Once you have kids you can never look young again

[Peridotty]

I used to look really young for my age. People always thought i was in my early to mid twenties. Since having a baby I look and feel really old (but I’m happy being a mum and think it’s totally worth it. I’m also not vain at all). My baby is a terrible sleeper which could contribute to the tired look in my eyes. aibu to think that once you have kids you can never look ‘youthful’ again.

I was refused service for alcohol in my regular supermarket at 37... DCs weren't with me (7 & 5)

I was IDed for scissors at while heavily pregnant at 32 while waddling with SPD and feeling 82. DS1 was sitting in the trolley. I didn't feel young enough to fail challenge 21/ 25 whichever it was.

The disrupted sleep phase is rough, but it gets better. Decent diet and some exercise helps a lot

I had my first at 24 and my second at 27 and I still looked young. Knackered and usually a right bloody mess, but young! I had my third at 33 and visibly aged with that pregnancy, honestly that 9 months may as well have been 9 years for how much it aged my face.

(IMO)I look haggard and way older than I am a late forties, three kids, all with special needs. One of them has very challenging behaviour. It's aged and drained me mentally and physically. Bc (before children) I was also told I had youthful skin and looked so young. Not anymore. I can't even blame alcohol or smoking on my wrinkles or bags 😆

This is SO true!

It's just lack of sleep. Once you start getting proper, undistrupted sleep again, you'll get your looks back. Keep trying to eat well, stay hydrated and keep up a skin care routine and all will be well.

Sleep deprivation affects you so much more the older you are. I had my (only) child at 22 and bounced back quickly despite no sleep for several years.
If I had a child now (at 37) I'm sure I would look a lot older than I do as a bad night's sleep now makes me look awful the next day. I am regularly ID'd and told I look mid twenties at most.

I really think I've aged five years in the one year my daughter has been around! I used to look young for my age, now I look a bit older. For me it's the extra weight, not having time to do my hair and makeup (I am not a natural beauty!) and those bloody bags under my eyes that won't disappear no matter what I do!!

@Gastropod

I think it's just the tiredness. My face definitely looked older after I had my children, but it was the lack of sleep really. As soon as they got better at sleeping and I got proper sleep again, my skin tone, eyes/dark circles improved massively and I looked much younger again.

So don't really agree that you "never look young again". (Unless of course, you never did in the first place ;-))

It’s true of any stressful period. You look dreadful at the time and bounce back. The things that temporarily aged me were my finals and my parents dying. I was too young when I had my babies for it to make any difference - or perhaps I was too young to care.

I feel like the hair loss after childbirth as well has really aged me! My hair looks flatter now in photos and in certain lighting you can see a furrow in between my brows :-( my eyes are a bit droopier too. Coronavirus means that none of my parents or sister have even met my baby yet and she is almost 9 months old. My husband and I have been looking after her without a break from day 1. We are also probably not eating enough fruit and veg or doing enough exercise since the gyms are closed.

My childless younger sister is horrified that i have aged! She hasn’t seen me for more than a year. She thinks it’s simply a matter of getting a whole nights sleep (what does she know haha). Its so hard to describe the tiredness you feel once having a baby to someone who has never had a baby!

Keep trying to eat well, stay hydrated and keep up a skin care routine
Yeah but who has the energy? ::Finishes the toddler’s fish fingers, necks some wine and falls into bed without washing the paint/yoghurt/sticky paw prints from my face in the hope that I’ll collect enough pillow fluff to disguise the haggard crone I’ve become::

@Cam2020
**Keep trying to eat well, stay hydrated and keep up a skin care routine and all will be well.

Haha that’s what my childless sister tells me. I’m just so tired and I have no one to see during this period except for my husband that i can’t muster up the energy to.

Haggard is a good way to describe how I feel!

YABU. The sleepless baby stage doesn't last forever. You'll bounce back. How young you look for your age is mostly genetic imo. I've always looked a little bit younger than my age. I'm 50 and my dc are teenagers.

It wasn’t the baby years that did me in. I got married at 35 when dd was nearly 2 and I looked great. It was the juggling job, doctorate and childcare in my late 30s that fucking aged me!
I taking hope from PPs that it may not be permanent. But I think the line of quizzical woe on my forehead is there to stay...

There is an age when you start looking younger again! It’s when they start sleeping through the night properly, every night, say age 3/4. All my friends suddenly looked a few years younger lol

In my mid 30s I had my first and was invited to join the teenage mums pregnancy group. When my eldest was 1 I was invited to join the teenage mum and toddler group. When I had my last in my 40s I looked in my early 30s.

It was getting covid that aged me drastically.

Depends on your genes. I look really young for my age (still get asked for ID occasionally at 35) but it's thanks to my mum who is also ageless! And obviously she has kids lol, so can't be that. She also stays out of the sun and is tee total.