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Dietitian’s Sympathy for Princess Kate’s Post-Pregnancy Belly

in Nutrition in the News on July 28, 2013

No sooner than Princess Kate pushed out Prince George, the press began to report on her post-pregnancy belly. Please reporters around the world– give the woman a break! It takes 9 months for a woman’s stomach to stretch to accommodate a full-term baby. It will take at least that long for Kate’s stomach to get back into shape like it was before. Just because she is a princess does not mean that she will not struggle trying to get back into shape like the rest of us!
After the baby is born, hormonal changes cause the uterus to contract to allow it to shrink to its pre-pregnancy size. It takes approximately 6-8 weeks for the uterus to return to its normal size.
As a dietitian/nutritionist, I would predict that Kate will have an easier time returning to her pre-pregnant size. I say this because she is healthy, she was thin before the pregnancy, and from reports she is breastfeeding. When I was the dietitian at the Diabetes Pregnancy Center at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago I observed that women who were thin prior to their pregnancy lost weight faster with breastfeeding. Breastfeeding also aids in getting the uterus back to its normal size. I have also seen women who were underweight prior to pregnancy requiring more calories than normal for breastfeeding to prevent excessive weight loss. Princess Kate will most likely be consulting with a dietitian/nutritionist to develop a diet that will be healthy for little George and for her own health needs.
So please, members of the press-Back off! Give Kate time to enjoy her baby and get back to her exercise and eating schedule. And give her at least a year before comments begin about her figure. Like many women I found that I never took all of my pregnancy weight off. But I also have my two great kids over thirty years later.
Read our book, Too Busy to Diet, to get ideas for eating healthy with your new baby and your busy schedule.