Hair loss - is this normal?

[munchbunch]

Peculiar topic I know...I read that you are supposed to lose hair after the baby's born, but was doing pretty well until the last few weeks (dd is now 4 1/2m) when it's been dropping out all over the place. Aside from the usual clump in the hairbush, I'm moulting all over and I've managed to clog up the bath and even deposit the odd few strands in whatever I'm cooking (which adds the odd nutritional surprise to dh's meals!). It's rather a shame as I have fine hair and was rather enjoying it getting thicker in pregnancy. When will it stop?

It happened to me, and IIRC it is quite normal. Your hair doesn't fall out as much when you are pg, and you shed this 'retained' hair after you give birth. I can't remember when it stopped, but it did. Happened to all my hair as well!

My younger dd is 11 months old and my hair has only just settled down. Awful isn't it, checking the dinner for strands before you dish up. And I've also got a fine little fringe of new hair growing that looks a bit Henry V. Mmmm, very attractive...

munchbunch after both my two I lost way more than what you are "supposed" to lose. I felt like a chemotherapy patient both times (waking up in the morning with hair on the pillow etc). My loss started at about 4 months and lasted for 2 months. I thought I was going to be bald - in fact on some bits of my head I was.
Both times it has grown back, which in my opinion is worse than when it drops out. I have shoulder length hair with inch & a half bits sticking out all over the top of my head. I have to dry my hair curly, otherwise I look so ridiculous. The hairdresser who colours my hair thought I had burnt the hair with bleach or something and initially felt too embarrassed to mention it!!!
It took me two years to get it back to normal last time - only another 14 months to go!
Sorry, that probably hasn't cheered you up.

I thought I had got away with not losing my luscious pregnancy locks, but then it started falling out when ds was 4 months. I've also got that nice 'halo' effect of short spiky bits around the hair line. Had to get pregnant again to stop it falling out anymore, but it will probably be twice as bad this time.

Thanks all. My only consolation is that dh is losing his hair too (though he claims his barber says I'm imagining things and it's all there?!) and presumably his won't grow back...

Now that I come to think of it, dh's is falling out too (though lots of nice blonde bits growing back). She reminds me of my grandfather with the "curtain" of hair down the back of her neck adn a few strands behind each ear we have to comb across the top to look like there's something there! Maybe this baldness thing is catching...

Babster - LOL re dinner. I personally treat it as a treasure hunt for dh and see how many he can find. Oh my, dinnertimes are fun round our house!!

Don't worry munchbunch, i lost loads of hair with both of mine. More so with dd1, I lost that much I thought I was going bald, it started getting less and less by 5 months and stopped falling out as much when dd1 was about 7 months.

Mine came out in clumps every time I had a shower (very curly hair, the only time I ever comb it) for what seemed like months after I had ds. But it does stop in the end. I always thought ds looked a bit silly coated in odd bits of my hair which had dropped out, but he didn't seem to notice.

Mine started falling out when ds was 3-4 months old and the loss slowed down to normal when he was 10-11 months old. I too used to find it in the dinner, and everywhere else (dishwasher, sink, freezer ...). These days it's a bit tufty but it's starting to look a bit better (ds is 14 months now).

Munchbunch - I had hairloss from about 4 -10 months. It is horrible - I kept thinking I would get bald patches and was completely paranoid. My hairdresser said this is so normal and you are not actually losing as much as it seems. HTH

I, like you, thought I'd pretty much got away without the hair loss, but mine started coming out when DD hit 5 months. I used to leave hair balls in the shower etc I've got fine (fairly lank TBH) hair and really dreaded losing my pregnancy hair which was fantastic. I was left with a slight patch, which I'm assured looked far worse to me than it did to anyone else ! The loss normalised fairly abruptly within about 4 weeks and the 'patch' was invisible (even to me) within 2 or 3 weeks.

My DD was born a few weeks before The Beckhams had Romeo and I remember Heat magazine 'reporting' Posh's 'bald patch' (taking the piss more like). I'd been through it a couple of weeks previously and was incensed by that cover headline. I'm pretty sure that they had lots of angry letters from readers about that one.

Can't remember how long it lasted but I know with me it was longer than I expected. You're not losing any hair as such though remember just givng back that which you didn't loose when you were pregnant!

Thank God. I've been losing tons of hair over the last week. My dd is also 4.5months. I didn't lose any up until now. When I just run my fingers through my hair I end up with a handful. My dh is saying I've had it bleached too often and I thought he must be right. At least I know the real reason now!

The hair loss continues until around the 9th month or so, at least it did for me - it may have coincided with breastfeeding for me. The terrible thing was when it grew back, I had small sticky-uppy spikes all in the front and around my part. I couldn't keep them down, and I looked like a mad woman. People commented all the time - why did you cut your hair like that? As though I had done it intentionally! since your hair is fine, you shouldn't have this problem luckily.

I wish I'd lost hair while I was pregnant...instead it got thicker and thicker and thicker and frizzier and frizzier and frizzier until I had the most horrific "jewish afro" you have ever seen. My hair is shoulder length and I was minutes away from shaving it (luckily dh stopped me) And I got awful dandruff and itchy head to go with it. And to top it all off, my head and hair smelled musty from all the sweating from it being so thick.

Oh bugger. Was just feeling all smug that I didn't lose it this time...well, we're just coming up to 17 weeks!

Last time dp asked solicitously after the red setter dog which was clearly shedding everywhere. At least this time round instead of long red hair I have a very short crop of the stuff...

My hair has started coming back during the last couple of months - my ds is 9mths. I got my first grey hair just before I fell pregnant, but it was literally 1. Now that my hair is coming back after falling out, some of it is coming back grey - not very good for my self esteem. So, off to the hairdresser next week to have it all covered up.

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Why don't you make a sudden intake of breath while glancing at the top of DH's head, Bron (say when he's on the sofa and you're walking past) and then when he asks why say quickly 'oh, nothing', and wait for him to get all paranoid