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Childbirth

How long after childbirth did your post-partum belly go?

44 replies

joeschmoesmum · 12/01/2015 12:19

After a difficult pregnancy, I had a fantastic birth (painful, but short) and now have a wonderful little boy sleeping next to me. Beyond delighted, so please don't flame me for asking a "vain" question. I used to be a professional athlete (once upon a time about ten years ago) and still take care of my body and exercise. The pregnancy, which was tough, after 4 mcs, took its toll on my body and I am so happy to not be pregnant anymore.

However... when will I stop looking pregnant? I gave birth (vb) a week ago and I still look about 4-5 months pregnant. How long did it take you to lose the belly? I dont mean get back to pre-pg weight, I fully expect that to take a while, but how long before people stopped asking when babys due (iykwim)?

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Murphy29 · 12/01/2015 12:28

I gave birth on the Tuesday and was kept in hospital til the Friday so was wearing whatever my DH brought to hospital (this being the man who brought thongs when I asked for more undies Hmm) so mainly leggings but was in my pre-preg jeans on the Saturday.

However, DS was under 4lb and in SCBU so I prob wasn't that big

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BackforGood · 12/01/2015 12:28

Well, ds is 18 now, and I've never been the same as I was before having him (and his sisters)........

Without any exercising or dieting other than normally living my life, I think I was back wearing all clothes comfortably after about 10 months - a year.
It just didn't come onto my radar to specifically work on it - I had more important things to be doing.

I do think it comes as a shock to a lot of first time Mums that you aren't immediately 'as you were' once the baby is delivered Grin

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BananaToast · 12/01/2015 12:30

Watching this with interest. Can I also jump in and ask a second, related question? How pregnant did you still appear immediately after birth?

I'm currently 26 weeks and starting to think about hospital bag etc and wonder if clothes that fit me now are likely to be what I need for after the birth. Or will I be bigger?

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BiscuitsofYum · 12/01/2015 12:33

As a first time mum I fell for the 'you will fit into your pre-pregnancy clothes once you give birth', luckily I packed leggings for the hospital.

I think i read somewhere it takes 4 weeks for your womb to shrink back to it's original size, but you have to remember your muscles and that have been stretched so they will need work.

Ds is nearly 3 weeks now, and although it's not perfect my stomach was almost small enough to fit back into my jeans at around 2 weeks (it would help though if I didn't eat so many snacks though)

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squizita · 12/01/2015 12:36

My belly looks the same under clothes now - baby is 4 months. I am breastfeeding and carry her on public transport in a sling but no specific exercise.
However it still looks wrinkled and covered in red lines.
Friends and family say that can take longer to fade. And you can't exercise away skin marks.

Well done on overcoming recurrent miscarriage! It's important to allow yourself in retrospect she says to be normal ... vain, not guilty I'd you're not perfect super mum ... I think there can almost be survivor guilt after RAC and it can eat you up and Mar your wonderful newborn months. I remember feeling guilty about my mum holding dd so I could dye my hair ... as if I neglected her for my shallow ends! Silly. Mums are people! Grin

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HiawathaDidntBotherTooMuch · 12/01/2015 12:36

A good few months with each of the DC. Ds1 was 8 lb odd, and Ds2 was 9 lb odd. Both born at full term after EMCS.

A lot of it was bloating, and some of it was weight gain. But there was job way that I would have fit into my pre pregnancy clothes as early as some of the previous posters. I was wearing supportive pants for months, and bought new jeans and yoga pants to tide me over.

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OhMjh · 12/01/2015 13:40

For me? Instantly bar a little jiggly; as soon as my 8lb DD was born I has no bump, but then I was all baby and 5ft 2! I think it has a lot to do with genetics as my mum was the same with me, also a lot to do with how much other weight you put on and how you carry babies.

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TurquoiseDress · 12/01/2015 18:32

I recall that my tummy took longer than I expected!

I'm short & petite and was mostly "all bump" but the bump still seemed to be there a good few weeks later!

I mainly wore yoga pants or my maternity jeans (skinny fit, so comfortable!) for the first 3 months or so. "Fitted" into my normal skinny jeans after about a month but they weren't comfortable to wear ie do them up!

Note I didn't really do any exercise apart from walking around town and the park.

I was surprised at how long my post-partum belly hung around for.
From about 4 months I was comfortably back in my old jeans.
But I wasn't in a hurry to get back into them, surprisingly not that bothered.

Long winded way of answering maybe some of your question.

To be honest, I was surprised how long it took, despite not piling on too much weight.
Back to normal now- sort of flat tummy like I had before, but quite honestly I haven't done anything to merit one!

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Fleeceblankets · 12/01/2015 19:04

Belly went quickly - a few weeks at most, as did 'pregnancy weight'. I think a lot of it was retained water. I was also breastfeeding which helps shrink the womb more quickly.

I think if you are quite athletic and have good core muscles it all pops back quickly.

However! I gained huge amounts of weight around 6 months after pregnancy as I had stopped exercising (just no time and energy) plus I think breastfeeding doesn't help, as the hormonal changes made me gain weight more quickly.

