Today on the Moncrieff show, Sean, will be discussing a landmark study called MAMMI (Maternal health And Maternal Morbidity in Ireland) which will look at various aspects of women’s health during pregnancy and for the year after the birth of their child.
Many new mothers have a desire to "bounce back" after pregnancy which can often be considered unrealistic and unnecessary. Tune in to hear Dr Deirdre Daly, Assistant Professor of Midwifery in the School of Nursing and Midwifery in Trinity and one of the researchers on the MAMMI study from 3pm: http://www.newstalk.com/player/
So what do women's bodies really look like after they give birth?
29-year-old Lulani Gray, pictured above, was ashamed of her body for more than ten years after having her first child. She couldn't wear bikinis and didn't like dressing down for her partner.
That changed a couple of years ago when she allowed her friend and photographer Jade Beall to publish a picture of her to her Facebook page, where it subseqently went viral, receiving thousands of likes and shares.
Beall was soon contacted by hundreds of mothers around the world asking for her to photograph them, too. This was the beginning of Beall's photography book project, A Beautiful Body, which couples pictures of mothers and their children with narratives about how they overcame low self-esteem after giving birth.
The project was funded on crowdfunding website Kickstarter, but while Beall originally sought a goal of $20,000, overwhelming support quickly saw that figure bloom to almost $60,000 from more than 1,000 donators. Beall plans to use the extra money to help people travel to her studio to be part of the project.
"I had no idea that so many cultures around the world would resonate with my project," Beall told Australian women's website Mamamia. "I knew that in my American culture, post-birth mothers are often shamed for not ‘bouncing back’ and have little support for their possibly remarkably changed post-birth body.
“I am overjoyed to know there are women around the world who wish to be seen and that this project might offer them healing and empower them to feel beautiful."
While the project has struck a chord with women, it has also had a positive effect on men. “Husbands have written to me from around the world thanking me for helping them understand what their wife might be going through and for helping them expand their concept of a beautiful woman."
Beall thinks we are facing an epidemic of women who feel "unworthy of being called beautiful". This feeling is strongest after giving birth when there is enormous pressure for the mother to "bounce back" into the body they had before becoming pregnant.
“Some media platforms shame superstars and sell a whole lot of copies to other women who are under the stress of being a new mother in a newly shaped body and feel as if they have failed,” Beall says.
Rather than bouncing back, Beall says women need to realise that their bodies change for a reason. “Being a mother is a game-changer, it can be the hardest job and also the most rewarding. I would never ever want to bounce back to my old life. Giving birth to my son and being his mother has been the most meaningful experience of my life.”
Since the success of the project, Beall says she's seen her friend Gray "wear bikinis at the pool now with an easy confidence".
