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

[BalloonSlayer]

Post-pregnancy stomach is not necessarily the same as immediately post-natal stomach, which is what you appear to be talking about, Digestives. I would agree with you that the immediately post-natal stomach can be a distressing sight for the owner.

The OP appears to be talking about mothers with older babies as she writes: "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)" - suggesting she has been watching mothers and deciding she does not want to look like them.

Incidentally, my stomach is not bad at all, even when naked. I have had 3 DCs and have no stretchmarks. I think it is luck TBH.

[aries24]

DigestivesWithPhiladelphia well said

[ahopskipandafurryone]

My uterus went back into position all by itself within a few days because I was breastfeeding so not sure why anyone would need to bind their tummy for that to happen.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to look nice, but I find it slightly depresssing that rather than celebrate the fact that our bodies have just managed to create a new life, there is so much emphasis placed on aesthetics, getting back into pre-pregnancy shape and looking nice for our husbands/ partners as quickly as we can.

In the days following birth I loved my rounded deflated tummy, and saw it as a badge of honour for what I'd managed to achieve, possibly slightly influenced by having being in hospital for induction and being wildly envious of those that had already had their babies or it could have been the drugs.

Sure I didn't want to stay that way forever, but what is wrong with sensible eating and exercise to acheive this? So I have the same level of scepticism towards this as I do towards most quick fixes for our physical problems. They just pile on the pressure for instant perfection, which is generally a quest that ends in dissatisfaction and misery.

[opalescent]

Digestiveswithphiladelphia excellent post.
Some of the replies on this thread are unbearably patronising & 'Holier-than-thou'.
The OP is an adult, who does not need to be told that her perceptions of 'what is beautiful' are wrong, or that she is worrying about the wrong things, and that her focus should be on the health of her baby. Yawwwwn.
I am pregnant, and am worried about how my body will fare throughout. I am worried about adjusting to changes to my figure, and how this will make me feel with regards to my (completely loving and not at all superficial) partner.
I think that's pretty normal.
I do not consider myself to be a silly, image obsessed person, whose priorities are out of kilter.

[sammyleh]

aries I can see exactly where you're coming from, and funnily enough, my Nanna (70 years young) told me a similar method she practised when she had her children. She had 4 children and still has a lovely flat stomach.
Like you, I'd love to get back to my pre-pregnancy figure... I'm a bit of an extreme sports nut and do all kinds of active stuff which has in turn given me a pretty good bod which I'm proud to show off. Last thing I want to do is buy a new wardrobe and wetsuit - its expensive! I didn't find your post offensive at all, I was quite happy to read of another mum-to-be telling of how she's going to get back to fitness and flatness, its nice to hear that you're inspired to do so. I certainly am.

[sarahpip]

Here, here! Agree with last two posts - poor OP....

Seems there is quite a lot of anger in this thread - no need for some of the comments - it's like a playground full of mean girls - my cortisol levels feel sky high just from reading this thread - not good for a pregnant woman at all!!!

If the belly binding makes you feel better - and you want to give it a go - go for it. And for those that don't feel the need for a flat tum, or aren't interested in belly binding, well...don't go for it, and if you want to argue the case against, do it in an intellectual manner, rather than some of the quite horrid comments on here.

(tongue in cheek) - I'm actually amazed some of the more venomous posters here talked anyone into getting them pregnant in the first place!

I've said too much....

[PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot]

I love all this patronising talk of celebrating your body. Must remember to have a party for my piles next time

[PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot]

And ffs she is only going to wear a wrap. Not starve herself or start on crystal meth.

What's the worse that can happen apart from a sweaty crack?

This thread is bloody ridiculous.

[panicnotanymore]

This thread is hilarious. Let's just run through some of the 'acceptable' things we do here, obviously for ourselves, because heaven forbid we might be trying to look nice for anyone else:

Dying hair, plucking, waxing, threading, shaving, foundation, make up, weird elimination diets forgoing entire food groups like carbs/dairy/gluten, Trinny and Suzanna style spanx pants, sweating it out in the gym, sweating it out in the Sauna, fasting, detoxing, liquids diets, baby food diets, cabbage soup diets..... ???? All of a sudden a bit of belly binding seems quite innocuous.

[PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot]

What an absolutely horrible post blue moon. Disgusting.

[WoodlandHills]

Blue moon that post is awful :(

[exexe]

Bluemoon of course everyone hopes for a healthy baby but that doesn't stop people perusing buggies, thinking of colour schemes for nurseries, how they want to feed, how mauch maternity leave to take and yes how to get back into shape.

I'm ordering a ton of things for when my baby is here including a post pregnancy pilates dvd and that belly binder thing.
That doesn't mean that I don't worry every day about my baby. I get panicked because I think I haven't felt movement all afternoon. I've been stressed out because of a worry about toxoplasmosis and now I'm worried about GD.

You don't think thoughts in isolation of other thoughts!

[aries24]

You know screw some of you nasty women. A happy content person usually doesn't feel the need to be so judgemental and self serving, so whatevers making you unhappy don't take out your hormones and isecurities on me! So many of you have looked to deeply in what I 'might' of been saying! I don't resent women with flabby tummys it doesn't change their soul inside. So what if want to look sexy before I reach older age! And personally I don't want to influence my DD one day that is ok not care about your body! Your body is your temple and part of who you are! Self respect comes from the inside and the outside! As for DH! He deserves a sexy wife because he really is the best sweetest loyal man I've ever known. Really shame on all you haters and negative nancys, someone or something obviously has affected you in the past because the general human race can't be as ugly as that can it???

[DigestivesWithPhiladelphia]

BlueMoon - I am really sorry that you lost a baby and I am assuming that your anger is coming from that loss.

I was pointing out in my post, that it is unfair to say the OP isn't concerned for her own baby's health. Of course she is.

Women don't lose babies because their priorities are wrong (okay, we'll ignore the obvious examples for a second, such as drug addicts). It's something sad that happens and is usually completely out of our control.

Please don't take your anger out on a woman who is having a happy pregnancy and who is thinking about all the ways her life will be different afterwards. Again, I am sorry for your loss and sorry that you are upset.

[PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot]

I hadn't realised you lost a baby blue moon , I can understand why for you your only concern is a healthy pregnancy.

I am sure that for all if us here that are pregnant having a safe and heathly pregnancy is by far the most important thing, by millions of miles.

But we all have trivial thoughts.

It was the insinuation in your post that in some way the op should feel guilty if anything happened because she had given some thought to her post baby belly that I really didn't like.

[ahopskipandafurryone]

The thing is Aries women generally are under enormous amounts of pressure to bounce back from pregnancy to physical perfection as if nothing has happened, we're constantly bombarded with tales of how minor celebs loose their baby weight before they are out of hospital. it's exhausting and the perpetuation of this unrealistic ideal gets a lot of women's backs up.

Growing and giving birth to babies is pretty much the biggest physical challenge any of us will have to face, and at the end of that amazing process we're basically given the message that our bodies are no longer good enough and that our husband's will no longer fancy us unless we take action pretty quickly. Sorry but I just have one big fuck off to say to that attitude. I'm thankful for my bodies ability to have children, I look at DS in awe that I managed to create life. I also want to feel like taking a little time to physically recover isn't because I'm lazy or I've let myself go, it's because it's what my body needs from me.

Wanting to get back into good physical condition isn't a bad thing, but your initial post was factually incorrect, your preconceived ideas of the post pregnancy body are a little insulting and your notion that after you've going to the trouble of presenting him with a child your husband deserves a wife with a flat stomach quick smart should stay in Stepford where it belongs.

[PeshwariNaan]

Hm, sounds like fun. Not.

Don't know about the rest of you, but my tummy has never been 'flat' and somehow DH still found me attractive enough to impregnate...

[WoodlandHills]

ahopskipandafurryone

brilliant post

To the OP - sorry if you feel some posters (including maybe myself) have been a tad harsh. There is nothing wrong with wanting to look your best, but as others have said it was just the way you came across in your first post, your attitude seemed to be very much "pregnancy ruins your body" and "must look good for the DH or he won't fancy me now I have dared to have a baby" iyswim. which is quite insulting to many of us on this thread who have had dc.

