Cardi B Doubles Down on Her Controversial Decision 1 Week After Giving Birth: ‘I’m Taking This Personal'
Everyone approaches their postpartum time differently. Kourtney Kardashian spent 40 days at home, Ciara shared an unfiltered photoshoot, and one of my friends even drove from Texas to Florida to take her newborn and toddler to Disney World! Cardi B decided to channel her postpartum energy (which is a thing some moms apparently have!) into working out again just one week after giving birth. After critics expressed concern, the “WAP” rapper went online to double down on her decision to do this.
Cardi B welcomed her third child with estranged ex-husband Offset on Sept. 7. A little more than a week postpartum, she shared a video of herself doing 30 minutes of cardio on a Stair Master. “Late night gym session,” she wrote on her Instagram story, per E! News. “No heavy lifting, no weight just straight stair master until next week.”
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“Remember ladies this is my third baby … with my other 2 babies I was still on bedrest on the first week postpartum,” Cardi B, who also shares daughter Kulture, 6, and son Wave, 2, with Offset, added.
Giving birth to my third baby was not easier than the first two, but to each mom her own! However, some people assumed that her desire to exercise this soon came from pressure on moms to “bounce back.” “It’s barely been a week. Yoh, the pressure women in the industry are under? Insane,” one person posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
Cardi reshared the Tweet, doubling down on her decision. “This is my third baby and postpartum is a little different from my first two … I’m not doing heaving lifting, no muscle straining, squatting none of that … just cardio,” she said, adding that this is her choice to help her mental health. “Sometimes to avoid postpartum depression you gotta keep your mind busy and for me that’s work and staying active …” she wrote.
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The ”Enough” singer also lamented the fact that people “dragged [her] down” when she gained 15 pounds at five months pregnant. “but now y’all fake concerned and wanna talk about pressure???” she continued. “Y’all said I was pregnant to avoid working now that you see I’m still at it it’s something else?? So yeah I’m taking this personal but its FOR ME because either way y’all are gonna have something to say.”
Cardi has a point — if you’ve seen America Ferrara’s feminist monologue in Barbie, then you know women never can seem to do anything right. People got on to her for gaining weight, and now they are upset that she’s working out. How can women live when we are constantly being held to these outrageous double standards?
The original poster replied to Cardi, apologizing for “any harm” and reiterating that “the tweet was never an indictment on you but rather society’s expectations of women and ‘snap back’ culture.”
“Totally babe!! And I do agree about society and pressure … I just was never the type to care about snap back after birth,” Cardi responded. “I don’t know what it is about this time around but I have this burst of energy where I want to do EVERYTHING … It’s like I want to complete all my goals in one day.”
Many moms experience high endorphin levels during childbirth and postpartum, leading to them feeling “alert, attentive, and even euphoric after birth.” Although this could be normal and temporary (often referred to the “baby pinks” instead of the “baby blues”), it could also be a sign of more serious mental disorders. One study found that moms who experience postpartum euphoria are more likely to be diagnosed with postpartum depression six weeks after giving birth. A reproductive psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital told The Bump that it can also be a precursor to bipolar disorder or postpartum psychosis, so if it’s something that continues, it’s definitely worth a check with your Ob-Gyn.
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As far as working out after giving birth, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says as long as you had a healthy pregnancy and vaginal delivery, “you should be able to start exercising again soon after the baby is born.” This could be a few days after giving birth or as soon as you feel ready. Postpartum exercising can help boost energy, strengthen abdominal muscles, help prevent postpartum depression, promote better sleep, relieve stress, and more.
ACOG recommends talking to your doctor about returning to exercising before you do it, and starting with light intensity exercise before working your way up to moderate-intensity exercise.
“Getting back into shape after a baby takes time and finding a balance that works for you — it’s not an all or nothing decision,” Trish McKean, a certified Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, previously told SheKnows. “It requires you to build and activate your core without overextending or jumping back in too quickly.”
Sara Reardon, a pelvic floor physical therapist, told us, “The first three months postpartum are a time for rest, breathwork, walking, attention to body mechanics and posture, and low impact exercises rebuilding your connection to your core.”
These celebrity moms got real about battling postpartum depression.
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