Navigating Body Image During Pregnancy and Postpartum
For many people, the body changes that come in during pregnancy and the postpartum period can bring up incredibly complex feelings. In our body-focused society, the focus on body weight, belly size, weight gain, “bounce back”, and nutrition can feel utterly overwhelming.
These feelings can be even more complicated when you have a history or disordered eating, eating disorders, or body image struggles.
If you’ve found yourself struggling with how your body is changing (or how it looks and feels during pregnancy or postpartum) you’re not alone. In fact, it’s one of the most common and least talked about challenges of the perinatal experience.
Your Body is Changing
During pregnancy, your body shifts rapidly in ways that can feel disorienting or even distressing, especially if you have a history of disordered eating, trauma, or body dissatisfaction. You might feel pressure to love your changing body while quietly mourning the loss of familiarity, control, or comfort.
After birth, the messages continue:
“Bounce back.”
“Get your body back.”
“Look like you never had a baby.”
These cultural scripts are harmful, unrealistic, and ignore the physical and emotional complexity of postpartum recovery.
It’s okay if you don’t love every change. It’s okay if your body feels foreign and comfortable. It’s okay if you’re grieving.
There is room for that here.
Body Image is More Than Appearance
In therapy, we explore body image as more than just how you look—it's about how you feel in your body. It’s about safety, identity, and connection.
Pregnancy and birth can challenge those very foundations:
You may feel disconnected from your body after a traumatic birth or surgical delivery.
You might experience changes in mobility, sensation, or physical intimacy.
You may carry tension or shame rooted in past experiences with food, weight, or control.
Your body size may feel new, uncomfortable, or foreign
Healing your relationship with your body doesn’t mean loving how it looks every day. It means creating space for curiosity, compassion, and reconnection—on your own terms, in your own time.
What Support Can Look Like
In my practice, I help clients gently reconnect with their bodies through a blend of trauma-informed, somatic, and expressive modalities. That might include:
Art Therapy – Externalizing inner narratives and honoring the complexity of body changes through creative expression.
EMDR – Processing birth trauma or past body-based trauma in a safe, regulated way.
Somatic Awareness – Building a sense of safety and presence in the body.
Narrative Therapy – Exploring the identity shifts that occur in motherhood and how they affect body image.
This is a space where you can grieve, explore, heal, and rebuild connection—with your body and with yourself.
A Note on Recovery and Hope
If you’re in recovery from an eating disorder or have struggled with body image long before pregnancy, you may fear that these changes will unravel your progress. That fear is real—and it deserves compassion, not shame.
As a mom and a woman what has recovered from an eating disorder, I understand how vulnerable this can feel. With the right support, it’s possible to stay grounded in recovery, find peace in your changing body, and build a new kind of relationship with yourself—one rooted in care, not control.
You Deserve to Feel at Home in Your Body
Your body has carried you through enormous change. You’re allowed to grieve what’s shifted. You’re allowed to be unsure. And you’re absolutely allowed to seek support.
If you're navigating body image challenges during pregnancy or postpartum, I’m here to help. Whether through talk therapy, art-making, somatic work, or simply a space to process what you’re carrying—healing is possible.
