Am I the only one?

[SansaStark90]

Am I the only one who is covered in stretch marks? I’m almost four months pp, and it’s really getting me down. Really down. All I saw during pregnancy was photos of unblemished bumps. Friends telling me they had none and they’d be gutted if they had them. I even went for them Microneedling the other week and the beautician said they weren’t that common and shed had hers removed when she had a tummy tuck. I feel like the only woman who is ravaged by them. I walk around feeling that under my clothes I look a monster.

Pretty much every single person I know has stretchmarks. Your friends sound extremely unusual and a bit mean.

A lot of men I know have stretchmarks too!

It is a very common part of not only pregnancy but also puberty and human development. You can get them from gaining weight or going hardcore in the gym and getting muscles.

My friend is very slim and has never been pregnant but she has them on her hips and boobs.
I am very pale and have them on my tummy.

My friends who have been pregnant ALL have them to varying degrees. Some only have a couple, others have proper tiger stripes.

I have “proper” tiger stripes. Some as long as from belly button to the top of my lady parts. I think that’s why I’m so down. It’s not just a few. Nothing I can do about them as they are indented too. I think if everyone had them bad i wouldn’t feel alone. All I see are bumps or womens stomachs that are unblemished.

I swelled up with water retention. Got plenty from that. My stomach looks like a burst balloon that's been stuck up tree for three years.

stretch marks are completely normal!

i haven’t had a baby, but i have a lot of them on my hips from puberty.

every woman in my family who has given birth have stretch marks on their stomach. some have them on their legs and arms too.

i think stretch marks from pregnancy are beautiful!!

I have loads. They definitely fade a whole lot with time

I think the fading business doesn’t apply to me. They are like deep indented scars already. Immediately white. Someone said I was lucky for that as they can stay red but I don’t feel lucky. Any ideas how I can cheer myself up? I have such a low self image at the moment. I have even been considering a tummy tuck to chop them off even though my stomach has gone back flat

They fade so much! A combination of bio-oil and Palmers coconut butter lotion really improved my skin condition.

Mine went from looking very "angry" and red, all over my tummy to not being silvery and you can only see them in the right light.

But they don't bother me, they are just like freckles. Some people have them, some don't. It doesn't make us gross or disgusting.

And don't forget people use photoshop and body makeup, if you are referencing online photos.

Again, your friends sound very, very, very unusual of they have made it to adulthood and through pregnancy without any. I would be so skeptical of that.

Yeah I have them pretty much from the top to the bottom. They start way anice my belly button. And were deep and indented. They take much longer than 4 months to fade.

The child is now 21. They bothered me at first and now I don’t even think about them at all. They don’t bother me in the slightest. But they did at first. They are just part of me. Like the scar on my shin. Now they are very pale not as indented and they are just there. They aren’t disgusting. My stomach isn’t disgusting. It’s just my stomach.

Your friends sound like they are lacking in empathy. Who says things like that?

Really, they can get less indented? I’ve tried to find every cure I can for them but apparently bio oil has no scientific proof of working.

I don’t feel very lucky in the friends department. They made me feel ashamed and like the odd one out.

Everyone has know has them, even my teenage sons, in fact they're a badge of honour to them as it proves how fast their muscles have developed (or something!).

I'd worry less about your stretch marks, which, after all, are proof of what your amazing body did - grow another beautiful human being, and more about what shit friends you appear to have.

8 months pp here & covered from belly button to mid thigh. They're getting lighter, but it's obvious they're never going away. As time has gone on I've become less bothered by them.

Have you felt at all like no one else has them? All my friends had the professional bump photos taken and I couldn’t face it. I feel like my body image has really knocked me. That my partner must be disappointed in my body

oh yeah for sure! I've felt all the negatives and the feeling alone, the comparing to others, stood in front of the mirror with tears in my eyes, all that business. 4 months pp was when i finally think i started to feel somewhat normal again. pp is a long emotional rollercoaster that no one really warned me about. But it gets better and your mind gets clearer.

I used this cream after my second baby which helped me. https://www.naydaya.com/products/c-section-recovery-stretch-marks

I had a VD but had a few stretch marks after my second pregnancy that aren’t noticeable now. 1.5yr pp.

Same here! I'm about 3 1/2 months pp and I've still got them covering my entire lower stomach (so from belly button down!). I won't lie, I was gutted when I got them during pregnancy - they only appeared the last 2/3 weeks as well so I thought I had escaped the pesky things!

But as others say, they're already a little less raw compared to a few months ago and as more time goes on, I'm less bothered by them. I don't hide in front of the mirror either, I've started to admire them weirdly! As my baby gets bigger and is no longer a baby, I'll always have this strange reminder about what an incredible thing my body has done.

It does suck to see online these "perfect" bumps or flat stomachs 2 days after giving birth - I'm more worried about the stomach size rather than what's on it at the moment haha!! But remember, social media is a constant lie, and your friend doesn't sound much of a friend! Take it all with a pinch of salt - life is too short to hate the bodies we're in!

@DinoGD

life is too short to hate the bodies we're in!

Love this!

I have them, they look the same as you describe. I’ve got two DCs and got loads more the second time. I don’t have the kind of friends who do bump pictures though so not really given the stretch marks that much thought really.

Most people I know had stretch marks pre baby and then had even more added to their collection during pregnancy.
There’s a book by an author called Kate Claxton called my Mum’s a tiger. It’s a children’s book but is written so beautifully and teaches children about the importance of body positivity and it actually made me feel like I was normal too.

https://amzn.eu/d/j0TMpGK

I have stretch marks and I am proud of them, because I gave birth to the most incredible human being

I'm 3 months pp and have them on left boob (only lefty) and around bellybutton. I'm proud of them though. A forever reminder of where my beautiful baby came from (who's keeping me up at 5:30am reading MN).

I never knew bump photos were a thing ... no-one I know has had them. That sounds weird to me, and is definitely part of the problem here OP. Who knows makeup and editing has been done with those photos.

Yeah unfortunately they are a thing. Or the baby moons where my friends went away as there last hoorah before baby came. Photo dump of bumps completely perfect. I get that there’s bigger problems. But feeling bad about the body you are in has really affected me mentally. Really bad. I can’t look in the mirror anymore or I’ll just cry. My thoughts are taken up by how I can disguise the stretch marks or lessen their severity.

what treatments can you have that will make them better? Does silicone tape work?

Retired midwife here. In my experience, the vast majority of women have stretchmarks. It was rarer to care for a woman without any (some just had a few - breasts, abdo or thighs). Saying that, I don't have any but appreciate that is not the norm.

@SansaStark90 “Photo dump of bumps completely perfect” - have you come across airbrushing? No matter what they claim, the vast majority have stretch marks.

But do they just have very faint ones or like mine? Mine would take a hell of a lot of airbrushing! I don’t filter and edit my photos, maybe that’s why I always feel like the ugly friend, I don’t know