You don’t often get to see your mummy mates naked – that’s what’s so intriguing about seeing those mums overleaf. While there are some refreshing souls who are overjoyed to have curvier hips or fuller boobs, all too many of us are quick to put down our post-birth bods.

Figures from cosmetic surgery specialists the Transform Medial Group reveal a 45% increase in the number of new mums opting for cosmetic surgery since April. Increasing new mums are asking for ‘Mummy Jobs’, a package of breast lifts, liposuction and a tummy tuck. And of course there’s the astonishing ‘Mummy Tuck’ – An operation numerous celebrity mums are rumoured to have had, where surgeons perform a mini tummy tuck at the same time as their c-section.

But, warns Mark Bury, CEO of the cosmetic surgery group SurgiCare, booking in for surgery before you’ve even finished the first newborn nappy pack is a mistake. ‘Mums should try to resist pressure from celebrity mothers who unnaturally return to their normal appearance in a dangerously short time,’ he says.

But whatever your shape or size, surely the most important thing is that you’ve got a beautiful baby at the end of it all. Or is that just us being soppy?

‘For most mums, exercise and a healthy diet are the most effective way to get their figure back.’ Says top fitness expert Jane Wake. ‘It helps if you exercise during pregnancy. But do go to an instructor who specialises in prenatal or postnatal exercises. It takes 40 weeks to go through pregnancy and you should be thinking of at least the same amount of time to get your pre-pregnancy figure back.’

The truth is you don’t have to resort to the surgeon’s knife to have a body you’d be proud to flaunt this summer.

Postnatal surgery is not always the dream solution new mums believe it to be. ‘It’s enormously tempting to go for the quick fix that can transform us physically back into the women we were,’ says psychologist Dr Linda Papadopoulis, who specialises in body image. ‘But even if surgery does restore your pre-pregnancy body, you won’t immediately bounce back to being the same women psychologically and emotionally. When you’re a new mother you need to go through the transition to become a new person, someone whose priorities, values and lifestyle are radically different. Once you’ve had a baby you will become a different person, and it’s important to accept that,’

It’s hard to love your lady bumps when the world’s media is geared towards doing down women’s bodies. And watched svelte new mums like Heidi Klum and Geri Halliwell looking hot in a bikini within weeks of giving birth is enough to make any new mum hunt down the nearest cosmetic surgeon. And, worryingly, an increasing number of mums are slashing hard-earned savings on a plastic surgery.

When we did our ‘Body After Birth’ survey in 2005, the results spoke for themselves. Only three percent of mums were ‘happy with their body after birth’;93% were unhappy with their thighs’;86% ‘unhappy with their legs’; and 71% ‘unhappy with their breasts’.