A WOMAN ON Instagram films herself placing her newborn baby into a grey bassinet. In another frame, she cradles his tiny body in a carrier wrap. He is raw to the world, with coral-coloured skin and tiny, curious fingers. It is a tender portrait of the fourth trimester, packaged neatly into a reel. I have seen many like it: new mothers cradling infants in red-lit rooms, or peeling the spaghetti straps of their stylish, leakproof camis from their tired shoulders as they prepare to feed their babies – Instagram advertisements for newborn sleep aids or maternity bralettes.

This advertisement was different. ‘Tired of yo-yoing with weight?’ the caption read (a cruel, tasteless hypothetical posed by medical weight-loss company Juniper). I traced the contours of this new mother’s body. I knew nothing of its wounds and lessons. Perhaps she had been lacerated along the bikini line. Perhaps the creases of her abdominal wall were soft to touch. Perhaps she laboured for hours while her breath caved in on itself.