Shrinking celebrity mums

'I am so huge! It's unbelievable how quickly it all happened,' she reported on her website. 'All I did was eat three bagels every morning with butter, peanut butter and jelly all over them, a few boxes of donuts for lunch, then boom!'

However, Milla then wasted no time getting back into shape. Just eight weeks after the birth in November 2007, she was photographed looking close to her pre-baby weight.

Her secret? 'I've gone completely to the other extreme and am eating nothing but chicken, fish and veggies. More protein and less carbs seem to be working for me,' she explained.

The pressures on new mums in the real world are tough enough, without making us feel like failures because we don't snap back into shape in the blink of an eye. It's essential to lose the weight with a sensible diet. Heidi Klum, Naomi Watts and Victoria Beckham are just three of our star sisters happy to talk about regaining their pre-baby figures in record time.

But they're not so keen to admit to the behind-the-scenes help. Their figures are their fortunes so they will do whatever it takes, including hiring personal nutritionists and trainers.

Do we really believe that Myleene Klass, who gained over four stone, really didn't diet and work out like a banshee at the gym? Snapped at the BAFTAS, she looked whippet-thin. She insists that she slinked back into her pre-pregnancy jeans in a breathtaking three months, thanks to breastfeeding.

'It really helped with the weight loss,' she says. 'I wobble in different places now. But it doesn't bother me because it shows what I've been through.'

With all this diet talk, don't lose sight of the most precious thing of all: your newborn baby. Don't waste the time you two should be enjoying, stressing out over your lumps and bumps.

Keep in mind Davina McCall's mantra. The mum-of-three believes in the 'nine months on and nine months off' rule and her size 10 figure is a shining example of its success.