Parenting

250 women celebrate their postpartum bodies in Life After Birth photo series


Some of the pictures from the Life After Birth project (Picture: Knix)

Having a baby is beautiful – but it’s not easy.

Beyond the actual labour process, it can take a while for your body to heal, all while you’re trying to keep a tiny newborn alive.

And when your social media feeds are filled with images of people bouncing back after birth, it can make new mums feel under pressure to get back to their pre-baby bodies.

A survey by underwear brand Knix found that over 56% of women experience postpartum depression and 76% of women feel pressure to ‘bounce back’ post-birth, while 90% of postpartum women received comments about their bodies post-birth

So they created this new photo series to show what life is really like after giving birth.

Knix, the Empowered Birth Project and Carriage House Birth, a doula and childbirth education agency, came together to ask women to share pictures of their postpartum bodies.

They received hundreds of submissions and eventually selected 250 for the series, including pictures from celebrities Christy Turlington Burns and Amy Schumer.

The pictures are open and honest, depicting everything from breastfeeding to the way giving birth has changed a new mum’s body.

The project was inspired by Knix founder and CEO Joanna Griffiths, who became a mum in April.

Joanna wanted more pictures showing the reality of life postpartum as she says her social media feeds were filled with diets and workouts as she struggled with the challenges of breastfeeding and recovering in the weeks after the birth.

She wanted to share the message ‘you are perfect as you, you are supported, and you are seen.’

Knix said: ‘The Life After Birth Project believes it’s time the conversation changes and we instead support and empower women through this chapter.’

Some of the pictures were submitted by mums while others were professional photographs (Picture: Knix)
250 photos were chosen from the submissions (Picture: Heather White)
The images aim to show the reality of postpartum bodies (Picture: Knix)
The challenge of healing your body at home with Kaity Hammond (Picture: Knix)
The project was inspired by the Knix founder (Picture: Knix)
Wendy Cruz Chan and her precious rainbow baby (Picture: Knix)
Desiree Fortin shows her body after having triplets (Picture: Knix)
Cheska Sia talks postpartum, stretch marks and self-love (Picture: Knix)
Beth Whaley shares what it’s like being a new mom in the military (Picture: Knix)
A mum with her baby after birth (Picture: Knix)
Many mums said they feel pressure to ‘bounce back’ after giving birth (Picture: Knix)
Assemblywoman Michaelle C. Solages breastfeeding on the floor of the New York State Assembly (Picture: Knix)
The Life After Birth features 250 women (Picture: Knix)
The series covers everything from breastfeeding to recovery (Picture: Knix)
A mum breastfeeding her baby (picture: Knix)
A mum bottle feeding her baby (Picture: Knix)
A mum with an ileostomy bag (Picture: Knix)
Knix CEO Joanna after giving birth in April (Picture: Knix)
Jillian Harris after giving birth (Picture: Knix)
Lori Yerry with her two children (Picture: Lori Yerry Photography)
The exhibition is no touring the US (Picture: Knix)
A mum breastfeeding a baby in a sling (Picture: Knix)
Domino Kirke, co-founder of Carriage House Birth (Picture: Elliana Gilbert Photography)
A new mum holding her baby (Picture: Knix)

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