Mother of 6 Creates Instagram Account to Celebrate Postpartum Bodies

January Harshe created the "Take Back Postpartum" Instagram page for women to share their photos without fear of harassment from commenters and advertisers

Photo: Courtesy Take Back Post Partum

Wife, mother and body confidence advocate January Harshe wants women to “take back postpartum” and reclaim it from anyone who says a post-birth body should look a certain way.

Harshe noticed a need for change when she saw that many of the Instagram posts using the hashtag “#postpartum” were advertisers.

“It was mostly wraps and creams and gimmicks and spam that had nothing to do with the actual postpartum period of motherhood,” Harshe, 36, tells PEOPLE. “I got frustrated and I asked moms to make a change. My followers started using #takebackpostpartum to post about pregnancy, birth, and motherhood.”

What started as a hashtag developed into a movement and became its own Instagram page.

“I think women have expectations that postpartum should be picturesque and perfect, and it’s not,” says the Austin, Texas-based mother of six. “It’s messy and chaotic. Your body changes – it just does, it’s normal. Take postpartum back from media and companies that say we should look a certain way, and show them what it really does look like.”

The Instagram account now has over 21,000 followers and is full of posts depicting all aspects of motherhood and the bodies that go along with it.

“Just today I posted a photo and one woman said, ‘This post made me fall in love with my stretch marks,’ ” says Harshe. “This is exactly what I’m trying to do. One woman saw a picture and she saw what her body looks like and thought, ‘That’s beautiful.’ ”

She hopes everyone that follows the page can take away that sense of positivity and community.

“I hope they get solidarity that they’re not alone in what they’re going through,” she says, “and to love themselves where they are at in their stage in their motherhood.”

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