“Belly Only Pregnancy” content on social media and in internet blogs: a qualitative analysis on its definition and potential risks and benefits

PURPOSE: Social media enlarge the impact of health and fitness trends on body image and lifestyle choices, also in birthing parents. A new and yet to investigate social media trend addressing expectant mothers is “Belly Only Pregnancy”. This qualitative study sought to define this new trend and clarify whether content related to this trend might disrupt body image or eating habits in expectant mothers. METHODS: Picture and text data were gathered on a key day by screening Instagram and blog posts including or linking #bellyonlypregnancy. The identified data were categorized applying qualitative content analysis using MAXQDA software version 2018. RESULTS: Three hundred and fifty-one Instagram and eight blog posts were included. Our qualitative analysis’ results indicated that the term “Belly Only Pregnancy” was used for describing: (1) The phenotype of an athletic woman whose abdominal size enlarges during pregnancy while not gaining excessive fat tissue. (2) An active lifestyle during pregnancy consisting of healthy nutrition and regular exercise pursuing goals like fast weight loss post-partum. Also, bodily, and mental gestational changes and the feasibility of this lifestyle were discussed. CONCLUSION: A “Belly Only Pregnancy” allegorizes an ideal body type for expecting mothers. Especially women with increased vulnerability for an eating disorder might be negatively affected by the consumption of content linked to this trend. However, the positive effects of a healthy diet and exercise should not be denied keeping into account the increasing prevalence of obesity and gestational diabetes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III: Evidence obtained from cohort or case-control analytic studies.