How to reduce c section overhang?

[firsttimepregnanthelp]

I had my baby 6.5 weeks ago and have had an amazing recovery from my c section- far better than what I had imagined. I still have an overhang and see a lot of people on insta selling courses for scar massage to reduce overhang - is this necessary or a con? I am otherwise slim (underweight atm actually). I asked a doctor and she said it is luck whether your overhang goes or not

I am 11 years after c-sec and still have the little pouch overhang thing but i am also riddled with stretch marks all over my stomach so i don’t think that helps 😂.
I found Nip n Fab cream helped a bit but i honestly gave up trying to get rid of it, it doesn’t bother me anymore.

It’s luck, your body has just done something amazing, 6 weeks is no time at all.

My son has just turned 29 and I still have my overhang. I was a size 8 before he was born, a size 10 afterwards, and mostly a 12 up to present day. Put on a fair bit of weight upon hitting 40, lost it all two years ago, now a size 10 and 8.5 stone - and the bloody overhang remained all the way through to present day.

It’s 3 things for you:

1. the skill of your surgeon
2. how well you rested/primed your body is to heal
3. At 6.5 weeks, there’s still a lot of swelling going on. I was puffy above my incision at that stage and now there is zero - it’s flat.

The first two points were said to me by a physio at my 6 week pp check up

"see a lot of people on insta selling courses for scar massage to reduce overhang - is this necessary or a con?"

Con.

It's a con. I think it's luck, I'm fat and didn't get an overhang or stretch marks, some who are slim do. At six weeks you won't really have an idea of how it's going to end up and there's still healing to do.

First c section I got no overhang. Second c section 20 years later and I got one. I had vaginal deliveries in-between the c sections. Like you I am a little underweight. 5.5 years on its improved but still there. Surgery is the only thing that will get rid of it.

I have a significant overhang from having a c section with my youngest. Was a size 16 after having him, then got down to a size 10, now back as a size 12. The overhang stayed pretty the same throughout!
I've given up worrying about it now - the c section got him here safely and that’s all I focus on! It’s worth the overhang for that ❤️ xxx

Thanks everyone, I guess there's nothing i can do but wait and see!

Firstly it’s been 6 weeks, give your self time to recover, you just made and birthed an entire human through major abdominal surgery. Give yourself some grace.

secondly if you could reduce the c section pouch with just a quick insta course, obviously everyone would be raving about it, you’d hear a lot about it, there would be no need for people to be complaining about theirs because just some massage would fix it.

So yes it’s a con. But see how you heal and then think about this in a few weeks or months if it’s still bothering you.

My very good but very arrogant surgeon said it is down to the skill of the surgeon. I got zero overhang from him.

At 6 weeks it is far too early to know if you will have an overhang. All you can do is wait and see.

Massaging scars can help with the stiffness of the scar tissue forming. But you don’t need a course. I couldn’t bear to touch mine but did use silicon gel to reduce scarring once the skin had healed.

Agree with this.

My physio (who was part of my package at the hospital I delivered at, so not financially motivated) told me, upon examination, to massage perpendicular to the scar on the side that the stitches were tied off - that’ll help with the tightness of the scar tissue.

I of course didn’t do it! But I don’t feel any asymmetry of movement or anything like that