This beautiful ad campaign is showing off mums’ realistic postpartum bodies

"I do feel upset sometimes that I haven’t bounced back."

A new advertising campaign is sharing realistic images of women's bodies after giving birth. The shots from Mothercare's Body Proud Mums campaign are striking purely because of how simply they depict their subjects. In the imagery, women pose in underwear with their babies, highlighting their stretch marks, C-section scars and everything else that might feature on someone's body postpartum. The images are going to be displayed across London transport to show "a part of motherhood that is rarely portrayed in the media". The women who took part have also opened up about the physical affect pregnancy and giving birth has had on them.

"I always knew my body would be different after giving birth, however, I didn’t expect my mind to take so long to get used to seeing myself," said one participant, Kesia. "I was never “skinny” but I put on more weight than I thought I would. "A lot of friends had babies close to me and they post online about their bodies, and I do feel upset sometimes that I haven’t bounced back in the same way they have. "I know every woman is different and I am not as hard on myself anymore."

Mothercare also commissioned a survey of new mums about their postpartum body image. While not shocking, the results reflect how rare realistic bodies are in the media. Half of new mums said they couldn't feel proud of their bodies while a quarter said that they compared their bodies with what they see in the media. Nine in ten women said that they expect their bodies to match up to those of celebrities. More than six in ten felt that their pre- and postnatal experiences are not reflected in the media.