post childbirth - have my feet got bigger?!

[margherita76]

I really don't know where else to post this but my shoes don't fit anymore. 7 weeks on there is no water retention - is this possible? Am I going mad?

I was a 5 before I had my dc, I'm a 6.5/7 now.

It's entirely normal!

Depressing eh :(

It's normal and v common. Mine are only half a size bigger but it's annoying. DD is 3.5 now.

Yes, mine went up from 6.5 to 7 or 7.5.

I had to get rid of nearly all my previous shoes. It's quite common but doesn't seem to be mentioned much in ante natal literature.

They were even bigger at the end with water retention, but by 7 weeks, I'd say welcome to your new shoe size!

It is because of Relaxin, the hormone that loosens your pelvic ligaments in preparation for labour. It also works on your other ligaments and as the increased weight of your pregnancy pushes down on you feet they splay apart a little and hey presto: bigger feet! (The guy in the running shoe shop told me that as my previously perfect running shoes started giving me blisters post-partum)

I found I couldn't get some of my heels on at all a few months after, two and half years on am back in most but not all of them but I wear about a half size bigger I'd say!

Oh I'd forgotten, but yes! this definitely happened to me. I have a few pairs of size 6 shoes I bought after dc2 was born, and now I have gone back to being size five again. It took a year or maybe even 18 months though.

Yes. I now have clown feet...Mama clown foot! I already had big feet..now they're just off the scale!

Yes. Total PITA IME. Mine are wider and about half a size bigger.

Never mind having to shell out for baby stuff and new clothes to fit a post baby figure then there's the expense of new shoes too. Thanks Mother Nature.

OK so I guess a shopping trip is in order! I'm really glad I bought those Marc Jacobs ( in the sale) shoes just before getting pregnant...The only time I have ever spent more than sixty quid on a pair of shoes...Not that I have the opportunity to wear such shoes these days.

And from what you are saying it doesn't adjust back once the relaxin goes ( though LAdy GAGA you say you did manage to squeeze back in ).

Mine did and they never went smaller even when back to same weight.

When I was 18 I lost lot of weight suddenly and my shoes were all to big and fell off.

yes, went from a 6 - 6.5/7.

I thought it was because I'd stopped wearing lovely frivolous shoes with heels to mumsy sensible ones causing my feet to spread

Yes, I was a 6 and am now generally a 7!!

Yep, I was a 5 now a 6. I put it down to the fact that I wore heels all the time before I got pregnant and wore flats ever since.

Pretty sure the additional weight bearing down on my feet didn't help! :)

I went up to a 9.
That's a bummer, I can tell you.

So I guess i have a whole load of shoes for the charity shop then.

slightly on a tangent - Deaddei my DD who is 7 wks already has massive feet (her father is a 6.3 giant with canoe shoes) Even though she is only a baby I can just tell she has huge feet and long legs. ( or can you tell when they are so little? - she is 97 percentile!) Doesn't size 9 feet mean you can always get shoes in your size / in the sales?

No, afraid it doesnt margherita76, having size 9 feet is rubbish. I am size 42, which I think is an 8 but lots of shops claim is a 9 and therefore do not stock. Prepreg I could squeeze into a 41 and so buy shoes everywhere. Now I am def 42 or even 43 its impossible. Even shops which stock them only get 1 pair in and then surprise surprise run out really quick. Camper does go up to 42, but only in certain styles which is totally annoying. Can you tell I am bitter about being made to feel I have abnormal feet?? [hsmile]

I know so many women with big feet, I can't believe that it is not worth it for shops to stock bigger shoes. It may be better by the time your DD is grown up though, surely shops can't afford to keep ignoring us for ever. New Look has just started to go up to a 9, and M&S do too, so maybe the tide is turning. Apparently Manolo Blahniks only go up to a 40 though.

i was a 4, and now am a 6! it means i cant buy kids shoes anymore (advantage being theyre non VAT so cheaper! good mainly for trainers) but it does mean i can fit into ballerina pumps which would slways slip off before!

i was in a dilemma whether to get rid of the old ones yet (oh, my lovely Rohan walking shoes ) but i guess from this im unlikely to shrink back....