So I think it's not just the post pregnancy thing but also the new lifestyle with DC which makes it difficult to exercise etc

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MuffinMcLay23 · 12/01/2015 20:14

Nothing is ever really exactly the same - not tummy or boobs. Bf-ing has wrecked my boobs - a small price to pay for the massive health benefits of bf-ing, but they definitely never recovered their previously very perky shape!

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squizita · 12/01/2015 20:18

muffin I have a friend who somehow ended up looking muscled and perkier than before. Shock Never worked out how. Know it's not surgery, I can only think she does a LOT of sports with her LO and must not have been sporty before.
Lucky thing!!

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Azquilith · 12/01/2015 20:18

I was horrified that I still looked 6 months pregnant post birth. Was flat (bar the extra pounds I'd put on) in 3 weeks.

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Hazelnut89 · 12/01/2015 20:27

I gave birth on 2nd January and was back in my pre-pregnancy jeans 6 days later. I don't have the stomach I had before but I haven't done any exercise other than a few walks. I can't do too much though as I had to have stitches and am rather bruised after a normal but very quick delivery!

I have found that we don't have the time to snack in the evenings like we used to and sometimes don't even have pudding as we are sorting out bottles for night feeds or feeding or changing or doing something else!

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GlitzAndGigglesx · 12/01/2015 20:34

It took me 4 days for the bump to go but over a year to shed the extra weight Grin. My sister gave birth yesterday and her stomach is as flat as a pancake!

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Sorehead · 12/01/2015 21:14

When the remainder of my waters went, my bump noticeably deflated, then after DS was delivered, it deflated to how it had been at around 15 weeks. This may sound nice, but my stomach scared me as I still had the same amount of skin as I'd had with my bump, and my belly button was like a cave!

Three months on and I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight and size but have no muscle tone whatsoever (and my belly button is still like a cave; I fear it may never get back to normal!)

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Mrscog · 12/01/2015 21:21

About 6 weeks to loose the pregnancy tummy then about another 4 months to lose the extra layer of fat (but I didn't put any effort in to lose it quickly, I'm sure it could have been gone sooner).

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clairemarie5 · 12/01/2015 22:42

It took about 2 weeks for my stomach to flatten out after birth.. I was slim beforehand so that probably helped a lot. Most people said they couldn't believe I'd just had a baby because I looked tiny, just lucky I guess! Even though it had gone flat the skin was looser and squishier that before pregnancy obviously. Apparently breastfeeding feeding helps a lot with loosing the tummy too..

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tobysmum77 · 13/01/2015 06:10

for me it was 2 weeks. I think that is much quicker than average though from looking round at other people.

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Stillwishihadabs · 13/01/2015 06:19

It depends.what you are.asking prepregnancy clothes- some by 2 weeks. Able to show my midriff without people running for.the hills- a year. In the best friends guide she says 9 months up, 9 months down which felt about right to me. Twas never quite.the same.tho.

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squizita · 13/01/2015 09:07

Sorehead I have the exact same giant belly button thing. However it is getting better. :) 4 months on its smaller (though still large to me!).

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purplemurple1 · 13/01/2015 10:47

I'm a bit weird I suppose as I was still in pre preg clothes at 7 months (although gained a lot from there onwards , 3.5 stone in total) and was then back in these straight after the birth (after my shower of course), and back to pre preg weight within a week or so (no idea how).

I was half a stone over the top end of healthy when I got preg though so no six pack to regain, and my pre preg clothes could already hide a little extra padding!

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JuniDD · 13/01/2015 17:03

I am 12 weeks pp and look like I did at five months. Straight after emcs I think I looked pretty much eight months! Starting to do some more walking but haven't lost any weight apart from the 1.5 stone I lost straightaway.

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joeschmoesmum · 13/01/2015 18:44

Thanks for all the replies - I guess the answer to the question is the same as 'how long is a piece of string?' It seems that for some it goes straight away (how can the uterus contract so quickly?) and for others it takes ages.

Mine seems to be shrinking steadily - I am down to looking about four months gone now, but with none of the firmness of a bump. A midwife friend told me that it takes about three weeks for the uterus to go back into the pelvis if you breastfeed. I can see that, belly going down steadily. Not worried about other weight- once I start running I expect it to go pretty quickly.

squizita thanks for the words of advice! it is very true that having been thigh recurrent miscarriage (and I know it's the same for friends conceiving after fertility treatment) it is all quite 'precious' and you feel like you have to be super mum and never complain/be so shallow as to worry about your belly.... I'm also a mum through adoption, and that's quite similar too.

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Sorehead · 13/01/2015 20:56

squizita- that's a relief! I thought I'd turned into a kangaroo because it seems almost big enough for DS to fit in and carry round well, slight exaggeration but it'd save money on a sling if it were true!

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McKitten84 · 13/01/2015 21:09

After around 3-4 months fitting in clothes one size up from pre pregnancy size, was a 12 went to 16 while pregnant. After 6 months back to a size 12, but due to stress of full time busy job and mummy duties I am now a 10 ( not a healthy way to lose weight I know), but I still have my little 'pouch' from the bump, which I don't think will go but I don't care!!!

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