Pictures of celebrity mums who have quickly lost their baby weight are pressuring Scots women into potentially dangerous diets.

A-list stars including Denise van Outen, Danni Minogue, Katie Holmes and Angelina Jolie have been photographed with flat tummies just weeks after giving birth.

And a new survey found that 57-per-cent of mums felt under huge pressure to follow suit, but were not being given enough healthy eating advice during or after pregnancy.

The Royal College of Midwives and Netmums poll showed 46.2 per cent of women felt they weighed more than they wanted or thought they were "overweight" while they were pregnant.

But 65 per cent said that midwives had been too busy to discuss weight issues during antenatal meetings.

The survey also revealed that women who are overweight are less likely to have a natural birth.

Sally Russell, co-founder of Newmums.com, said: "Most women do have a normal vaginal delivery, but it is a wake-up call to midwives to support women better throughout their pregnancy."

Gillian Smith, director of the UK board for RCM Scotland, said: "This isn't really about the baby - it's about the mum and her health.

"We need more training for midwives and all health professionals and more public health information that starts before pregnancy."