My body is ruined...

[CharlieBeanti]

9 days PP. Suffering greatly due to hormones and feeling very 'blue' so please bear with me and understand that I may not be speaking 100% sense/logically.

I loved my body before my baby. Washboard stomach, nice boobs, toned and confident. I now have a 'jelly belly' that I can't see ever looking nice again as it is covered in stretch marks. My boobs are huge, nipples look ridiculous and again covered in deep stretch marks. I have stretch marks on my bum and thighs. Cellulite popped up everywhere even though my weight gain was within normal/recommended. My hair is falling out already, I have piles, I have blotches and dark patches all over my skin.

I've gone from feeling incredibly beautiful as a pregnant woman, to feeling highly unattractive as a mother.

Please help. I feel like I'm spiralling from normal low mood after pregnancy to PND.

My body should be the last of my worries but I'm utterly sad about it...

Will I ever look okay again? Is it possible? Or will I always look like a stretch mark covered wobbly person?

Oh and to a PP re the sweats - I had never heard of them and was so disgusted! Mine lasted absolutely weeks it was awful 🤢

Gosh I had those night sweats too, used to wake up cold and soaked! Someone told me it was the milk hormones! Didn’t get them second time around though!

Your body is still healing from the birth. Give it time. I was surprised by how soft and wrinkly my tummy was after the birth, but I used a bamboo support belt (belly bandit) more to help with back pain than appearance. It held it all in and supported my muscles (slight separation) and after a couple of weeks it shrank back and firmed up, a lot of it is just fluid. The womb contracts back to its usual size and you shed the lining, but it's not instant.

When mine was about 4 months I joined a buggy fit class and baby yoga and walked everywhere with her in the sling, which helped me get it back.

Your hair will regrow, your stretch marks and pigmentation will fade. My nipples stayed dark and swollen for about 6 months then went back to normal.

Your body will change a lot in the next 6-12 months. Staying active and breastfeeding (if you can, I'm not biased as have done fully FF with first DC but breastfeeding don't half burn those calories!). And by staying active, I mean get out and talk your baby for nice long walks, I stayed pretty toned with first DC as didnt drive so had to walk everywhere. Get some clothes, finances permitting, that help you feel confident and stylish as a new mum. Accept your body as it is right now. Have a nice haircut if you can find the time as that is something easy to change but makes a big difference. And you're not just a body anyway, you're a glowing new mum with a lovely newborn, that is something beautiful in itself

Mine are teens but I can still remember looking at my post birth abdomen with horror. It deflated immediately the baby came out and was like a tragic, punctured ball. I could swing it from side to side.

But within a few weeks, it was flat and toned again and when I eventually stopped breast feeding, my veiny boobs went back to their formy perky selves, never quite as small again, but I still pass the pencil test at 48!

I don't buy into all that 'embrace the stretch marks' stuff. I cared about what my body looked like before, during and after. It will get better, OP.