5 Ways to Cope with Body Image During Pregnancy
So many women struggle so profoundly during pregnancy watching their bodies transform rapidly in front of their eyes. If you had any struggle with your body image pre-pregnancy, chances are high that you also will during pregnancy. As someone who is in recovery from an eating disorder and done a lot of body image work personally as well as professionally, this was a struggle for me too. My body image was fragile during that time, while also being really grateful for growing my baby. Both feelings can exist at the same time. That being said, here were a few things I found very helpful to bolster my body image during pregnancy.
Stop sending/sharing bump photos to others - As tempting as it was in the beginning of my pregnancy to share bump photos with my family, I quickly recognized that there was no way for them not to respond to this by commenting on my body. And I know in my recovery body comments are not helpful for my identity and self worth. Therefore, I was putting them and myself in dangerous fires while essentially asking for a triggering comment. After speaking with my own therapist, we decided that although tempting, it was best for me stop sending bump photos. Instead, I opted to send baby ultrasound pictures.
Blind Weights/No scales at home - Getting weighed is medically necessary during pregnancy, therefore I knew this was something I wouldn’t be able to avoid. After speaking with my therapist, I opted to have blind weights during my entire pregnancy. A blind weight is where you turn away from the scale and do not hear the number after being weighed. I explained my eating disorder history to my doctor, and told her that if there were any concerns about my weight she could bring it up with my therapist (this can also be a loved one who you trust), but it would be best for my mental health to not get involved with the number. This really helped me to take the number on the scale off my mental plate. I highly advise doing this! To this day I have no idea how much weight I gained during pregnancy and frankly don’t care to ever know!
Reframe baby growing vs bump growing - When I began to get in my head about my body changing rapidly, I found it very helpful to reframe these changes to be about the baby. Reframes that helped me were: “The baby is growing!” “My body is growing to make space for the baby!” “Isn’t it amazing how my body just knows what to do to take care of this baby.” These reframes also helped me to put more gratitude towards my body.
No comments about body changes from loved ones - This was incredibly important and also hard to do. I asked all of my loved ones at the beginning of my pregnancy not to comment on my body changing. It was really important to me, but also helped me to focus on internal changes vs external. Instead of greeting me by saying,“Wow, your bump is getting bigger!” I would ask them to say, “How are you feeling today?”
Reach out for support to talk about how you’re feeling and struggling. Body image is hard during pregnancy and if you’re feeling this way, you are not alone. If you don’t feel like you can talk to loved ones, reach out for a discovery call here.
