Can you really have children and still look like a million dollars? Mother-of-two JO HAYWOOD sponges the gooey handprints off her creased trousers before finding out.

SHE is a doting mother, a loving wife and a high-flier with a successful career under her belt (brown, plaited leather, slung fashionably low over her designer hipster jeans).

She is an accomplished cook, putting on dinner parties at the drop of a hat and creating nutritionally enriching meals for her children every day, and can rustle up a fancy dress costume quicker than you can say 'clever sew-and-sew'.

She is a style role model, enjoys a weekly manicure, has hair that falls in glossy curtains to frame her perfectly made-up face, and has been waxed to within an inch of her life.

She is slim and fit, runs ten miles a day, does power yoga three times a week and takes her youngest for long walks at weekends in their Burberry three-wheel power buggy.

She is a yummy mummy... and she is ever so slightly irritating. But does she actually exist out of the plastic fantastic world of celebrity?

Shrink-to-fit mum-of-three Victoria Beckham managed to squeeze back into her trademark slinky jeans within five weeks of giving birth to her third son, Cruz.

Liz Hurley caused controversy when she lost four stone and was sporting size eight designer dresses just two months after her son Damian made his debut.

And sexy city girl Sarah Jessica Parker, who looked like she put on a total of three ounces during her pregnancy, went so far as to persuade shoe guru Manolo Blahnik to create specially-designed shoes for her with comfortable kitten heels.

Love them or loathe them, Renata Beman, a yummy mum-of-one who owns designer maternity wear shop Dona Renata in Back Swinegate, York, believes celebrity mums can have a positive influence.

"They show women they can still be fashionable while pregnant, and that it's okay to spend time on yourself," she said. "On the negative side, they don't reflect how most women feel after giving birth. Most of us feel a bit depressed and insecure while they are out at parties in their little dresses."

Renata started her own business when she was pregnant with her daughter, Renata ("People said name her after her grandmother or her aunt, but I said no, name her after her mother. It was very empowering") and couldn't find any fashionable clothes.

She had to go as far as Milan, New York and her home country Brazil to find stock until she decided to launch her own label.

"The top designers don't do maternity," she explained. "This is so short-sighted. They lose some of their best customers for nine months, and not all will come back."

Renata now has a healthy clientele who don't want to ditch their designer clothes just because they are pregnant - even if their husbands have other ideas.

"There is something about pregnancy that can bring out latent chauvinism in men," she said. "Women often lose confidence. They see something they would love to buy and their husband says 'no, no, you can't wear colours such as that in your condition'.

"Nonsense. Pregnant women should be made to feel beautiful, because they are."

Lucy Hjort, who is a member of the National Childbirth Trust and runs a Bumps & Babes group from her home in South Bank, York, believes celebrity yummy mummies set an unrealistic example for new mums.

"Victoria Beckham looks like she does after having three children because she has lots of money and lots of help," she said.

"The rest of us have to live in the real world."

While the rest of us lumber around in baggy tracksuit bottoms for a few months after giving birth, some celebs seem to snap back into shape with unnatural haste.

Gwyneth Paltrow was back in her favourite jeans within a month of having an Apple; Claudia Schiffer took two months; Kate Hudson and Helen Hunt slimmed down in four; and Sadie Frost took an almost slovenly (in celebrity terms) five months.

"Your whole body changes when you have a baby," said Lucy, who has two daughters, Amy and Sarah. "You should give yourself a good six months to get back into your jeans.

"Your pregnancy took nine months and if it takes nine months to get back to normal, that's fine."

Celebrities may be able to work out for hours a day with their personal trainer, while their nanny looks after the baby and their personal stylist gets their wardrobe into shape, but average mums should set themselves saner goals."Just getting out of the house every day is a worthwhile goal," said Lucy. "It helps you to get fit at a slow, comfortable pace and it can help to combat feelings of depression."

And if she could give one piece of advice to mummies, yummy or otherwise?

"Forget your stomach crunches and concentrate on your pelvic floor exercises," she said without a moment's hesitation.

"A flat tummy is a luxury, but a strong pelvic floor is a necessity."

Yummy York mummies...

...buy their maternity clothes from Dona Renata in Back Swinegate or Expecting in Gillygate

...buy their buggies from Mamas & Papas, Monks Cross

...buy their postnatal clothes from the McArthurGlen Designer Outlet, Naburn; Mango, Coney Street; Sarah Coggles, Low Petergate; and Topshop, Coney Street (if it's good enough for Kate Moss, it's good enough for them)

...buy their baby's clothes from Mamas & Papas, Mini Boden (mail order), Ice Blue, Petit Bateau and Vecopri, all at McArthurGlen

...lunch with other yummy mummies and their yummy tots at Meltons Too, Walmgate; Pizza Express, Museum Street; Slug & Lettuce, Back Swinegate and nearby La Tasca,

...yearn to be as yummy as Kate Moss (minus the dodgy boyfriend), Liz Hurley, Tess Daly, Sarah Jessica Parker, Liv Tyler and any or all of the following Kates, Beckinsale, Winslet, Hudson and Blanchett (all right, she's actually a Cate)

...would love to curl up with a yummy daddy such as David Beckham, Matthew Broderick, Jamie Redknapp or Jude Law.

Updated: 10:01 Tuesday, April 26, 2005