People are Split on the ‘Back to Business’ Post-Baby Body Trend. Here’s My Take

If you spend any time on the mom side of TikTok, you’ve probably heard a lot of Beyonce’s iconic line “strong enough to bear the children…then get back to business” recently. 

The line from “Run The World” is trending as moms online use it to showcase images of themselves pregnant before morphing into a clip of them once they’ve “returned to business”.

For some moms getting in on the trend, this means showcasing their super fit postpartum bodies. Others are using the trend to showcase themselves working out in impressive ways (lifting heavy, dancing, rock climbing)...basically, they’re showing the things they and their bodies are capable of doing. 

But not everyone online is on board with the trend. And you know what? I get it. 

A lot of creators feel it perpetuates bounce back culture, and I certainly see where this take in coming from. We grew up in a world that would plaster edited images of new moms on magazine covers to showcase their post-baby bodies…and we never got to see visible representation of the ways having a baby changes your body, both in the short and the long term (my C-section shelf, for example? Still there). 

This trend does sort of feel like a celebration of the “snap back”, which represents such a heavy, unrealistic set of expectations we place on women to look like they’ve never carried pregnancies.

But maybe this trend doesn’t have to be a celebration of bounce back culture. Maybe it can be a reclamation of it instead.

The truth is, we get to decide what getting “back to business” is for us.

Is it literally getting back to business as a working mom? Is it learning a new skill in adulthood and motherhood? Is it crushing a personal fitness goal? Is it healing from postpartum depression? Is it learning to let yourself carve out time for a hobby? It’s up to you. 

For me, when I hear that line, I immediately think of myself nursing my twins, one on each breast, as I interviewed a major celebrity for a story I was writing. I remember just feeling like such a bad*ss…and it had nothing to do with what my body looked like at the time. 

With that being said, I’m seven years out from my own postpartum period. Maybe this would have struck me in a different way if I were freshly post-baby and feeling self-conscious about how much my own body had changed. That’s why I’d love for the focus of this trend to showcase the power of women and what their bodies can do, rather than what they look like. 

The TL;DR? I like this trend…and I also fully see why some others don’t. We need to undo the standards our world holds women to…but it’s also okay to celebrate ourselves once in a while.

Bouncing back isn’t the point. But when you spring forward? You’re allowed to clap for yourself.