Since most women get stretch marks when pregnant, I have a few questions for women who are/have been pregnant. Were you overweight before being pregnant? At what stage or month did you begin getting stretch marks? What did you do to alleviate the stretch marks?
Hmmm I was only maybe 10 lbs overweight before getting pregnant. But I never had stretchmarks even with my 2nd pregnancy and I was probably 30 lbs overweight then. Maybe however the reason why I didn't get them was because I would always put a good moisturizer on my belly and made sure I drank a LOT of water and ate right! Plus I didn't gain a lot during the pregnancies!
My baby was born about 4 months ago - No stretchmarks! I was not overweight when I became pregnant. I was VERY diligent about applying a rich lotion every morning, fresh out of the shower. When I thought of it, I did at night too. You don't need anything special - just get something with a nice rich emollient - preferable Cocoa Butter or Shea butter. You can get both at the drug store or supermarket. Also - I write more extensively about this topic on my site - have a look if you like...
I was not overweight at all and I did not develop any stretchmarks with either of my pregnancies. Nor did I use any special creams on my skin. Genes play a big part in this along with the elasticity of your skin. I did read somewhere that a person could also have low levels of collagen.
Yeah genes surely play a big role because I know morbidly obese women who don't have a single stretch mark, while their skinny friends may have a bunch of stretch marks. I think that it's totally unfair.
I was skinny, gained 24 lbs all up front. Two births 14 months apart. (I swear, I looked like one of those kids from feed the hungry!) ...
I have no stretchmarks, the skin is not quite as taunt as it used to be but no marks.
Why? ....Genes, yes but I also swear by keeping the skin moisturized (MotherCare Cocoa butter formula) and hydrated. Yes, I was a well oiled feed the hungry looking candidate.
Are you pregnant or just asking? If you are pregnant, I don't think you want to wait around and "see" if you have the kind-of genes that get stretch marks. I'm assuming you are trying to avoid them at all costs!. I've had five children ,all were over 9 1/2 lbs... my first child was 11 lbs and my last 12 lbs. (Yes, he came out looking like he could walk already.. but I like them that way...they don't look like they'll break if you breathe on them and if they loose a little birth weight the first week noone is nervous.) ANYWAY... back to your question. I would (and did) start applying Shea Butter (pure and natural is the best... you can get the finest that I know of at cloudninedowntown.com for a good price) when you first realize you are pregnant... I probably did not do it too often at first.. maybe three times a week... and then when I started to show (with the first child at about 4 1/2 months, with my fifth child about the first week!!! Things change).. I was applying nightly (belly, thighs, breasts, butt, hips) and when I was huge (I can not even express how HUGE I was), I was applying ever time I was in the bathroom... and if you've ever had a 12lb baby sitting on your bladder then you know that was quite often. Well, it paid off... after all that trauma to my skin, I have very few stretch marks and the ones I did get are very, very faint ... and after having a C-section with the 12 pounder, the shea butter really worked wonders on the scar. I'm glad I kept my skin elastic and supple. I didn't want to wait and see what kind of genes I had.
Kookie is right though,... water is so important for your skin and the baby.
Had a baby 10 months ago. No stretch marks. I used the BASQ of NYC belly oil. I applied it daily after shower and sometimes before going to bed. I can't guarantee that it was the oil that prevented the marks or whether it was genetics, but I wanted to do everything I could to mitigate strechmarks.
At what stage or month did you begin getting stretch marks? What did you do to alleviate the stretch marks?[/QUOTE]
I was not over weight when I got pregnant, but I gained 88 lbs (the first preg, not even half that with the others) my stretch marks were so bad it looked like somebody had cut me and I was bleeding. And I had alot of them all the way down to my knees, on my hips, my backside, belly, basically everywhere except my arms. DON'T SCRATCH!!!! That was my biggest mistake, with my 2nd and 3rd pregnancy, I would get an oven mitt and just rub my belly when it itched. I didn't see any stretch marks until I was about 5 months along. My oldest is 10 and now you can not really even see my stretch marks at all, I do not know what the name is but there is a lotion at family dollar, it is in a bottle that looks like the jergens natural glow bottle and I use that daily and I swear it helped!!!!
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