belly wrapping! must share!

[aries24]

I'm 25weeks. Something I found out and must share for those who don't know. Having quite an attractive body, the thought of pregnancy has always scared me to the point of non excitment (although I adore children) because generally most women lose their flat tummys afterwards! And no amount of gyming and losing weight gets it exactly the way it was(I've seen this in many as work at a nursery school). So all my time I've just accepted this fact until I saw a friend of mine two months after the birth of her DD with an incredibly sexy flat tummy! She told me about belly wrapping! You wrap your tummy for 40 days night and day, very very tightly. It pushes the womb right back into place which doesn't happen naturally! And restores stretch marks by 50%!!!! Apparently its a very ancient practice in many cultures around the world!! Hope this helps for some of you's!! I can't wait to try it

[PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot]

Who said she's worried about it? To be fair if your into health & fitness and are young with a nice body whats the harm in trying something like this, if you think it's going to work?

People use stretch mark cream and things like that without being lambasted on here.

[PurplePidjin]

Aries, on mn most people believe that living to please a man is an out-moded concept that generations of women have fought, and are still fighting, against.

Forcing your body into a particular shape purely to be attractive to men is a huge part of this.

Obviously, eating well and exercising to stay healthy are A Good Thing. The difference is in the motivation, and sexual allure is a side effect as opposed to the entire point!

[RobinSparkles]

I'm sure that your DH will love your post pregnancy body Aries, after all, it will have grown and given birth to the most precious thing that he will ever have.

I do think that women put far too much pressure on themselves to lose their baby weight quickly, myself included but it's not healthy. We should be focusing on the wonderful thing that we have created and just be as healthy as we can.

[aries24]

Well excuse me if I want my DH to still look at my 'sexy' body than at some other sexy women in a mag or walking past! Some of you women are making me feel so despondent! Was only trying to help those of you who maybe had similar thoughts

[PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot]

These points are fair enough Aries make sure you don't put any pressure in yourself. Your body will change after having a baby but if your young and fit you should be fine.

You will be active anyway running around with a new baby!

[RobinSparkles]

There's nothing wrong with wanting to look your best! :)

[PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot]

You shouldn't have to worry about your dp looking at other women in mags etc though Aries. He should be looking at you and the new baby!

Hope this is for yourself, talk to him if you feel under pressure. You shouldn't do.

Don't feel despondent. Some comments here are trying to help.

[WoodlandHills]

And does she think that her sexy body (that her DH married ) won't change with age anyway? so even if the torture wrapping worked what's she going to do in the coming years when she starts ageing?

And what if she has to have a c/s and ends up with a scar? Or if she has a natural birth her vagina doesn't go back to the vagina she had pre DC?

I don't think binding your abdomen straight after birth would do any good at all anyway, I should imagine it would compress the uterus down too much and cause more bleeding. And the thought of doing it post c/s - ouch

I just think her OP comes across as very shallow and immature tbh.

[aries24]

Well I am in and from South Arica so maybe peoples perceptions are different here

[PurplePidjin]

But your body will still be sexy! It just won't look the same as before you produced the miracle of new life!

I'm 24 weeks today so a week behind you; there are enough terrifying things about being a parent for the first time without worrying about "keeping my man".

As i said in my first post, walking and swimming should be more than adequate to keep my health post partum. I see no need to add to the pressure I'm already putting myself under.

[kidcrayola]

Aries i'm with you on this one. I've always taken pride in my appearance and any extra help (along with exercise, eating healthy and breast feeding) that can help me get back to my original figure the better.
I've been doing a lot of reading on belly binding and have read a lot of positive posts on it including how it can give your back a lot of support and that t helps to repair your stomach muscles.
Also read coconut oil helps lots too!

[worriedwretch]

I agree, there isn't any thing wrong with wantin to look your best.


Depends on your motivation though doesn't it.

[panicnotanymore]

I bet lots of women on here will be going to quite a lot of effort to get back into their pre-pregnancy jeans. There is a whole industry devoted to pre and post natal personal training. It is not politically correct to admit to it though, and body wrapping is not acceptably western hence you will get slated.

