what, if anything are you using on your stomach to avoid stretchmarks?

[lizandlulu]

i need all the help i can get and was wondering what would eb the best thing? i have heard boi oil is very good, but it is more greasy than i would like and hope there is something as good as an alternative?

what are you ladies using?

Closing my eyes - It's a losing battle, if you've got skin that's susceptible to stretch marks, then you'll get them no matter HOW expensive a cream or oil you use. I am pg with dc4, and my stomach (TMI) looks like a road map. I used cocoa butter for my first 2 dc's, and Bio oil last time and this time. To no avail!

Honestly, I just don't look at my tummy any more!

i am a size 18-20 anyway so i do have them, but didnt get many new ones with dd! i just want to try and ward them off as best i can

anything i've got - aqueous cream and baby oil are nice and cheap so i can slap loads on. am 32 weeks so getting a bit tight and itchy so i sometimes put stuff on twice a day. i carried on using it after pregnancy as well, when skin was shrinking back. i didn't get too many but the bio oil seems to have really helped get red of the red marks - i saved it for after pregnancy. i can still see where the skin stretched but no red lines.

I hated the feeling of bio oil far too greasy.
I then opted for the expensive Mama mio cream but it's so highly fragranced it still makes me wretch.

I have happilly been using Palmers Cocoa butter with elastin, collagen and vitamin e from boots it only costs a fiver comes in a pump bottle and is practicaly fragrance free and is ceamy but non greasy at all..

I'm 29 weeks and not a stretch mark on my tummy yet.
I do have others on my thighs from a bout of rapid weiht gain when i first went on the pill years ago so very relieved they've not appreared on my tummy...yet.

Hope this helps.
x

I've been using the palmers stuff too, it smells lovely, really subtle. I'm 22 weeks and no marks yet... Fingers crossed! Basically, the principle is any moisturiser should help if you do it regularly as it will assist the skin as it stretches, but some creams are better at penetrating the deeper skin layers. I've heard bio oil is good too, but I didn't like the greasy feel either. Good luck :)

A cream called Derma Mum - it's like a nice moisturising cream rather than an oil. Used it when I was pregnant with DD and got a few small stretch marks, but nothing horrendous. So am using it again with this pregnancy! DH actually rather lovingly applies it to my tummy before we go to bed, so I reckon it's nice for me / him / the baby even if I end up with the stretch marks (no way of knowing whether it was the cream which prevented mega stretch marks before).

I used a cream and an oil called eucerin, but I'm not sure where you can get it in england. I'm totally prone to stretch marks and have them everywhere from puberty, but haven't got a single one on my tummy from being pregnant.

supersalstrawberry sounds like a good idea!!!

islandbaby we do have eucarin here but i dont know what from it is in, cream or oil? i think its cream and advertised as for dry/eczma prone skin.

the palmers cocoa butter sounds nice though

I think a few studies have shown that cream makes no difference. Sorry ladies. (speaking as one who won't be wearing a bikini again, for this and so many other reasons!)

i used bio oil- but a really small bit at a time after evry showe/wash. I am really prone to stretchmarks, but don't yet have any (38+6). Helps avoid some greasiness but feel like it has worked.

I used Palmers.

To be honest, stretch marks are damage deep down in the skin so putting creams or oils on the skin surface won't make a difference.

I used E45 moisturiser to help with the dryness/itchiness of the bump, and didn't get any stretchmarks... until 40 weeks

I use bio oil but only after a bath at night, it's too greasy for during the day so I just slap on anything I've got to hand. I'm 33 weeks and only one on each hip so far but under no illusions that this will be maintained so I'm going with Loudlass' method!

Suspect it's all down to your genes but I recently gave birth and avoided getting any stretch marks. I used bio oil but also found some website (sorry can't remember where) which talked about the importance ol diet and hydration and I followed their advice, using seeds and nuts in my food etc. Well I followed it until the third trimester when I lived on cake and chocolate.

I have used Clarins Tonic Body Treatment Oil - Firming/Toning during all 3 of my pregnancies and I don't have any stretchmarks as yet. I'm 29 weeks now.

Even though I agree with what others have said about it being down to the type of skin you have, I'm not risking it!

I rubbed Johnson's Baby Oil Gel in mine every morning whilst in the shower. Never got one stretch mark and its much cheaper than Bio Oil

An assistant in SpaceNK recommended buying liquid Vitamin E capsules at Boots - the ones you usually take orally - breaking them open, and applying the contents to any marks. No idea if it works as am only 7 weeks right now, but got to be worth a try!

I got 3 tiny silver ones right at the end, also a few tiny ones on muffin top area, so use cream there too. I used loads of bio oil at night, when I didn't mind the grease and cocoa butter/other stuff every morning. Towards the end also used oil in shower sometimes.

I would have raved about Biooil for most of my pregnancy as I was stretchmark free. Until week 38 when my bump just kinda split the skin all over. Serves me right for having had a belly button piercing when I was younger, and also for feeling smug. Still between those lines and my matching emergency c section scar just below, the impetus to exercise like mad to get a flat tum back is completely absent :) result.

Sanctuary do an oil called 'mum to be' which I used most of the time, it absorbs well and isn't too greasy, also used a Lush massage bar (forgotten what it's called but is for stretch marks) it's greasier though. Have managed to avoid stretchmarks in 2 pregnancies but have has small bumps both times so may have helped.

My mum and I have an ongoing battle over stretch marks - her trying to force me to smother myself in baby oil to prevent them and me going by advice given long ago by my biology teacher that nothing you put on the skin can make any difference. I suppose I'll have to wait it out and see!!

Sorry to say that if you are going to get them, then you will get them - it's down to your skin type.

Creams etc won't stop the stretch marks from forming.

However, Bio oil is excellent at reducing scaring and Palmer's Cocoa Butter is just a lovely cream and smells like cake .

I have also heard of olive oil being rubbed in