The body!

"Wow yeah, breastfeeding really helped me lose weight BIG time!"

"I actually thought I looked so skinny after I had my first baby and couldn't understand why my clothes didn't fit (I wasn't quite as skinny as I thought). I ate what I wanted and was back to a size 8 by 6 months (I was breastfeeding), although it stopped coming off around 12 weeks and then like others have said there was this great big weight loss for no apparent reason."

"I was not prepared for the whale I was after my second baby; my tummy was way bigger, after pains hurt so much more. I decided I wasn't going to sit around this big so started working out when she was 8 weeks old and it did really help but if I could go back I wouldn't have been so hard out, because it really affected my milk supply. Again by 6 months I was a wee bit smaller than what I was before I got pregnant with my first. Just before Christmas my tummy was more toned than it has ever been and I'm back in a bikini."

"I was surprised by how much I actually did weigh once the baby was out!"

"I think breastfeeding really did help, I could definitely feel everything contracting when I was feeding in that first week or so, and I also wore my elasticized preggy jeans for the first few weeks as they held everything in. I found after 6 weeks I didn't feel too bad about the way I looked and by 3 months I was back in my pre preggy clothes."

"No one warned me how much it would hurt when the uterus contracts back down in the first few days."

"I felt great!! I didn't particularly like being pregnant and I could sleep comfortably once again. What surprised me was that my body didn't change much at all. I was lucky enough not to get stretch marks and my tummy was back to pre pregnant shape really fast (breastfeeding helped too)."

"I've been really surprised at how long it's taken me to get back to normal after my last baby, and I still have a lot of weight to lose. With the other two I bounced back really quickly and got back to my pre preggy weight within weeks."

"I hate the dunlops...I wish I could get them sucked away."

"I was surprised at how quickly my bod bounced back. I was in my jeans 7 days after giving birth and fitted all my pre pregnancy clothes no problems. Breastfeeding must play a part - and massaging my tummy - my midwife said by doing this you can lose inches a day and she was right."

"I got after pains while feeding, man those hurt!"

"I think I put on weight while breastfeeding 'cause I ate non-stop!"

"I think I actually put weight on breastfeeding as I was sooo hungry all the time, and thirsty. "People tell you - oh you'll lose weight breastfeeding, but not me!"

"Breastfeeding did NOT help me, I stay fat until I stop feeding, then I seem to be able to lose weight easier."

"I've got a jiggly body now, I was always overweight but it was firm, now everything just sags."

"On the upside, in spite of not breastfeeding I still lost 14 of the 16 kg I had put on within 3 weeks of birth, woohoo!"

"For me, I started off too skinny so following the first two pregnancies I learned a lot about eating healthier. What it meant was that I was bigger/heavier after kiddies but actually a healthier size for me. It took me a bit to get used to - going on a clothes shopping spree at about 2 months really, really helps the self-esteem!"

"I was pretty lucky with my body, I got no stretch marks at all during pregnancy, my breasts stayed a good size and I was 54 kgs before pregnancy, 64 by the end and the day after I had her I was 54 again (obviously it was all baby in there!)"

"I found that the weight really started to just fall off me after I had been breastfeeding for 6 months. Before that it was just coming off slowly, but then it came quickly - about the same time the boobs started to shrink with the breastfeeding!!"

"The pain after - felt like my insides were going to fall out - couldn't stand for longer than 2 minutes without tears and that lasted for 6 weeks."

"Pre pregnancy I was tight, toned and muscley, now I am flabby, saggy and breastfeeding definitely ain't helping me lose weight as strict as I am being on my food intake!"

"I slowly lost weight for the first six months (while breastfeeding and eating enough for four!), then it just fell off and I ended up nearly 10kg lighter than my pre-pregnancy weight. I didn't feel healthy in the end, but got pregnant again before I stopped breast feeding so haven't tested what happens once you stop."

"I don't think breastfeeding really helps unless you eat right as well. You can't just eat crap all day long and expect to lose weight, breast feeding or not."

"I have to admit to taking a wee while to get used to my 'mummy' body. I feel less sexy sometimes, especially out and about with my non-mummy mates. I don't feel like I can rark it up in the same way and my dress sense has changed to more practical than pretty. I am trying to work on that. I have extra aches and pains now, although talking at 27 weeks pregnant I can't tell the difference between pregnancy aches and pains and normal ones!"

"I don't know about being disappointed/sad about my body post-baby...it is different, but I see those differences as kind of achievements - they wouldn't be there if I didn't have my daughter, so I try to celebrate them. Sounds corny, but kind of like that commercial for So Good a while back that had a mum with stretch marks on her tummy and the phrase 'so rewarding' as she held her toddler in her arms. I get really annoyed with the perception that women's bodies shouldn't change (not at people individually, more at the societal pressures)."

"I wasn't a model before I had my baby, I don't expect to look like one now!"

"What I wasn't prepared for was how much pain I'd be in for those few days after the birth - It took me about 10 minutes to get from reclining to standing each time, and far out did I have to do that a lot! "

"I did drop weight very quickly after the birth but it has crept back up again."