Four months post birth and belly still a mess

[Maryannberlwyn]

Aibu In thinking my belly isn't going to get much better. I don't mind stretch marks, the saggy skin and overhang I don't think will go away. Aibu?

It won't ever be like it was before. I've had to learn to accept my new stomach

I had c section and although I'm slim now have a small pouch that may not go down much.

We don’t all clamour for a CS @TheShellBeach. For most it’s a necessity.

After 2 c sections I doubt my overhang will ever disappear without some sort of surgery. The most annoying thing is I have to size up in jeans/trousers meaning they’re baggy everywhere else.

I had 9lb’ers who are now teens. I had a very flat stomach pre-pregnancy and no, it never goes back. Your skin stretches a huge amount when your belly grows, it stays that way. The only way to get rid of the skin is surgery.

No one ever warned me about the overhang! WTF…

Everybody is different. Mine does. Just takes time. As a personal rule of thumb I don’t even think about it while breastfeeding though. Your body often needs those fat stores for the baby.

I wouldn't have got pregnant if I hadn't known I could request a c section, due to crippling panic attacks. The overhang was a small price to pay.

OP hasn't said she has a CS.

So stop your nonsense.

Ok OP.

I'm 16 years PP for my youngest.

It's early days @Maryannberlwyn.

I have a flat stomach now.

My fanny is fucked, mind.

The OP didn’t say she’d had a c section.

and for most women who have a c section it saves their life; or the baby’s, or both.

OP it’s early days but remember you grew a whole new human, of course your skin and tummy are going to look different!

Ew, what a hateful, mean and judgemental comment. Women are not “clamouring” for c-sections. It’s just as misogynistic and untrue as comments about women “ruining” their vaginas with a vaginal delivery.

OP, I have had one of each kind of delivery (vaginal and CS) and at 4 months it was still way too early to tell what it would end up looking like. I was “all bump” with both pregnancies and had a massive bump all out front. At 4 months my belly was still soft, my skin like crepe paper and I had a slight “overhang”. I don’t know when exactly it happened but I just remember realising at 15 months that I had a flat tummy again. I was below my pre pregnancy weight at that point and had stopped breastfeeding. It takes time.

It took you 9 months to grow your baby and your body has been through a lot, so it takes even longer to recover (or at least it takes a long time for me!).

With my first 2, my belly went flat enough for me to be decently pleased with it by around 6 months, though still a bit lopsided and with stretch marks. Then I had a third, who weighed nearly 10lbs and was born with my waters intact until his shoulders were out, which put insane amounts of strain on my abdomen. Three years on, I’ve come to accept that I’ll never have my flat tummy again. I tell myself he was worth it though… most days.

I'm 2 years pp and my tummy has only just gone back to normal. I remember 1 year pp I just had a flab of skin and mush, my tummy area looked like a saggy focaccia. Now it's flat and even again, without me trying. At 4 months pp I still looked about 6 months pregnant!!! Please be kind to yourself, you're still so newly healing!

It doesn’t necessarily go back. Pregnancy fucked my stomach too. Then breastfeeding fucked my breasts. I wish I could go back to when my stomach was the only problem!

Oh yeah, my boobs are really weird now. Grateful for the flat stomach but my boobs look like balloons that someone let all the air out of. Went from a c cup pre pregnancy to a very floppy, droopy and wrinkly a cup (I'm being generous even with that). They look very sad now.

I'm going to stand up for post-feeding boobs.

Mine are OK! I BF DD for 3 years and DS for 2

It's still early days. I don't think my stomach went back to normal until about the year mark. It's not exactly as it was before, but pretty close.

I had natural birth and a c section my belly is now flat again. Takes time. Also I breastfed both my babies and my boobs went back to how they were before but they took like 2 years to go back. So hopefully with time they will op

Four months is still early days. Mine got better but it took longer. But it never went back to pre-pregnancy state.

…..and for some of us it saved ours lives!!!!

I had 2 natural and my stomach was back to normal about 10 days after. It's not like I had abs before but it was relatively flat. Really surprised me. My boobs didn't recover though and I only breastfeed for 12 and 9 weeks respectively. Everyone is different.

I think it completely depends. My stomach will never be the same again (I large pregnancy, vaginal birth). My son is almost 6 so it’s my normal now. It actually looks better when I have a bit of weight on me and worse when I’m slim.
My partner loves my body, my son is incredible so it is what it is.

Try not to stress, enjoy your baby and your body will either improve or you’ll grow to accept it.

lol no one has a c section for ease. Very few anyway. It’s because the alternative is impossible or traumatic at best.

It actually continues to get better over time. Mine was fine.

At 4 months I was a size up from pre pregnancy, stretch marks and overhang pretty severe, now at 8.5 months I’m back to my normal size (I actually weigh less than pre pregnancy but my shape is different!), stretch marks have significantly faded but still got an overhang. Have accepted it really, never had a flat stomach before anyway. I massage my scar and tummy most days and will keep doing so until the line fades, but not expecting the overhang to fully go.

It takes time OP.

My tummy is nearly flat again after a few years, a little softer than before pregnancies, but I like it.

Not everyone gets an overhang from a C-section. I had 2 ELCSs and no overhang. So it annoys me when it gets stated here as fact.

Dry body brushing before showering made the biggest difference to my skin.

Be kind to yourself.

P.s. My feet never returned to their previous size. Nothing I can do about that though 😂

I had an elective C-section and my stomach is as flat and unaffected as pre pregnancy.

I share this only to counter your snideness.