NZ-born professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd praised for post-baby body selfie

In an age where celebrities seem to effortlessly pop back into their pre-baby wardrobe in a mere matter of days, we can easily forget what's normal and what's not when it comes to our post-partum bodies.

So in an effort to remind other mums that it does take time for a woman's body to recover from pregnancy and birth, professional dancer Peta Murgatroyd posted a photo of herself eight days after welcoming her first child, Shai.

"Real life: I took this photo eight days post birth," the 30-year-old captioned the Instagram photo. "I left the hospital looking five months pregnant."

"Many people think a woman should shrink right back to her pre-birth weight immediately. That is just not the truth for most.

READ MORE:
* Hilaria Baldwin posts underwear selfie 24 hours after birth
* Jools Oliver hits back at post-baby body shamers
* Super-fit mum shares the truth about her post-baby body

"The female body is incredible and resilient, but healing and strengthening take time. Now it's time for patience and hard work.

"Lots of love to all the new mamas out there on the journey."

The photo, posted on January 16, has been liked almost 90,000 times.

And mums have been applauding the New Zealand-born star for sharing it.

"[Love] this! You are so real, thank you! I read once that it takes nine months for the baby to grow; nine months for your body to recover. After two kids I totally think it's true!" wrote one mum.

Another woman wrote, "Thank you for this post. There are so many expectations that I feel like I have to meet, from the amount of weight I should be gaining on this pregnancy to how big I look for the weeks that I am, to the 'you'll bounce back immediately' after birth. I always felt it was extremely unrealistic but unfortunately, we live in a filtered world where we only post the highlights of our lives, which gives people unrealistic expectations of what their lives should look like."

"You just became my favourite woman in the world," says another mum.

"Such an inspiration to see you show this reality. I was so uneducated and disappointed when I had my first child that I stopped taking photos of myself entirely.

"You should do a magazine shoot because so many women are lost in Hollywood's standards and truly believe they will look just as they did before getting pregnant when they walk out of the hospital."