When kids enter puberty we warn them about the change. We tell them their bodies are changing and that it’s normal and natural and they’re beautiful just as they are. But when women become mothers and their bodies— and brains —change, we are not offered the same affirmations and comfort as adolescents. Society tells children to accept the ways their bodies stretch, grow and shift to carry them through adulthood, but it tells the women who carry these children in their own bodies to fight change at all costs.

Luckily, that is changing. Women are standing up and saying what society should have been telling us all along: Yes, motherhood changes your body, but that change is beautiful.

And now, in a brilliant move that is both excellent marketing and empowering, hundreds of women are putting their postpartum bodies on display. The act is a powerful statement to themselves and to other mothers: Our bodies are meant to evolve and change, and you are normal and natural and beautiful just as you are.

Knix is selling underwear, but the brand is also creating real change with a project called The Life After Birth Project, which saw 250 photos of real moms exhibited in an NYC gallery before rolling into Knix’s hometown, Toronto, Canada, this week.

The photos are refreshingly real and exactly what women need to see in 2019.

The Life After Birth Project shows the beauty and reality of postpartum healing

 

 

 

 

One of the most damaging myths about postpartum recovery is that it is quick. It isn’t. It actually takes about six to eight weeks for the uterus to shrink back to its pre-pregnancy size . The bump doesn’t instantly disappear because it took 9 months to grow. A mother’s body needs time to heal after birth, whether it was a vaginal delivery or a C-section, but too many mothers aren’t given that time.

In the United States, so many working moms are back at their job within five weeks of giving birth, and even if paid work isn’t a factor, unpaid labor and family obligations can have mothers doing too much too soon.

As Diana Spalding, midwife and Motherly’s Digital Education Editor and Birth Expert, has said , “You would never expect someone to clean their house a few days after having surgery, or to run errands when they are getting over the flu—so why do we expect ourselves to snap out of giving birth? Pregnancy and birth are not ailments, but they are the real deal. Be gentle on yourself, and allow your body to heal.”

 

Mothers should not be embarrassed by their changing bodies

 

 

 

 

A recent survey found more than a third of women (37%) felt embarrassed by what their body was going through after birth. This is not okay, and it is why we need more projects like the The Life After Birth Project and more companies doing what Knix is doing.

That is why celebrities like Jillian Harris, pictured above, stepped up and shared photos of their own postpartum experiences for the Life After Birth project.

Yes, Jillian is wearing mesh panties and a giant pad in the above photo. But that’s part of the journey and nothing to be embarrassed about.

We need to see our stories represented and know that this is normal.

 

More photos from #LifeAfterBirth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Four pregnancies in four years. This mama has been through so much and has some serious advice: “I wish our always busy culture recognized it more and gave new mothers patience and grace.”

So do we Amy, so do we.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See the gallery in person

 

 

 

 

The Life After Birth Project is currently in Toronto but the next stop is Los Angeles on October 24.

The gallery will keep touring the US, too.

Stops are planned in Portland, Seattle, Dallas, Austin, Denver, Minneapolis. if you want to submit your own photos, tag @lifeafterbirthproject on Instagram and use the hashtag #LifeAfterBirth, or email your photos to [email protected].