stretch marks

[SAB]

I have had 3 children now and started to stretched on the first. now my youngest is 2 and a half my body is returning back to my normal size, this is really when I can see where all my stretch marks are. I can only agree that a tan helps but with age they do not look so purple. I am not sure what to do with them now tho as it does look a bit like a pensioners skin than a 28 years old women. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

SAB - My tum is exactly the same after having my 3. I've found that the skin looks even more wrinkled since I've lost weight as now I have less fat to pull the skin taut. I think the only thing that can help is a tummy tuck, but this is not an option for me (unless I win the lottery, and then I'd get my boobs and veins done aswell!!) I've just accepted that I'm never going to reveal my tum in public ever again (so no hope of a career in lap-dancing then!) and will never beable to get my belly button pierced, but it's a small price to pay for 3 lovely kids.

I was absolutely fine until the day I gave birth, then I got stretch marks right across the bottom of my belly. The ones at the side are visible if I ever wanted to wear a bikini too! Like Suzie I did all the moisturising, etc. But I was told that stretch marks are hereditary, so if your mother or sisters had them, chances are you will too.

They did look awful to begin with, very purply, but now they are fading and don't look too bad. I was never into bikinis anyway and my dh doesn't mind them. I see them as scars of childbirth that remind us what a bloody painful time it was and helps stop us from thinking of having any more!

Rhubarb! how unlucky. Bet you wished you'd given birth a day early. LOL
For some reason I got no stretch marks any where except my boobs.

Rhubarb, same with me! I ended up with stretchmarks all over my lower belly after delivery! I guess that bit hadn't been too stretched during preganancy but as ds made his way into the world he filled up spaces he hadn't before!

According to a dermatologist friend, nothing you put on topically has any effect on whether you get stretchmarks or not. Stretchmarks happen many layers below the surface! Unfortunately, you either get them or you don't....I got them!! (lower belly, hips and boobs! SIGH!!!)

I was pretty huge with number one but got no stretch marks, smaller with number two but got them on my lower belly.They were at their most red and angry looking in the weeks following the birth but did fade a lot by about six months - then I got pregnant again. Third time around I seem to have the same ones again!
My understanding is the same as what has been said. There is nothing you can do to prevent them. I try to be proud of mine.The rest of me is falling apart anyway !

Glad you said that Chelle, was v tempted to get some (more) cream that promises the earth for a measly £12 a shot, but if they really don't have an effect whats the point?
I have more dilemmas as dpp (dear possible partner) has actually seen baggy saggy marked tummy now and has not commented but HOW awful do I feel with it - my tummy has never been flat but at least it was rounded not saggy - urgh! I know I know I know that dd was worth it, of course she is, but it really does get me down sometimes, I can't just laugh it off. I feel superficial and stupid writing this but I've been in tears many a time looking in the mirror at the mess that is now my stomach. Been dying to write on this thread for ages but didn't want to show how pathetic I can really be sometimes to you all, sorry for ranting...

Oh Lizzer! You sounded so upset in your post I could have cried for you! Has your doctor no tips on how to regain a flat tum? I used to have a paranoia about my tiny boobs. Jo Brand once called skinny women's boobs fried eggs - and that's exactly what mine looked like! I used to wear baggy clothes to hide them. Then when I met dh he just made me feel so proud - he really boosted my confidence! I still think they are too small, but I know that my dh loves me small boobs and all, so what does it matter!

If your dpp didn't look at your tum in disgust, then chances are he doesn't give a monkeys about it, it's you he's fallen in love with, not your tum! I bet it's not as bad as you think, you probably see it with this biased mist over your eyes.

Sorry I can't offer you any more advice, but I hope this helps anyway.

Lizzer - I know what you mean, my tum gets me down too, and all the exercise in the world isn't going to improve the saggy skin. You're not being superficial at all because you're at the beginning of a new relationship and still feeling a bit vulnerable and unsure at the moment, but if dpp hasn't made a comment (not even one of those completely tactless ones that men make sometimes which they think is an attempt at humour) chances are he hasn't even noticed, or he has and isn't bothered by it - my dh assures me that men aren't bothered by such things when I moan about mine! I know that this won't make you feel any happier about it yourself, because it doesn't make me feel any happier about mine, but perhaps it shows that men aren't quite as shallow as we think and do love you for the person that you are. Good luck with dpp, sounds like things are going very well

I completely know what you mean, Lizzer. My belly never stood a chance- prone to dry skin and both boys together=16lb before placentas etc. Am so so grateful to have had healthy babies and I know babies are more important than bellies but I do feel utterly despairing when I inspect it too closely... it seems like it's not really part of my smooth(ish_ curvy (read podgy!) self. It is a seperate sacklike entity and I don't like it...
I like your response to Lizzer though, Rhubarb and I agree about the dpp.

Apparently, you get stretch marks when your tummy is lovely and firm (and young?) ie you haven't already stretched! That might be some consolation.

I'm quite fascinated with my baggy tummy - have you ever laid on your side at night, sucked your tummy in and then held the flesh - really bizarre! I don't think any amount of exercise or diet can really get rid of it.

Cried too over the lack of t**s after last breastfeed - it was a boy staring back at me in the mirror. However, I agree, I really don't think blokes are THAT bothered to be honest.

Thankyou, sorry just had to get it off my chest (rather saggy too, but that's another story ) Right enough of my misery, I'm doing a lighten up campaign round these parts for my sanity. Its spring, and though the north wind doth blow there are more things to get worked up about than rows on here and my blobby belly!! I have done the 'lying on side and suck in' thing - gross! I'm now going to look at it in a different way and try and sculpt a figure out of the excess skin - hey if its good I could enter it for the Turner prize...whatdya say???!!!

Phew, I think after reading this we're all in the same boat - sorry, but I don't think there's any miracle cures. I've certainly bored dh with the lie on my side and squidge what's left thing...
I've tried really hard to lose weight/inches and do tummy exercises but even 1kg from target I've still got the saggy bits from hell....
Only thing that I find camoflages it a bit is sitting on top and leaning slightly backwards, just off to practice

Ewww Twink! It took me a good five minutes to get that! Now I can't the image out my head!

boy, do I recognise my stomach here. You've got it to a tee. I've done the lying on my side in bed trick too.

CAn I just add a ray of hope, especially for Lizzer and anyone else with just the one baby. After the birth of my first son, my tummy slowly tightened up over the next FOUR years. Really. I remember thinking after one year 'is that it!' only to find that no, things improved millimetre by millinmetre over the next three years. OK, not a lot, but a little.

Once I have baby number two I was back to square one, of course.