tactful with opinions and act more like I’m speaking to someone’s face. The internet is a slightly bizarre medium because it is neither to someone’s face or behind their back.
People do not buy OK for baby weight loss articles. They buy it to look at celeb homes and clothes. Baby weight article in OK is just ‘padding’.
The criticism of Ms Cambridge is especially unkind because a bump immediately post baby is nothing to do with fat at all but because the uterus and abdominal muscles have to shrink back. It causes me great pain to agree with Eddie but I am afraid that women do love carping at other women’s pregnancy weight. I remember battling to get back to normal after my baby was born, struggling to a local party meeting and being greeted with the words: “It looks like you’ve got another one in there”. I am sure most mothers will have heard something similarly unkind at some point.
Ruth, it does you credit when you admit that not all women are always perfect. It does not do the same when Eddie says it…
David, where did I criticise women? Absolutely nowhere. I commented because when I heard the news last night I cringed because I felt it was a politician complaining about other people’s tastes and what is popular.
I’d understand if the headline was dangerous, but it’s not, it’s a baby bump. You can’t expect gossip magazines not to publish this kind of stuff, or to wait until the news is old.
This is bad enough, but what next? Complaining about bikini body articles because of the “impossible standards” set by the media. The whole agenda is just a waste of time, we should just let people read what they want to read about, arguably unless it is really dangerous.
Jo says that “We need to move away from the idea that women have to shed their baby weight quickly and that they’re failing somehow if they don’t — surveys show this is a concern for two- thirds of new mothers.”
But I say that many women actually want the baby bump or any weight loss to go quickly, that’s why they read the articles! So it is arguably not just the media laying impossible standards, but them providing their readers with what they want!
I shouldn’t have to say this, but I don’t think women are any more concerned with weight loss than men, before anyone accuses me of being prejudiced or misogynist.
I know the “weight loss” is nothing to do with fat, but my main point is that this whole idea of lecturing magazines about women’s body confidence is ridiculous.
David, it wasn’t fair of you to accuse me of taking a dig at women when I did nothing as such.
People can be very ignorant about women’s bodies. Over 9 months the uterus actually grows and stretches out. It can take 4 weeks or even long for it to return to the pre-pregnancy size after giving birth. Almost all of her belly bulge is from her uterus at this point, and not “fat”. This is easy to understand when you look at the rest of her thin body. In a month or two she will probably be as thin as she was before but with gigantic breasts from nursing and then everyone will be jealous instead of criticizing her.
Eddie,
Obviously you are not a woman. This type of thing IS dangerous, and while I agree that if people are going to criticize magazine about body images issues, they should do so consistently, I completely support Swinson’s efforts. Millions of people, mostly teenagers and young women, struggle with eating disorders that often cause permanent damage to their internal organs, infertility, and sometimes death. If Governments can put warning labels on alcohol or cigarettes, then what is wrong with them warning people about magazines? Grown women Kate’s age will hopefully not take these magazines as seriously, but I worry about young girls and teenagers who are much more critical of their own bodies and more likely to suffer from dangerous eating disorders.
“it wasn’t fair of you to accuse me of taking a dig at women”
Perhaps not altogether, Eddie. Mind you, you did say yourself you had been “nasty to Jo”, so, methinks you do protest a little overmuch.
I suppose what I actually think is that, since I have never personally had to produce a baby and then get over the physical experience, it is a subject on which it might be a good idea for me as a man to keep silent (just for once!)
Bria, no I am not a woman, but I don’t think body-confidence should be a women and girls only issue. Yes pregnancy arguably is, but there is an overlap here. I’m in favour of looking at new pieces of legislation, such as banning airbrushing, but not general lecturing about media ethics. I know the campaign looks at legislation too.
I understand David.
Actually, anything to do with the Duchess of Cambridge bores me, and anything to do with the media circus she attracts bores me; in fact, the whole concept of hereditary wealth and title bores me. Fat tum: food banks anyone!
@ nuclear cockroach
I think Vince covered it, Jo is dealing with other issues. It is not as if Vince’s comments were missed by the media.
@ Shirley Campbell
But I see you still felt the need to post about how boring you found the topic?
Yes Psi not only am I bored by the “Duchess of Cambridge” and the manner wherein she poses for effect and comment, but, curiously, I see fit to comment on my discomfort.
Furthermore, as a woman of a certain age, I see fit to question the mentality of well-educated women who are seemingly unable to accept that women, and men, come in all shapes and sizes. It might well help women, who seek to deny their ante and post natal bumps, if they were to consider adopting the “maternity smock”. The “maternity smock”, favoured by our mothers and grandmothers, covered everything and avoided embarrassment.
There are also boys who suffer with eating disorders, it is not a purely a female situation. Having experience as a grandmother on the subject of birth and child rearing.
I loved my baby bumps, before the birth of my son, I was more rounded than my daughter. I can remember no one who kept on at me to return, to the weight I was.
My granddaughter has just produced a beautiful daughter, again, it is understanding that pregnancy and birth, is very
emotional in many respects. This is when being a grandmother and experienced in the fact that I have been there, and done it.
All babies are special.
” I don’t think women are any more concerned with weight loss than men,”
Weight loss you can do something about. Men, I’m not so sure. 🙂