I won't be trying myself, but I will be working on my health and fitness.

[worriedwretch]

WantinG*

[PurplePidjin]

Depends on your motivation though doesn't it.

Yes. I want to be fit and healthy to maximise my chances of a long life with dp and dc(s)

I want to fit into my post pg jeans because I'm too skint to afford new ones!

[PurplePidjin]

*pre pg jeans

[aries24]

panicnotanymore your right its not a westernized thing! But I'm from South africa and have seen it work, it really does! Obviously its not going to work if your body was out of shape before hand

[Chunkychicken]

I couldn't give a monkeys whether other people want to try this - afterall there are women that have worn corsets every day of their lives to get exceptionally narrow waists or had boob jobs or botox to 'maintain' their sexy bodies, which have never appealed to me at all.

Personally I find it a little sad that the miracle of childbearing is not appreciated for what it is and that worries about the post-partum body shape are at the forefront of any woman's mind during pregnancy.

But then my career doesn't directly relate to my body, nor does my love-life for that matter. Perhaps I would have a different perspective if it did?

[BalloonSlayer]

I had 3 CS and although I was advised to wear loose comfy clothing afterwards I found that slightly tighter clothing (like stuff I had worn at 4-5 months pregnant) was much more comfortable in the first couple of days after birth. Otherwise it felt like everything was all loose and flobbering about inside me. I suspect this is the same principle.

at "pushes the womb right back into place which doesn't happen naturally!" for two reasons:

a) Where does the womb go then? In your handbag? I seem to remember the MW visiting me at home and saying she could feel that my uterus had gone back to where it was meant to already.

b) That statement is an oxymoron. If the womb does not go right back into place naturally, then it is NATURAL for it to remain wherever it is it ended up.

[gardenpixies32]

As far as I am aware, having lived in Southern Africa for 22 years, African and Indian women in that part of Africa do not belly bind. Infact, I did not know any English or Afrikaans speaking women who belly bind either. It must be a new trend in SA now.

[PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot]

Chunky, you can appreciate the miracle of childbirth etc erc and still want to look nice you know.

Aries is only going to wrap her belly it's not going to prevent her looking after or appreciating her baby.

[sarahmia]

Don't understand why everyone has such an issue with this post.. Although possibly it should have been posted elsewhere. My friend lives in hong kong and it's routine for them to give you a corset type thing after birth to help your womb go back better? Quicker? Not sure. Or if you've had a section so that your scar heals quicker. She swears by it. Each to their own. Personally... Think I could wrap myself from head to foot and I don't think it would help my cake bum

[Badgerina]

So let me get this straight: body wrapping will make my uterus go back to its original place, thereby granting me a flat stomach? So it's not that my stomach muscles have been stretched by 9 months of needing to accommodate a growing baby? It's my uterus (which shrinks back to just over the size of my fist) that is to blame????

[20weeksandcounting]

What's the big deal - sounds interesting to me I'm on my fourth and my belly was bad enough before !

[Chunkychicken]

Yes Pickles but isn't the energy expended into worrying about the post-baby shape a waste of energy when you could focus on how your changing shape is the very epitome of womanly and that that in itself is sexy & beautiful??!!

I've had 3 thoughts since I posted;

1. isn't "flat stomach = sexy stomach" a very western concept?
   
2. doesn't binding actually prevent your stomach muscles (particularly the transverse abdominal muscles that work so hard in keeping us upright & get very stretched in pg) doing work? And if you're preventing them doing work then aren't you actually contributing to them being weaker? Surely sitting on a gym ball and/or doing gentle abdominal exercises will assist the muscles more?
   
   And 3) OP as a 'fitness type' why do you want a quick fix? Surely you enjoy the exercise you do, rather than the aim being just body beautiful? If you do enjoy the exercise, why not just spend your time at the gym post-baby working on gently exercising your abdominals and getting your figure into a healthy way? Breastfeeding would help your stomach return to 'normal' too.