Eating Disorders
Elle Slams Post-Natal Diets

There may be link between post-natal depression and eating disorders

(Sept. 7, 2003) - SIX months after giving birth to her second child, Elle Macpherson has spoken candidly about the unhealthy pressure on women to lose weight quickly after childbirth.

Elle'The Body' MacPherson shows just why she has that famous nickname./APP

"It's like there's this competition as to who can lose weight the quickest after a baby - it's unhealthy for both mother and child," Macpherson told October's edition of Harper's Bazaar magazine.

"I haven't lost every skerrick of weight yet, but that's normal - I only had Cy in February. "Sure, I may not be skinny-skinny, but who cares?"

Macpherson's revelations come as studies show concerns over changing body shape may be forcing some pregnant women to develop eating disorders.

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Associate Professor Suzanne Abraham, from the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at Royal North Shore Hospital, said some women begin to binge eat during pregnancy, which often develops into eating disorders such as anorexia or bulimia.

Professor Abraham led a team which conducted a study of 181 women that established a link between post-natal depression and eating disorders during and after pregnancy.

"Women who've suffered from an eating disorder before or during pregnancy are much more likely to suffer post-natal depression in the first year after childbirth," Dr Abraham said.

"We found many women have concerns about body weight during pregnancy, which can lead to unhealthy dieting in the last trimester and shortly after the baby is born."

Australian Medical Association spokesman on eating disorders Dr Rick Kausman said stylish celebrity new mothers are putting pressure on ordinary women to emulate slim, post-pregnancy figures, which is leading to an increase in eating disorders among new mothers. He said celebrity mums, including Victoria Beckham and Elizabeth Hurley, were encouraging women to go on crash-diets.

Model and actress Hurley regained her multi-million dollar-earning figure within weeks of the birth of her son last year, while model Kate Moss was rumored to be suffering an eating disorder after the recent birth of her first child.

"For these celebrities, there is intense pressure to look this way because too often their livelihoods depend on it," Dr Kausman said.
"Celebrity mums get exposure, but often there is no information as to how that person regained her figure."

He said women who neglected their health during pregnancy and after childbirth were creating problems for themselves, and for their baby.

"If we are starving ourselves, we recover less well from childbirth and it decreases the quality of breast milk for the baby," he said.

Related Information

• Pregnancy and Eating Disorders
• Antidepressant Medication Side-Effects in Postpartum Depression
• Detailed Information on Postpartum Depression (aka Post-natal Depression)

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