Post section stomach - who else managed to lose the overhang post section?

[RedFraggle]

I have read so many people posting that they never lost the flabby tummy and that the overhang is permanent after a section. I cannot be the only person whio managed to lose it surely? It took my a little over a year but I did it...
Anyone else get a normal stomach afterwards? I'm not talking about a washboard, just a normal non-squidgy stomach!

No problem after first 2 babies in my twenties but am now over 40 and just had 4th and I think everything seems to have slowed down. The weight fell off whilst bfing the first two. Not dieting now because I'm feeding but I have cut all sorts out and no weight is going. Also finding it seriously hard to exercise with 34G boobs.

I didn't even get an overhang first time - I was only 31 and still had muscles, and also it was done in New York (I was living there at the time, didn't go specially) so possibly I received superior needlework.

All downhill after that though - after 4 my scar is pulledso far in I'd have a ledge however flat I was otherwise (which I'm not anyway )

I lost all the weight but I've still got the overhang, I walk loads and do yoga. It's annoying.
In the very far recess of my mind there's a conversation that goes 'You could have a tummy tuck....aahhhh no! no more abdominal surgery.....nasty horrid overhang....you could have a tummy tuck....etc'

Yes, I walk alot - have dog, so ds got pushed about in his buggy whether he liked it or not, still got overhang. at those people that have got rid of it.

Totaleclipse - I know what you mean. Ds spent 34 hrs not arriving then surgery for forceps trial rapidly moving to emergency section (consultant said he could tell I'd been pushing right as there was lots of room round head but obviously wasn't moving) - felt as though they were kneeding bread when being put back together again.

Is there anybody here who is overweight but still got rid of their overhang? I put my horrific overhang down to being about 2 stone overweight but I'm wondering if it would go even if I got back to a healthy BMI. In other words, I don't know whether diet or exercise is more important, or is it the mixture of both?

On a similar topic, do overhangs get worse with each subsequent section? I'm having a 2nd section in a few weeks time and am worried that the overhang will be twice as big as it was after DD1...

Tinkjon, I think that it is a combination of weightloss and exercise that made the difference for me. All the running helped me lose weight and also toned me up. I was also doing other execises like gentle weights etc too.
My overhang is actually not as bad second time around but i think that is because I didn't put on as much weight this last pregnancy.

Redfraggle, wish you lived by me so we could work off our post section tummies together! I'm running in the evenings too - though only twice a week at the mo

That would be great lilquidditchkel! I'm on the Wirral and will soon be dragging myself out and about for runs. I'm hoping to buy a treadmill when we move house so I can slot in runs between baby naps and toddler bedtimes.

I agree with Anchovy, pilates makes a difference. I mean 5 weeks of one session a week has made a huge difference. And lots of buggy pushing up a steep hill...

please remind me what pilates are.

It's difficult to describe, so have a look at this here

My post section tummy looks a lot better now that I have lost weight. It is still a bit flabby, cause I still have weight to lose, but no overhang.
I did notice a big difference once I started to exersize, for a while I did sit ups at least once a day.

boo hoo.
i walk every day, do yoga and mine hasn't shrunk a bit.
am about 2 stone overweight so assumed that was prob.
currently holding in stomach muscles. how long do I have to hold them in before i have a flat tummy?

I'm about 4 stone overweight but would still have the overhang if I lost it.

What about those knickers with control panel thing in the front? They would squidge it flat, wouldn't they? I saw an American woman who'd had sextuplets on one of those baby channels and she looked great in clothes, really slim and neat, but she kindly pushed down the control pants to give us a look at her belly and it really wasn't pretty

My scar gives me a big dent on one side. I think that the surgeon thought I was a lot skinnier than I am! I think having 2 sections in 16mths probably wasn't a great idea, and I don't think I will ever be flat again, because a couple of years ago I was very fit, did weight training and cycled for an hour and a half every day and I still bulged slightly on either side of the scar. dh says my tummy is mostly water retention, so I'm giving drinking a lot a go.

I tried those spanx pants recently as I was going out 6 weeks post-section and wanted to look vaguely normal rather than walking boobs and tummy. They did not do what I hoped for... and they were rather uncomfortable, thank god I didn't try to buy a size down as a friend suggested!

I never had an overhang and my tummy went down remarkably quickly. I knew the doctor who did my cs because I had been in hosp for 3 weeks, she said that she was going to do it the way she did in private hospitals rather than the nhs way and that would make my tummy look much better. She also told dh just before the op that her shift was over but as I was one of "her girls" and was relatively young and slim she didn't want to leave me to the mercy of some butcher !! (Don't know how she decided I was slim based on my pregnant state ). So my advice is next time go to the JR in Oxford and ask for Victoria!

Do you think an elective section scar is always going to be neater and have less overhang than an emergency section? Particularly, a REAL emergency where they have to go in super quick. Does it also just depend on skin type?

I lost all my baby weight and more after 2 sections. Lost my overhang.

Had bad scarring after 1st section, which was emergency. At my second (elective), I mentioned to obstetrician at the surgery and they took care to cut away the scar tissue and stitching me up. Still scarred (but that is probably the way I heal anyway) but less

I always wondered if it was worse having an emergency section where they are rushing to get the baby out.

In my case, it was a real rush to theater, prepare, GA... all within minutes. I realised afterwards that there was only a delay of about 6 or 7 mins between the decision to do a section and the birth of DS. I guess that the surgeon would not be worrying about possible scarring in that situation. Although that doesn't excuse the shoddy sewing afterwards, I looked like an experiment from a home ec class.

I had my tummy back to more or less normal 6-9 months after having an elective (by normal I mean pre-pregnancy normal, I do not mean flat, I am in my late 30's and will never have a flat stomach again ). But I did a lot of pilates before I got pregnant so this might have helped. Am now pregnant again (23 weeks) and hoping for VBAC as not sure I will be so lucky this time as have not done any stomach exercises between the two.

Mine hasn't gone.

In fact, I still look 5 months pregnant

Youngest baby is 11 months.

I haven't noticed any real difference between my crash section scar and my elective one. But I was told that my first scar was fantastic by all the doctors who saw it [proud look even though I had no input in it!] This one is very neat too. I guess it depends a lot on who sews you up...

never had one. But ehn my BMI is less than 30

Celebs have something called a Mummy tuck, along with their c-sections (a tummy tuck and lipo before they close you up again) so no need for them to do any excercise post c-section.