“The Pressure to Do It All”: Qualitatively exploring body image, eating attitudes and mental health in postpartum women

Issue Addressed
The postpartum period, a time known to instil joy and fulfilment, is dominated by unreasonable and often unattainable expectations for mothers to achieve perfection across multiple domains. Despite prior research confirming that body image dissatisfaction, disordered eating and postpartum depression are prevalent in the postpartum, mothers remain pressured to maintain active and healthy lifestyles while juggling the demands of parenthood.

Methods
This qualitative phenomenological study investigated body image, eating attitudes and mental health of the lived experiences of 182 Australian postpartum women through open-ended survey questions. Mothers over 18 years (M = 33.50, SD = 7.22) with biological children under four years of age completed an online survey and were recruited through social media.

Results
Responses to six open-ended questions were examined using thematic template analysis, which generated three themes: (i) Grieving Old Self: Finding Acceptance Amidst Changes to Appearance, (ii) Convenience is Key: Balancing Child-Centred Nutrition and Mindful Choices Amid Time Constraints, and (iii) The Cognitive Load: Demands of Motherhood Supersede Positive Mental Health.

Conclusions
Findings demonstrated the complexities that mothers experience and emphasised that the postpartum period is a time of personal transformation and growth, as well as considerable vulnerability toward the development of adverse physical and psychological outcomes. Mothers continue to experience body image dissatisfaction, are too time-poor to eat healthily and are cognitively burdened by increased responsibility. So what? Significant attention and robust resources are needed from healthcare providers to mitigate these likely outcomes, offer preventative strategies to decrease risks to psychological health, and normalise mothers' experiences.