FWIW when I was pregnant with my first DC, I was a bit like you, I was young, pretty, skinny, and quite scared of losing my looks and figure, because thats what we seemed to have drummed into us will happen when we have DC. But 6 years and 2 dcs on, I am (ok, erm, not quite as young lol) but I am still pretty, still slim, and yes, DH still fancies me. but the biggest thing of all I am far more accepting of myself and my body. And this is probably because it has achieved the biggest thing any woman can do - grow a baby and bring new life into the world. Yes I have a few stretchmarks, and my tummy is not quite as flat as it was at 25 before I first got PG, but you know what I don't care and I feel sexier than I ever did in my 20's for some reason!

BTW, I also remember 6 years ago being pregnant and shit scared of what would become of my figure, reading similar posts to this one and thinking, what bullshit :o ...but it isn't bullshit, and one day, god willing, you will look back in a few years, you will be a beautiful, proud mum and think, what was i thinking?

Hope this helps Op.x

[WoodlandHills]

Oh, and at the risk of sounding soppy / cheesy, I found that DH seemed to love and fancy me even MORE after I had given birth to his dc. I think many men often gain a whole new love and respect for their partners once they have had their children.

[PicklesThePottyMouthedParrot]

I honestly don't think her intention was to
Insult anyone.

And woodland has just shown that its perfectly possibly to query this without being awful about it.

She has come on here later on and said she dosent think that.

She is talking about her own stomach and her own relationship, not anyone else's.

Maybe people are taking this a bit too personally.

[Maria33]

I've got 3dcs and after the first 2 my body reovered pretty much fine. Third
pregnancy and delivery really screwed up my tummy and pelvic floor - nothing too major but I now have an irritating recurrence of urinary tract infections etc. Anyway, about a year ago I found an interesting research paper that suggested belly binding for about 3 months post partum, combined with a load of pelvic floor exercises and hundreds of quick fire pulling in of your navel towards your spine punches, most of which could be done while breastfeeding. This would help your core muscles recover and rebind efficiently.

Thing is, youngest dc is now 7 and I still feel like my body has not recovered fully from the final pregnancy. I'm fairly young and fit and want to stay fit and in good shape not because it's attractive but because I function better and with more energy when all my muscles are working at their most efficient. I now realise that a little more time spent on this post-partum would have yielded more effective results. The last thing I thought about immediately after giving birth was exercising but I wish that I had.

So my advice toy you OP (if you care :)) is, enjoy your babies, breastfeeding them and take time with them but ignore the naysayers and do look after your body (and that is a feminist issue). The last thing I worried about post partum was my body cos I thought that I should only worry about my babies. Now I wish I'd taken a little time for my wonderful but overly strained body to help it recover from the exertion of pregnancy and childbirth at the point in time where I could have helped myself heal most effectively.

I thought that it would be frivolous to get someone to hold the baby for ten/twenty mins a day so I could sort out my stomach but, now I think it would have been self loving and wise.

Look after yourself well and then you'll have plenty left to look after everyone else.

Good luck OP!

[Maria33]

Apologies for misplaced commas. Why do you always spot the errors immediately after posting?

[BlueMoon74]

:( Anger definitely from the loss. It was only a year ago and still feels like yesterday .I spend every single day of this pregnancy worrying and anxious. I feel guilty for buying things (I haven't bought hardly anything, but still) and honestly, yes, I'm probably jealous of women who haven't suffered this pain because you can enjoy your pregnancies! There are an awful lot of us on here who have suffered late losses, and reading posts like this honestly just make me shudder with how immaterial it all is!!!!

So sorry if I've offended anyone. I just honestly honestly believe now that it is shallow to be focusing on your own body image at a time when you should be celebrating the fact that you're creating life. Plenty of time afterwards to worry about that (if that's what you want to focus on, and that of course is entirely your choice :) ) I was far too blunt. I realise that. So sorry. I shouldn't have pushed it quite so far.

But that's why I think the OP is being shallow!

[BlueMoon74]

Oh. And I've asked for my post to be deleted in case anyone else is offended. I do listen to feedback!

Wishing everyone healthy and successful pregnancies. :)