A comment on the One Born Every Minute thread last night got me thinking about stretchmarks.
I have got stretchmarks on my thighs and bum from when I hit puberty. They are very pale and silvery now. I didn't put on a huge amount of weight in puberty, I was a very skinny teenager.
I have had three DCs, one of which was very large, and I did not get a single stretchmark.
I was 35, 37 and 43 when I had my DCs.
My question is - did I not get stretchmarks because I was an older mother? I am obviously a person who can and does get them, as at 16 I looked as if a cat had clawed my arse.
So could it be that you are more prone to getting them when you are young?
What's your experience? Come on, blow my theory out of the water, I can take it...
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Pregnancy
Can I ask you about your stretchmarks or lack thereof?
BalloonSlayer · 22/03/2011 12:37
I think its got to do with how quickly you balloon out. Slow stretching over time is much less likely to result in major stretchmarks than popping out suddenly. (says she who has no real idea)
I had no stretchmarks at all through pregnancy and I was very smug until 3 days after when I saw some in the mirror which had appeared as my stomach went down 
Mmmmm I wonder, your theory may not be crap 
.
I had three DCs in my early/mid twenties and with DD1 got shit loads. Got a few more with DD2, but none with DS. Had DD3 at 38, my stretch marks had faded significantly enough for me not to give a damn about them, but was concerned I may get more. But didn't. Not one single shiny stretch mark.
So, I'm with you on that.....let's see!
I think it is to do with age. I had both babies in my thirties and I have very few stretchmarks I put on a helluva lot of weight and didn't bother with creams because I don't believe they work. Still I would happily swap a few stretch marks for my old fat saggy belly that I am currently using as a coffee table/laptop desk.
I too have some on my thighs and bum (white, pale) from when I grew as a teenager - v. skinny kid to having T and A overnight
I am 38 weeks and I have a couple of weird marks around my belly button where I'd had it pierced and let the hole close up. Where the skin has stretched around that its quite purple and itchy but I'm assuming that'll go later.
I have SLATHERED on the palmers cocoa butter and an oil from ASDA mums range since I was about 10 weeks. It has helped witht he itching but my Dr told me its down to genetics. My mum has none.
I've always wondered about stretchmarks too.
I had loads as a teenager (puberty hit me hard and fast and then I discovered beer and no excercise ), mostly on my hips and boobs, and some on my inner thighs and inner arms; they are all faded and very silvery now, and don't bother me. I'm now pregnant with my third child; in my first pregnancy (aged 30) I had no stretchmarks at all and in my second pregnancy (aged 33) I thought I had none until about 3 weeks after DD arrived and I realised I had two small stretchmarks! So who knows what'll happen this time: DC3 will arrive when I'm 35.
I'd always assumed I'd get loads because of getting them as a teenager, and the fact that my mum and sister both got them.
oh and there was I thinking it was all to do with me taking my fish oils daily!:(
Yep, as a first time mum aged 40, no stretchmarks.
My mum had me at 23 - tons of stretchmarks, worsening with each subsequent pg.
My sister - tons of stretchmarks on her arms and thighs from getting fat quite suddenly in her late teens/early 20s - not sure if she acquired more when pg in her early 30s or not but she might not have been able to tell.
We all have similar skin too but I have a different diet to my sister and almost certainly to what my mum had when she was pg.
Well, it's not something I've ever "gloated" about so I don't think I'll go to hell for being smug over my "superior nutrition" in pg.
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LaWeasel- I know the old 'under boob/bump' trick, someone warned me about that, so I have been getting myself into all sorts of alarming positions with mirrors to make sure I still don't have any 'secret' stretchmarks- at the moment I'm all clear BUT I don't know how long that may last...fingers crossed!
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