Eating Disorders and Perinatal Mental Health

What is an eating disorder?

-Eating disorders are both a mental and physical illness that can affect anyone, no matter their gender, age, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc.

-While there is typically a strong focus on food, weight, and body, there is so much more to this devastating illness that is happening for people on a deeper level.

What causes eating disorders?

-Eating disorders are a maladaptive coping skill, meaning that they do more harm than good. At first, eating disorders can make a person feel like they have a sense of control in their life; however, this coping skill works until it doesn’t.

-People very quickly lose that sense of control and get trapped in an ever-cycling state of anxiety, obsession, and avoidance- leading the person further and further away from tending to the root of the problem.

-Especially, if a person has experienced trauma or other prolonged stressors in their life, eating disorders can be a way of numbing from the body (I.e., where we store our trauma) as well as provide a sense of control that is comforting and distracting from their pain.

What about eating disorders and/or disordered eating  during the perinatal period?

What really stood out to me through my years of working with eating disorders was seeing so many birth parents come in and out of treatment. Some themes I saw included birth parents who:

-Had restricted their eating during pregnancy as a means of weight loss and/or struggles with body image;

-Or allowed themselves to nourish their bodies without guilt throughout their pregnancy because it was for the sake of their child (i.e., their child is worth nourishment, but the parent is not);

-Used the postpartum period, including breastfeeding, to prioritize weight loss in order to get back to their ‘pre-pregnancy’ body;

-The eating disorder began during pregnancy or postpartum (after, most likely, many years of struggling with negative body image and disordered eating);

-Relapsed into their eating disorder during pregnancy or postpartum;

-Used breastfeeding/pumping as a way of ‘purging’ in order to compensate for food they ate.

Eating disorders and disordered eating can be very present in pregnancy and/or postpartum, and it is not discussed enough.

If you feel you are struggling with an eating disorder, disordered eating, negative body image, or your relationship with food, you do not have to go through that alone. Having a therapist and/or dietitian (who specializes in treating eating disorders) in your corner can make all the difference.

If you are searching for support and resources, please check out the therapist directory on the Postpartum Support International website!

A baby deserves a healthy and well parent. A parent deserves to feel healthy and well.