When do stretch marks start and any recommendations for preventing them?

[Rhinestone]

I know you're supposed to moisturize but any top tips? I'm 12 weeks and none yet!

Ha ha ha! At 39 weeks when you've been moisturising for ages & thought you'd got away with it. That's when.

I got to 38 weeks when pregnant with ds, used bio oil and moisturising creams everyday and night and then got a few.

2 days post birth for me. I had none until my tummy shrank back.

I had none of the bloody things until a week before I gave birth, so all the tips I was smugly storing up to pass on proved themselves to be useless in the end!

[groin] at Tigress!

Grrr, grin not groin, sorry!

I escaped them (probably genetics though rather than the oil)! I used L'occitane almond oil. Lovely lovely stuff.

I slathered my bump with this I got no stretch marks whatsoever, but was it due to that? I'm not convinced.

However, I suspect it's down to luck/genetics and if you're going to get them you'll get them regardless of what you rub in.

Bio oil from the start gets ur skin nice n soft so it stretches easier i do have some but prone to them and am amazed i only have a few

The way to prevent stretch marks is to find out if you are genetically predisposed to them - did your Mum/Aunts/Nan get them?

And once you've found that out then if you are going to get them there's nothing you can do to stop it so you may as well not waste your money on expensive anti-stretch mark products.

And if you're not going to get them then you may as well not waste your money on expensive anti-stretch mark products.

Groin.

Whether or not you get stretchmarks is mostly genetic. And the reason people sometimes think they didn't get any until after the birth is generally that they couldn't see over the bump - stretchmarks on your 'southern hemisphere' are mercifully out of sight!

As for all these anti-stretchmark creams, dh summed it up perfectly "You may not be able to prevent stretchmarks, but you can have a lot of fun trying!"

I don't think it is genetic. My Mum had none. I thought I had none but after I gave birth i realised they were on the lower part of my abdomen :o I really don't mind them though. They do fade

sorry prettycandles I didn't see your post. That was me that was

I was v v v lucky last time and didn't get any, I gist moisturised once the skin started to stretch I.e when bump grew. I've heard bio oil and coco butter are meant to be good?

The stretchmarks are not in the skin, they are several layers below the skin. It's a different tissue entirely that breaks and makes the stretchmark. The moisturisers, creams and oils that people slather on do not penetrate the skin far enough or in great enough quantities to have any effect on the layer where the stretchmarks form.

I had none with my first, used bio oil and SBC collagen gel twice a day every day, No time for that when pregnant with my second and got quite a few.

I hope it makes no difference whether you moisturise or not, as I've not bothered. And I've not got any yet despite being about the size of a blue whale.

Stretch Mark creams are only useful after you have already got the damn things IMO. There is no escaping. You either get them or u don't. I seem to get them everywhere except my bump (hips bum boobs calves!) and was the same with DS.
Only good news is after 7 years my old ones are barely noticeable little White things so I'm practically a blank canvas for new ones this time round :)

I started a thread about this a while ago. I had my DCs when I was aged 35, 37 and 39 and I didn't get any even though I have the remains of them on my bum and thighs from teenage growth spurt (although I was a very skinny teen). We concluded that the older you were the less likely you seem to be to get them.

I dont think that is true baloonslayer majority of the young mums I know are out on beach in bikinis etc a couple of months after birth without them. I think its because often younger mums are very slim and stay very slim even after birth

Oh Molly, don't say that I was 23 when I found out I was pregnant, was a chub then, and I'm a chub now but escaped with only a few of the stretchy little bastards

I used bio oil and got none, but then my Mum had none either. I think it's genetics. MW did comment on how nice my bump smelt though

(Was not a slim or young Mum)

I think they necessarily stop the stretch marks, but the creams and oils do help with the itching you get across your bump.