Stretchmarks: if you got them, when did they appear?

[naturelover]

And do you have any stretchmark avoidance tips?

Terribly shallow, I know...

2 days before birth

Thanks everyone.
I am probably doomed because I got loads during puberty. But I guess it won't do any harm to try various oils and creams. At least my skin will be nice and soft! And they will eventually fade to match my (pale) skin I suppose.

i have been using the following to help reduce mine:

emu oil
lavender oil
botanics serum
vitamin a oil
rosehip oil
botanics serum

they seem to be fading so something must be working!

whoops didn't mean to put serum on their twice!

Drinks lots of water, don't eat too much

I got maybe 1 with DS & about 10 with DD - they appeared in the final weeks

I am trying the Palmers scar serum to reduce them

i didnt get any with dd but with ds got couple of tiny ones which you cant realy see. started using bio oil today to see if they will fade as i can notice them.

If your going to get stretchmarks your going to get them and there isn't anything you can do about it. They are hereditary but also stretchmarks don't come from the surface of your skin. They come from broken tissue beneath your skin and work their way up if that makes any sense? Basically damaged tissue that almost kind of ruptures causing your skin to mark becasue it's being stretched so much.

Things like stretchmark creams are all a load of crap to be perfectly honest. Creams and oils can help to make your skin feel better, and to soften and moisten it too. They can also stop your skin feeling itchy, but they won't stop you getting any. I've found that coco butter cream is my personal fav, found baby oil too greasy. But the cream has made my skin nice and soft, smells lovely and does help with itching.

I managed to eascape stretchmarks for quite a while, was actually getting a little too smug about it obvioulsy. As at about 34 weeks they started to appear at the bottom of my bump and have now worked their way up to my bellybutton. They're horrible to look at, I keep getting told that they are not that bad but all I see is my lovely skin being taken over by these horrible purple things. They're like flippin cracks in a concreate floor, once they start they just don't stop.

Not long to go now, but I know that at 36+4 weeks there is still time for them to get worse.

I managed to escape them until 32 weeks, then I saw a small one lurking underneath my bump. I'm now almost 5 weeks and they are rapidly multiplying. It's depressing.....vain maybe, but depressing nontheless. I've been using bio oil, and they're not as dark as I think they might be if I wasn't using it, but then who knows?
This is my first and I've put on quite alot of weight as well. My mum never had them.

I got none until the last week. If only D had been a couple of weeks early...

I got mine after going to a Take That concert at 30 weeks. I insisted on demonstrating my repetoire of original TT dance routines and I think it was the jiggling that did it. Worth it though. And everytime I look at my wrinkly belly I remember my evening with Howard Donald

I thought I'd got away with it, and they bloody appeared in the last two weeks of my pregnancy (overdue grrrr!)

Don't think that you can really avoid them - if you are a complete pie eater they will be worse than they would have been if you weren't, but there is not much you can do to really avoid them. I got mine at about 38 weeks, but they were underbump and I still wear a bikini. Didn't get new ones with no. 2 - as had been pre-stretched by no.1.

I got a few with ds in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy, i used coco butter through pregnancy, i only got a couple more with dd & they came in the last 2 weeks.

I think I had stretch marks the instant I started getting boobs in my teens. I had so many already before I got pregnant that I didn't notice if they got worse! I was under the impression I was doomed by my genes but then again I dare say chocolate might have assisted I was told though that anything you put on the outside doesn't help - you need vitamin E oil capsules, (not sure if they are OK if pregnant so better check) Good luck!

with my pregnancy it was 16 weeks

Late on, not sure when ... late enough that I could only see them in the mirror, on the lower bump. The left hand side of the lower bump only, never did figure out if that was the result of DD's enormous head or if she was stretching her legs in there. She's three now and the marks are the same (pallid) shade as the rest of me. I'm in good company anyway, DH also has stretchmarks ... he was a powerlifter in his teens and twenties and has stretchmarks at the top of his biceps from building muscle, they're exactly like ladders in the flesh, really weird.

No stretchmarks until week 38. When they finally appeared, bright red and livid, I panicked and thought I had some sort of nasty infection. The midwife quietly put me right.

Nothing on my stomach but my breasts were completely covered with strechmarks when my milk came in. I went from a b cup to off the charts in a couple of hours. Ouch!

I only noticed them after the birth in their full glory! I think they appeared when i went overdue as they werent there the week before!

Got mine after the birth! Was so smug with everyone saying how big the bump was and how amazing it was i didn't have stretch marks-i thought it was weird as i'd had them from when i was young-growing quickly

Anyway i think my bump was so big and the skin was stretched so much that they didn't show!!! Bump was SOLID-midwife always had real trouble feeling baby.

9 months on they are fading a bit and i'm hoping a good dose of sun will help them along!!!

I feel it is hereditary I had none with six kids, mum had none nor her sisters or mother.

yep i was so proud of my lack of stretch marks all thru pg as i slathered myself in cocoa butter, but then they arrived after i gave birth - adding insult to an already knackered body! Have grown to love them though.. sort of.

I didn't have any. I massaged almond oil into my bump every night once I started to show. No idea if that did the trick or not but it was quite relaxing and used to calm DS down when he was kicking me to pieces.

all is not lost!

i got lots in puberty

but none in two pregs - even though i was massive - i think due to dh rubbing bio oil onto me every night bless him!! got through about 4 bottles each pregnancy and worth every penny