Spanx/girdles - how soon after CS?

[schmalex]

I'm considering getting a girdle or just some regular tummy-sucking-in pants for after my ELCS in a couple of weeks. I'm not clear on whether it's ok to wear them straight away though. Do you start wearing them as soon as you go home to help support the scar, or do you need to wait until it's healed up?

Oh god I really wouldn't. You need to let your scar breathe a bit I think, all you'll do is get massively sweaty and develop a nice infection

Some women shrink back very quickly after birth, and some just take longer. No-one (reasonable) should be judging you about it. Really try not to sweat it. Your tummy will in it's own time shrink back, and with a bit off exercise (or luck) you can have a flat tummy again. In the short and medium term, focus on your delicious baby and don't worry about it. The celebrity flat tummy within days is bullshit.

Can I hi jack to ask how long it takes to lose tummy?2 weeks ? 6 weeks? Months? Does anyone in rl really ping back into shape? (baby 15 days old)

Hmmmm not sure I would until about 6 weeks maybe to let things breathe and settle down. Trying to think back to my emcs - think i just kept big knickers on (in fact still need to wear pants that cover my scar). In terms of bouncing back - i was pretty much back to normal by the time DD was 3 months by walking every day and cutting out crap. I put on a ton of weight when pregnant but completely lost appetite when I had DD.

Wearing spamx will be the last thing on your mind after having a major operation. Wear are the sanitary pads going to go?

Madeindevon there is no answer to your question! Every one is different. Depends on size of bump, weight gain, your natural ability to shed weight, how much exercise you do, whether it's a first or subsequent birth, how good your tummy muscles are etc etc. in my case it probably took at least 4 months and I breast fed and exercised well but didn't do target tummy exercise or diet (because I was bf and starving). 2 weeks is ridiculous - although there will always be a tiny % of people who will naturally be able to do this - or are celebrities who can hire someone to take care of their baby and someone else to personal train themselves into oblivion. Not recommended or realistic for anyone else.....

spanx and where - clearly.

I wouldn't TBH. I did wear some spanx-style pants to a wedding 4 weeks post ELCS and couldn't wait to get them off after a couple of hours.

The wound / scar / stomach will still be tender for sometime. I wore maternity jeans for a few weeks after both of my cs's. Normal jeans were agony as they rubbed the scar .

Like meglet, I wore spanx the other day, 5 weeks post cs and I've felt better wearing them at other times... It was ok, I suppose, but I wouldn't think about wearing them a) until you're comfortably back in your pre-pg clothes, as this generally means your scar is much less sore, and b) unless its for a few hours and an 'important' event (i.e. some sort of do where you're wearing an outfit that you really feel needs spanx)

I had to resort to magic knickers 7 weeks after my second EMCS in 18 months. It was my mums funeral and I had no time/inclination to go shopping (i am normally a size 20 so shopping is NOT fun even at the best of times)

I wore them all day but by 6pm I thought I'd have to call the doctor. When I undid my trousers and let myself breathe it was almost unbearable. It took weeks to feel better.

DON'T DO IT

Bit grim but all I could wear once the dressing came off was big cotton granny pants to let the wound breath. I think the wound would need to be totally healed before you did - maybe three weeks minimum before I could have even contemplated it!

Thanks for the replies folks - looks like I should be steering clear! Tbh it wasn't so much the look I was going for, I had read that wearing something tight helped to support the scar and make it more comfortable but it seems that isn't the case.

I have a good supply of M&S cotton granny pants so will be sticking with those!