Klicken Sie für den Zugriff auf die Website ab 18 Jahren

A Portland OB-GYN strikes back on "bouncing back" with a visual lesson on what actually happens to the uterus during pregnancy.

Updated on August 30, 2023 Dr. Lincoln/TikTok

Thanks to the prominence of diet culture, pregnant and postpartum people are constantly inundated with advice about how to "bounce back" after pregnancy. It seems that you can't even get a minute to recover from giving birth before you start seeing ads promising to help you shed the baby weight in days or having high school acquaintances reach out to help you "lose those extra pounds" in a one-week workout group.

But here's the truth: There is no such thing as "bouncing back" after pregnancy, and no previously pregnant person should ever feel any pressure to do anything but heal after pregnancy. Not convinced? Here's what the experts say.

The Simple TikTok Video That Fights Bounce Back Culture

Jennifer Lincoln, MD, IBCLC, an OB-GYN, author, and executive director of Mayday Health sums up exactly why the notion of "bouncing back" after pregnancy can be so harmful on her TikTok account.

In the video, the Portland, Oregon doctor presents a model uterus and emphasizes how small its starting size actually is. She then holds up a different, much larger model as she explains how much the uterus has to stretch during pregnancy. And after birth? That same uterus has to do a lot of work to contract back down to pre-pregnancy shape.

Instead of "bouncing back" to your pre-pregnancy size in a matter of days, the uterus alone needs at least six weeks to physically contract back down to a pre-pregnant size. The rest of your body will need time, too.

The Importance of Education

Many of the comments on Dr. Lincon's video demonstrated how important it is for postpartum people to see what their bodies have been through in order to understand why the pressure to "bounce back" can be so harmful.

"I am 5 days postpartum & feel soooo sore," wrote one parent. "Baby girl was 10.3 lbs and though my body made it through vaginally, I'm certainly in recovery. Thank you for this! I don't need to stress my mind & body further to 'bounce back'. You're the best."

Another commenter added: "LOVE this visual!!" [It's] much easier to not be so hard on ourselves when we understand what's really going on in there!"

A number of comments were also surprised that information about the types of body changes that actually happen during pregnancy and postpartum aren't more commonly taught.

"It's so crazy and shocking how much we DIDN'T learn in school about our bodies. Thank you for sharing this! My mouth fell open," one commenter said, finishing the comment with a surprised emoji.

The Truth About How to 'Bounce Back' After Pregnancy

Parents reached out to Dr. Lincoln directly for further explanation of how the uterus changes in pregnancy and postpartum, and she quickly obliged.

She explained that it can be misleading to think it's possible to "bounce back" after pregnancy because the uterus goes through drastic physical changes during pregnancy that require time to heal. In fact, the uterus can expand up to 500 times in size and 16 times its weight from before pregnancy, says University of Missouri Health.

"The uterus is an amazing organ—it grows from the size of your fist in the non-pregnant state to be big enough to hold a baby the size of a watermelon." Dr. Lincoln noted. "This process takes about 40 weeks, so it's SO important to realize what took 40 weeks to grow isn't going to shrink back down in a day."

Dr. Lincon also added that the postpartum uterus in her TikTok shows what the uterus looks like directly after the delivery of a baby and placenta. And the only "bouncing back" that the body is physically capable of is the work the uterus does to begin the healing process.

"Immediately, the uterus starts contracting down, and it's hugely important that it does that because that's what causes all those blood vessels that were going to the placenta just minutes prior to clamp down and stop heavy bleeding," she explained. "The uterus continues to contract down over about six weeks, which is how long it typically takes a uterus to get back down to size."

Even that six-week mark is an estimate, and some people may need even longer after giving birth for the uterus to return to pre-pregnancy size. Healing is helped along the way by postpartum hormones and even things like breastfeeding or chestfeeding.

Dr. Lincoln adds, "The cramping you feel after giving birth or when breastfeeding is from the hormone oxytocin, which is the hormone that caused labor contractions and now is responsible for your uterus contracting down. It might not feel great (and ibuprofen can help!) but it does have a purpose!"

Postpartum Recovery Isn't Just About the Uterus

As if anyone needs more evidence to dispel the harmful myths behind "bounce back" culture, just consider how vast the changes associated with pregnancy and birth actually are. It's not just the uterus that goes through a transformation during pregnancy.

For instance, a pregnant person's foot size can be permanently changed in both width and length as a result of pregnancy. If your feet can change in size just from being pregnant, imagine what can happen to the rest of your body! The physical changes of pregnancy are so intense, in fact, that the National Institutes of Health considers the postpartum time to be as long as six months, and sometimes even longer.

The Office on Women's Health also describes that pregnancy changes everything from nasal tissue and digestion to skin stretching and how the body processes certain vitamins like calcium. Pregnancy can also lead to changes to your pelvic floor, which could lead to problems with urinary leaking and urgency or even cause discomfort with sexual activity.

Some parts of the body don't return to pre-pregnant states and sizes until months after delivery. For instance, even the thyroid gland stays enlarged for around 12 weeks after birth.

All of the changes that can happen during pregnancy mean that the postpartum period is a time when the body needs adequate time, rest, and nutrition to recover—not "bounce back." The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology describes the postpartum period as a time of "active regeneration and healing."

Key Takeaways

The bottom line is that there is no such thing as "bouncing back" after pregnancy. During pregnancy, the uterus alone expands as much as 500 times in size and after birth, requires up to six weeks to return back to pre-pregnancy size. Other physical changes associated with pregnancy like stretch marks and foot size can be permanent. So rather than focusing on "bouncing back," try to focus on healing. The physical transformation the body goes through after pregnancy takes time and can look different for everyone.

You can follow Dr. Lincoln on TikTok and Instagram under the handle @drjenniferlincoln. She is also the author of the book Let's Talk About Down There, as well as a YouTuber and podcaster.

TikTok Doctor Shows Why We Need To Stop Expecting People to 'Bounce Back' After Pregnancy