Cardi B has opened up about her “different” postpartum experience following the birth of her third child.
In case you missed it, Cardi announced via Instagram on Sept. 12 that she and her estranged husband, Offset, recently welcomed their third baby.
The announcement post included a series of photos of Cardi, Offset, and their kids in the hospital. In the caption, the mom of three revealed the baby’s birthdate as Sept. 7, describing her new daughter as the “prettiest lil thing.”
Three days later, on Sept. 15, Cardi posted several videos on Instagram of herself enjoying “a late night gym session,” explaining on her story that she was getting back into her fitness routine by doing 30 minutes of cardio on the stair master.
The rapper made a point of saying that she hadn’t gotten back in the gym so soon after giving birth to her first two children, writing: “Remember ladies this is my third baby … with my other 2 babies I was still on bedrest on my first week.”
As Cardi has continued to update her followers on her postpartum workouts on social media, one fan on X raised concerns about “the pressure women in the industry are under” to return to exercise after having a baby.
“It’s barely been a week,” the fan commented on a repost of one of Cardi’s recent workout clips. “Yoh, the pressure women in the industry are under? Insane.”
This post has amassed over 62,000 likes, and yesterday, Cardi directly addressed the commentary, reiterating that her current postpartum mindset is “different” than her two previous experiences.
“This is my third baby and postpartum is a little different from my first two…I’m not doing heaving lifting, no muscle straining, squatting none of that… just cardio,” her response began. “Sometimes to avoid postpartum depression you gotta keep your mind busy and for me that’s work and staying active.”
This is my third baby and postpartum is a little different from my first two… I’m not doing heaving lifting, no muscle straining, squatting none of that… just cardio. Sometimes to avoid postpartum depression you gotta keep your mind busy and for me that’s work and staying… https://t.co/I6VFBsAxGO
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) September 16, 2024
Cardi also called out people who criticized her for gaining weight at the start of her pregnancy, writing: “Y’all dragged me down when I gained 15 pounds because I was 5 months pregnant but now yall fake concerned and wanna talk about pressure???”
The “Bodak Yellow” rapper closed out the post by emphasizing that the decision to get back in the gym is “personal” to her, particularly when people “are gonna have something to say” either way.
Shortly after, the user who wrote the original post replied to Cardi and said that they had only intended to comment on “society’s expectations of women and ‘snap back’ culture.” In response to this followup, Cardi wrote that she “was never the type to care about snap back after birth.”
Totally babe!! And I do agree about society and pressure…I just was never the type to care about snap back after birth. I don’t know what it is about this time around but I have this burst of energy where I want to do EVERYTHING… It’s like I want to complete all my goals in one… https://t.co/0NheAYu5kh
— Cardi B (@iamcardib) September 16, 2024
“I don’t know what it is about this time around but I have this burst of energy where I want to do EVERYTHING…,” she added. “It’s like I want to complete all my goals in one day.”
