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AIBU?

You can tell if a women's had a baby by her stomach

132 replies

ishouldtryabiteachday · 28/05/2020 00:31

My friends wisdom you can tell a women's had a baby as they have a rounded tummy after. She declared this when I said I was pregnant last time and that she couldn't tell the difference as I always had a rounded tummy ( I'm a tall size 12 normally) Hmm Do you thinks it true ? And why are we all walking around looking 5 months pregnant permanently?

I've had some ab separation after two large babies personally.

OP posts:
Jashartsx · 28/05/2020 00:33

She sounds like she was just using it as an excuse to make a snide comment aimed at you. It’s nonsense

Destroyedpeople · 28/05/2020 00:35

Passive aggressive body shaming. There's a lot if it about.

AlCalavicci · 28/05/2020 00:35

If she saw mine she would think I have had 6 , rounded would be a polite term !

BaronessBomburst · 28/05/2020 00:41

She's talking total bollocks. I have two friends, both with two children, who are so waif-like that their bellies are practically concave.

Jobseeker19 · 28/05/2020 00:42

I have unfortunately and it seems no matter how slim I get that pouch is still there. I've seen people who only have one child not get it. But since I had my 2nd age 18, I've had it.

june2007 · 28/05/2020 00:43

Rubbish.

NameChange84 · 28/05/2020 00:43

Well I’m childless but thanks to a bowel condition my stomach can go from flat to 8 months pregnant in 10 minutes and does most days.

StillMedusa · 28/05/2020 00:44

Bullshit.
I've had 4.. and I'm 52. My stomach is flat... I'm lighter than I was before I had kids, and I don't work out (I do walk a lot tho..have a dog)

Granted my stomach wasn't great the first year after babies but after that it went back to normal. My muscles split too and I had 3 kids in 2 years 3 months so was constantly pregnant!

It's a mix of luck, diet and exercise I reckon. However I do have hideous stretchmarks!

Sorka · 28/05/2020 00:48

She’s just insulting you.

I don’t have kids but sometimes my stomach looks quite big and people have asked me if I’m pregnant, congratulated me or worse - asked me when I’m due.

EmeraldShamrock · 28/05/2020 00:49

Unless she is popping around lifting womens tops for evidence of stretch marks or ab separation otherwise how would she know. Ridiculous.

Evasmummy2019 · 28/05/2020 00:49

I just had my first. Put on 4st and I still look 4 months preg now. To be fair I always had a little tummy before. Your friend is a passive aggressive twat

EnthusiasmIsDisturbed · 28/05/2020 00:54

I think even when very slim there is often a difference in the shape of the tummy

Doesn’t mean you have a tummy or overweight

But your friend isn’t being nice

Chochito · 28/05/2020 00:54

There is a darker vertical line that appears after you've been pregnant, but you would only see it very close up.

But no you can't tell from seeing a stomach in clothes, even tight ones, or even in a bikini or naked if more than a metre away. Your friend is wrong.

EugenesAxe · 28/05/2020 01:01

No - I will say that I've observed a pot belly on women who are otherwise slim but have had a C-section, but this is not always the case. I also know of women with several children who are still absolutely flat as pancakes.

Possibly once you've got to menopause a woman who's had a baby would have more of a relaxation in the stomach area? Not a guarantee before then, and possibly not even at that point.

antisocialdistance · 28/05/2020 01:07

Probably quite a lot of women do have a bit more of a rounded tummy after having a baby but it's hardly a fail-safe test.

More to the point, you can tell a woman's not worth having as a friend when she makes insensitive comments about your body and passes it off as wisdom.

Alittleshortforaspacepooper · 28/05/2020 01:08

I looked about 5 months pregnant before I ever had kids 😄

I know women who are naturally very petite and skinny whose tummy area seems to look exactly the same after kids. I suppose they may have loads of stretch marks or be wearing control pants but I wouldn't know because I haven't lifted up their shirt to look. It's not really any of my business.

Your friend was being snide and is possibly a bit insecure.

TheVamoosh · 28/05/2020 01:15

Only for about four months, in my case. After that, breastfeeding makes me lose so much weight that it completely disappears along with my arse. (You can probably tell I've had children by how wrinkly the skin is, but that's another matter.)

SiaPR · 28/05/2020 01:24

My stomach was very flat before children and it went back that way straight after. I think it is age thing more because I was only in my 20s. My childless cousin had a much larger, rounder stomach than me (post menopausal)

metalkprettyoneday · 28/05/2020 01:34

I don’t think your friend is right . I thought my body would really change after pregnancy and was prepared but it seemed to just go back to normal . But only had one , and v late in life.
I have a very slim friend with a rounded stomach that people ask if she’s pregnant . She never had children.

EmeraldShamrock · 28/05/2020 01:36

I think all women including slim ones have a slightly round stomach once we pass teenage years, few years into menstruation the shape changes DC or not.
I've always been slim even pre DC with abs I had a small round pouch.

Bleepbloopblarp · 28/05/2020 01:36

There is a darker vertical line that appears after you've been pregnant, but you would only see it very close up

This usually only occurs in darker skinned women.

I was skinnier after my 1st & 2nd dc’s than before! After the last two things didn’t pop back the same!

And what about women with “rounded tummies” who haven’t had children? Plenty of chubby non-mothers about!

Electrical · 28/05/2020 01:37

I’m staunchly childfree and thanks to having the intestines from hell, look perpetually 6+months impregnated, it flares out from below my belly button, and I have no dangly crepey skin. I think for some women who have chosen to have a kid, depending on their skin/body type/muscles etc they have stretched skin, or fresh stretch marks or ripped apart muscles or the linea negra. I only know this because of stupid posts online of photos of those things. Does that woman go around staring at women’s guts all the time? Has she tried a better hobby?

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Electrical · 28/05/2020 01:39

(Also, I’m phenomenally greedy and piling weight on, just not the weight of a whole new person leeching off my body)

inmyshedsmoking2000 · 28/05/2020 01:40

You can always tell if a woman has had a baby by looking at her stomach. Wouldn't always say rounder but there's clear signs left after a woman grows a baby in there. Yup.

EmeraldShamrock · 28/05/2020 01:44

I got a dark line but it was a line of hair down my bump on my first. I have fair hair I was shocked thankfully it went, I had a line of dark hair under my nose too. Pregnancy does strange things to your body.

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