Your Postpartum Eating Disorder Doesn't Have to Be A Silent Struggle
Nursing her newborn son while casually scanning social media, Shannon Kopp stopped her scroll when she came across a post comparing Kylie Jenner's body before and after giving birth.
"There were pictures of her body pregnant and then postpartum. The headline said something like, 'Kylie's got her body back in just six weeks!' Had she lost her body pregnant? Of course not. Her body had changed and grown to bring new life into this world," Kopp said.
She recalled identifying at the moment how "harmful and destructive" the social media post (and the diet culture and fatphobia it perpetuates) could be for fellow new mothers.
"Postpartum is a stressful time, and with the overwhelming diet culture messaging on social media, one can begin to believe that if they restrict their food, they will restrict their stress," said Kopp, an author who currently serves as an Eating Recovery Center national recovery advocate in Denver. "If they 'lose the baby weight,' they will lose this feeling of being overwhelmed. For many, dieting is the beginning of their eating disorder."
