New mothers under constant pressure to shed weight: Study

It was also found that women faced pressure from their husbands and mothers to fit the slim ideal.

Hype created by ‘yummy mummies’
New mothers are particularly influenced by the celeb mums like Angelina Jolie and Jessica Alba who are often tagged as yummy mummies. The websites keep informing about famous pregnancies and celebrities’ babies, carrying celebrities’ post-baby weight-loss pics.

The hype created by the celebrity mummies hugely adds to the compulsion to quickly lose weight after giving birth, said the researcher, Dr. Lucia Bongiorno. "People are obsessed with celebrity babies and celebrity pregnancies. Babies have become a must-have sort of item,” she added.

"Both mothers and their peers with new babies, when confronted by media pictures of celebrity mothers such as Bec Hewitt, are saying ‘I’ve got to look like that’," she further said.

But mothers forget that the celeb mums have nannies to take care of their babies and personal trainers to advise them on the weight-losing process, said Dr. Bongiorno.

New mothers need to be careful
Dr. Bongiorno said that the new mothers need to understand that their bodies require time to get back into the normal shape. Without proper medical intervention, steps taken to lose the body weight immediately after pregnancy can be dangerous to one’s health.

Pregnant television personality Toni Pearen said weight was something she was not thinking about at the moment. "I think the pressure should be taken off new mums to look like Victoria Beckham. Everyone is so different, that is what I have discovered - some people put on weight in different areas," she added.

Dr. Bongiorno added that it's difficult to tackle the problem amid the growing influence of media images and an obsession for dieting. However, a careful approach followed by the new mothers could be great help.

The study is likely to be presented at the Australian Psychological Society conference in Darwin.