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Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Pregnancy

Putting on weight to avoid stretch marks

63 replies

RubieWoo · 22/05/2015 19:12

Has anyone tried this? I'm thinking about doing this, I'm almost 10 weeks and I know for sure I;m going to get terrible stretch marks.

OP posts:

Report

fortunately · 25/05/2015 16:49

I didn't have a single stretch mark. Put on about 14kg total.

No idea why I didn't - just genetics.

coneywonder · 25/05/2015 16:46

Oh godddd.

purplebiro · 23/05/2015 19:40

Even a small amount of gradual fat-based weight gain on the stomach will cause stretch marks if that's the way your skin responds to being stretched, sadly - I know this because when my dear mother asked me at about 20 weeks whether I had any stretch marks yet I had to shamefacedly tell her that I already had some before I was pregnant from a fun summer of booze and BBQs so it was hard to tell!! I have added to the collection in my third trimester without a shadow of a doubt but I would've been hard pressed to put that much weight on my stomach in advance anyway!!

Allstoppedup · 23/05/2015 14:59

Got through my entire pregnancy without them! Had a huge ginormous bump and am fairly skinny.

Two days after DS arrived, so did my stretchmarks...

Bleh.

Steph1502 · 23/05/2015 14:50

If you're gonna get them you're gonna get them. I used all the creams money could buy during my first pregnancy and I'm covered in them. However, I do think the less weight you gain during pregnancy can actually limit the amount you get.

sianihedgehog · 23/05/2015 12:53

I don't think it'll help, realistically. If you had gained and lost a shit load of weight before pregnancy so that you had great hanging sheets of extra skin maybe, but I don't think gaining weight deliberately in the first trimester will slow down the rate of stretching at the very end much at all. You'll be growing way bigger than you could get in the first trimester, and I think you'd really struggle to lose the fat you gained at the start, so you'd probably end up with even more stretching and even more stretch marks. A lot of women find that they aren't able to exercise as much as normal, especially later in pregnancy, so planning to stop your weight gain while still getting good nutrition is a plan doomed to fail.
If you've already got stretch marks from a growth spurt, you already know you're genetically susceptible, and you're really just going to have to embrace them, I suspect, because there is absolutely nothing that will prevent them.

D00dles · 23/05/2015 06:54

I'm a size 8-10. No stretch marks with my DD and currently 29 weeks with this one and none yet!

Roseybee10 · 23/05/2015 05:28

I put on 4 stone with first pregnancy and got loads.
Put on 1.5 stone with second and got none.

If you start eating lots now it's going to be very hard to stop. You also can't 'spot gain' weight. You could gain 10lbs and some go on your bum, legs, boobs etc.

Francescal88 · 22/05/2015 23:34

I started putting on weight when I was around 18 and went from 9 stone to 17.5 stone in 6 years. I obviously got stretch marks from putting on so much weight in so relatively little time but they've faded and are hardly noticeable now. Then I lost four stone in seven months, and fell pregnant a few months after that. I didn't get a single stretch mark during my pregnancy. I reckon because my skin had already stretched when I was super fat.

So you could always try that.

DarylDixonsDarlin · 22/05/2015 23:28

I had more stretch marks on breasts and thighs, from growing during puberty, than I gained on my tum during 3 whole pregnancies. Its purely down to luck and a genetic disposition to either get them or not, rather than anything you will have any control over. Sorry

CookPassBabtrigde · 22/05/2015 23:17

Oh and if it makes any difference a friend of mine used bio oil religiously and was still absolutely covered in stretch marks. They have faded now to a silvery colour and you honestly wouldn't notice them unless they were pointed out to you.

CookPassBabtrigde · 22/05/2015 23:10

I don't think it would work OP.. I think stretch marks are one of those things that if you're prone to them will happen regardless of what you do.
I gained 1 stone during pregnancy and DS was over half of that. My belly felt tight and huge but I have no stretch marks. But then, none of the women in my family got them - I think it mainly depends on the type of skin you have which unfortunately you can do nothing about.

applecore0317 · 22/05/2015 23:03

I am 39+2, haven't moisturised my stomach, was a size 6, have possibly put on over three stone in this pregnancy, mainly a massive bump and don't have one single stretch mark...

Some people get them, some don't

GuybrushThreepwoodMP · 22/05/2015 21:26

Of course you're not. But you may have to just make your peace with them.

fortunately · 22/05/2015 21:16

This board is bonkers

BatteryPoweredHen · 22/05/2015 21:15

If it makes OP feel better, then it's not been a waste of money.

Probably won't make any physical difference, if truth be told, but the psychological effect of feeling like you did everything you possibly could is very comforting IMO.

If you're going to try a cream, Trofolastin has some ok-ish placebo controlled evidence behind it, but again, I'd be pretty sceptical if I were you...

AndThisIsTrue · 22/05/2015 21:10

Sorry to tell you but I didn't get any stretch marks on my stomach when pregnant, I did however get them all over my hips thighs and even my calves all the way down to my ankles! I wouldn't waste your money on a band thing! There's no way of knowing if you will get them or not just try to enjoy your pregnancy!

Focusfocus · 22/05/2015 21:05

I am afraid your logic is absolutely illogical OP. it simply makes no sense.

Pregnancy weight gain is not fully in your control. You body will lay down fat for breastfeeding, your blood volume will massively increase, your uterus will be many times heavier, and the baby will grow very rapidly in the second and final trimester. All this action will happen irrespective of what you eat or not.

All this action will stretch your body and skin. If you are prone genetically then more so will your skin stretch visibly.

So first of all, your plan is flawed anyway. Secondly mathematical calculations of doing this now and doing that later will fall flat as it's not about the theory.

Drink loads of fluids mainly water, eat sensibly, and look after yourself. All the other plans, lotions and options will simply not make a difference.

Longtalljosie · 22/05/2015 21:03

Love - if you had stretch marks from growing, you'll probably get some anyway. Experiment with the best cream / oil you read the reviews for, sure - but that's as far as I'd go. What's a pregnancy band?

RubieWoo · 22/05/2015 20:59

I know that Guy, it's just the stretch marks I want to avoid as I already have some from my growth spurt and I hate them. I'm sure I'm not the only woman on earth to dislike my stretch marks.

OP posts:

GuybrushThreepwoodMP · 22/05/2015 20:43

I think you maybe should have a think about why it matters so much to you. So much if pregnancy and childbirth is inelegant. After you give birth, your stomach will look like an empty deflated balloon, your tits will be leaking and you will be bleeding for weeks. All these things are just part of having a baby.

BrockAuLit · 22/05/2015 20:25

I'm the first to admit to control freakery, but this is on a whole new level.

There are so, so many things that are going to happen to your body during pregnancy, childbirth and after, very few of which you will be able to control fully. Stretch marks are on the list (way down the bottom).

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lljkk · 22/05/2015 20:21

I have stretch marks all over my breasts & hips (luckily I have always liked them) from adolescence, growth spurts I guess.

None at all from 4 pregnancies. Really don't think you get much choice in the matter!!

RubieWoo · 22/05/2015 20:21

I'm no longer planning on doing this. I'm going to try the pregnancy band.

OP posts:

MummyPiggy87 · 22/05/2015 20:19

It won't work. I put on weight slowly during my young teens and got stretch marks, when I fell pregnant 6 years later I still got stretch marks but worse. Who cares if you get stretch marks anyway, I don't really give a toss what people think about my stomach, I had a baby!!

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