Cardi B's cosmetic surgery after childbirth gets mums talking
- Published
After giving birth to her first child last July, Cardi B had cosmetic surgery.
Like many mums, she was worried about the changes her body had gone through and was feeling pressure to look more like how she did before motherhood.
The 26-year-old said she didn't have the time to exercise and, even if she did, her "boobs were not going to lift themselves".
Cardi opened up about complications following her breast augmentation surgery, saying she couldn't risk rushing back to work too soon. The rapper has now cancelled her headline performance at Saturday's Parklife Festival, Manchester.
But it's not just high-profile entertainers that feel pressure after giving birth.
Maya, 22, says that after having her daughter, Ayana, it took some time for her to adjust to her changed body.
"It's not until afterwards when you start going back into your every day normal life - and start seeing friends and other people that were around you before you had the baby - that you start to compare," she tells Radio 1 Newsbeat.
She says that because of her age she's expected to look her best because "it's your prime time" - and Maya says the "flat tummies" she sees on social media "stay in the back of your mind and play with you a little bit".
Like Cardi she's considered having breast surgery.
"I feel that everything else I can work towards going to the gym and I can work to get that back. You can't really stop your breasts from sagging after you've breastfed."
Maya wants more children before she makes any decisions though.
'Grieve the loss of your old identity'
Psychotherapist, Danielle Sandler, says that when you become a mother there's a "loss involved that a lot of people don't talk about".
"When you have a baby your whole identity changes," she says.
"I think it's really important in that transition between young woman to mother that people are actually allowed to grieve the loss of their old identity."
When Luan, 20, gave birth to baby Nova she thought her body would "just go straight back to normal".
But she says she's been feeling "really down" after giving birth and finding it hard to keep weight on.
"Because I had a C-section, almost immediately I went back down.
"About a couple of months in, I noticed I was losing weight - dramatically losing weight."
Luan started to feel upset when she looked at images on social media of what she calls "snap back" bodies.
"Mine snapped back, but it's carrying on snapping, to be honest I want it to stop now.
"You see all these women on social media with really curvy bodies, which is the in-thing right now, to be ultra curvy. Big bum, big thighs - Kim Kardashian."
Luan did "briefly consider" procedures like fat transfers and breast augmentation but thought that she "wouldn't be setting a good example for her daughter."
'It's a natural process'
Obstetrician, Dr Daghni Rajasingam agrees social media can make young mums worry about their bodies.
"I do understand pressures that young people have on them these days with social media, but this is a natural process."
She says there isn't any evidence which shows breastfeeding makes your breasts sag and being a mum doesn't mean your stomach won't return to being toned.
"People will say when you've had a baby your tummy will never be firm again but my experience is that it is.
"The key message is being as fit as possible when you go into the pregnancy."
Emma, 25, says that pregnancy made her feel "proud" of her body.
"I think it's incredible what it's capable of. I was really proud and quite empowered."
When she looks at her stomach Emma thinks of her daughters, Sophie and Amelia.
"I've got loads of stretch marks now which I didn't have before I had children but, I mean, at the end of the day I can't change them and without them I wouldn't have my girls.
"Embrace it, your body's just done an incredible thing, you've brought a new baby into the world just cut yourself some slack, give yourself a break, you're amazing."
