DESPERATE MUMS
Celebrity skinny mums DESPERATE MUMS are piling the pressure on new mothers to look good but doctors tell STEPHANIE GWEE losing post natal weight fast is not healthy

It makes you wonder if a vampire did finally suck her blood. Sarah Michelle Gellar of TV's Buffy The Vampire Slayer fame Is looking super trim, despite having given birth not long ago.

Buffy gave birth in mid-September but was snapped two weeks later looking buff in size 24 skinny jeans in photos in The New York Times.

Gellar, 32, joins a long line of celebrity mums who popped out a kid and then popped right back into the spotlight without seeming to pile on any kilos.

They include party-girl Nicole Richie, 28, whose pert post-baby body flaunted a skimpy thigh-baring number in
photos published in September. This was barely two weeks after having a son, Sparrow James Midnight.

These weight-losing wonder mums, including Heidi Klum, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Garner, are piling the
pressure on first-time mothers to kick the kilos, say health experts here.

This is despite nutritionists saying that blitzing excess bul-blubber so fast is not healthy.

More mothers are even turning to anorexia or extreme dieting immediately after childbirth, say some dietitians here.

Health clubs and fitness gyms, induding fitness chains such as Fitness First and Amore, have seen a 30 per
cent jump in the number of new mothers signing up to shed weight since Iate last year. This surge is over a 10-month period.

The Sports Medicine Service clinic at KK Women's and Children Hospital (KKH) has also seen a 10 per cent increase in mums consulting nutritionists and dietitians about weight-loss techniques over the past year.

Dr Ong Wee Sian, the head consultant sports physician at the clinic, says: "the pressure to regain one's pre-pregnancy figure is higher nowadays with society's emphasis on leanness and the bombardment of images of svelte and shapely celebrity new mothers by the media."

Gym trainers have also noticed a trend where mothers dive into long training sessions just days after giving
birth.

Gary Seah, 35, a senior trainer at Body Perfect gym in Holland Drive, recalls a first-time mother in her 20s
who was desperate to lose the 7kg that she had put on during pregnancy.

"She left her son in the care of her mother just three days after he was born and hit the gym for four hours
every day to get back into shape," he says.

He had to remind her that her newborn son was more important than losing weight.

"She broke down in tears and said she was worried that her husband would not find her attractive now that she was bigger," he recounts.

So prevalent is the yummy mummy pressure that newspapers have coined the term "pregorexia" to describe the preocupation with weight control through extreme dieting and exercising while pregnant.

Health experts warn that aiming to regain pre-pregnancy weight or squeezing into a pair of skinny jeans just weeks after childbirth is highly unrealistic.

"Most of us don't have the kind of resources of celebrities (such as nannies, chefs, personal trainers and dietitians) that allow us to devote an enormous amount of time to getting back in shape straight after delivery," says KKH's Dr Ong.

"Also, these celebrities were very slim or even underweight before pregnancy and don't gain much weight during their pregnancy compared to the average woman."

The danger of trying too hard to lose weight rapidly after delivery, he warns, is that the mum will get exhausted and discouraged and is more likely to end up carrying the extra weight longer or even put on more weight.

Extreme dieting and "hard-core" gym sessions that celebrities undergo are "terribly unhealthy", notes general
practitioner David de Souza.

"The body will feel very lethargic and weak if you work too hard just days after giving birth. No one should be so crazy as to do that."

Still, some mothers are willing to take the risk.

Market analyst Lee Jia Hui, 32, who gave birth to her second son two months ago, began hitting the gym for four hours a day within a week of delivery.

She had put on 6kg during her pregnancy and was determined to shed the excess kilos within a month.
 
"I won't stop going to the gym and doing weights to tone up," she says.