Why doesn't anyone seem to get stretch marks?

[inky1991]

Hi there

I'm 28 weeks pregnant and noticed a stretch mark on my belly for the first time this morning. This obviously doesn't bode well for me, starting to get them this early on. I imagine they will only be getting more frequent and larger from now on 🙁.

I'll try not to moan about it too much, as I know it's a mark of motherhood and not the end of the world. The thing that bothers me is that I feel like hardly anyone else seems to get these? Social media is flooded with all these massive bare baby bumps, on tiny petite women without a single stretch mark? My friends who have had babies before me didn't get stretch marks either. They all share their lovely 8/9 month bump photos with me, showing their lovely smooth but stretched skin

Anyway I was just wondering if anyone else has noticed this? I read online that 90% of women get stretch marks during pregnancy, but this doesn't seem to be the case from my experience

If I'm starting to get stretch marks at 28 weeks, do I basically need to prepare myself for a tiger striped tummy?

I don’t think they are as common as what we are lead to believe. I never had them with my 4. But I did moisturise my tummy with coconut oil or Shea butter daily - which may have helped. Who knows.

I work in ultrasound, believe me - most people have stretch marks

I'm 38 weeks and have none but my mum didn't have any with her 3 pregnancies either, I think a lot of it is genetic. I haven't used any special creams or anything, just moisturising shower gel.
Plus a lot of the people you're seeing on social media will have edited their photos/ used filters. You can't trust that.

I didn’t have any with either pregnancy but neither did my mum or sisters. I do remember a midwife who examined me late on commenting how many women would be envious of me for that which makes me think most women they are have them. She seemed more surprised that I didn’t.

I think its genetics and how tall you are. I'm 5'1 and I'm mainly all legs, my torso is really short, I have many many stretch Mark's, from my pubic bone to above my belly button. Their really deep too. I've had 3 babies. My mum is slightly taller than me but has similar stretch marks to me.

My friend who is 5'7 has had 6 babies and has ONE single stretch mark 😅

My other friend is 5'5 and only has a few

Its took me years to "accept" my strecthmarkd and I do feel slightly bitter that "most" people seem to have gotten off lightly 😅

Do they? I’m on baby number 4 and don’t have any but nor does my mum who had 4 children. I only have 1 friend who has any but she had them prior to pregnancy and just got more during.

I think they're genetic and depend on your skin. I've never had a stretch mark in my life and didn't whilst pregnant but my best friend got them through puberty and also had loads on her belly during pregnancy. They've faded now though!

Some people get them, some people don’t.

I have had two pregnancies and I’ve been lucky enough to only have the one stretch mark. It’s on my boob.

I have about a million, so does my mum and so does my grandmother! Don't worry too much, they can look quite prominent at first but they do fade quite a lot over time. I

I've had 3 babies but got no stretch marks on my stomach at all. Funnily enough, I got them on my hips and thighs at puberty.
My skin is really dry too, so I totally expected to get them. My mum has them really deeply.

Don’t pay attention to social media. You’ve no idea what’s been done to those pictures before they were posted.
I never had them on my tummy but ended up with them on my boobs after breast feeding!

Every body is different. Me and my sibling are the same body shape (slim) and I have drier skin than her and I had bigger baby bumps. I didn’t get any stretch marks at all and she got a lot. No idea why, because I thought I would be more likely to get them than her 🤷‍♀️

Never believe social media - if they're famous their pictures are most likely filtered to buggery and photoshopped.

If it's your mates - maybe they're just lucky, maybe you're not seeing the whole picture. I only got stretch marks low down on my tummy, so wouldn't be visible unless I was pulling my knickers right down low.

They've completely faded four years later, not noticeable at all.

I never had any, though I was fat when I got pregnant, which I assumed may have contributed to not getting any. However the resulting child, once she got to puberty, developed loads, all over her thighs, back and stomach. Clearly just the luck of the draw.

Think it's genetic - me, mum, grandmother, aunt and cousin all didn't get any - in our family we say it's because we never had any stomach muscles to begin with 😂

I have a million! I had quite a large bump though so that might have contributed. I only had him 13 weeks ago so still very prominent, I don't mind if they never go away, I never wear bikinis and have a beautiful little boy because of them!

Yes, the majority do. They fade over time so whilst lots of people say they haven't got any - they have just faded

I've had 2 quite big babies and almost 2 years on I still look like I've been mauled by a tiger but it doesn't look 'bad' just different. I quite like them!

My lack of stretch marks with my 5 pregnancies is, apparently, because I have hypermobility. I didn't have particularly big bumps or babies, I'm long of torso so carried them inside, so to speak. I do have a few stretch marks on my thighs though, from my late teens.

I didn't have stretch marks until the 8th month and I woke up with hundreds of the things. I've only had 1 kid but my god I have them everywhere! I have a bad one that bleeds every now and again because the skin is so thin but other than that they're fine, they don't bother me. You just live with it but then you don't have a choice really.

Oh don’t worry I’ve been like an AA roadmap with all my pregnancies, they faded well after a few years though. I think most people do get them!

I don’t know how many women get them but if it’s just photos you’re seeing, they could have been altered.

I didn’t get any during my first pregnancy. On my second pregnancy I got one on my stomach at 41 weeks. 🙄 But I also got some on my thighs despite being a healthy weight pre pregnancy, only gaining 1.5 stone and not really seeming to put weight on any weight on my thighs. 🤷‍♀️ They faded really fast, much faster than those I got from growing as a teen.

All my friends apart from 1 got some stretch marks in their pregnancies and one of my friends daughters does baby scans and she says most women have them on their stomachs when they get scanned at 34/36 weeks.

I didn't get any at all, but I was by far the only person I knew of that didn't, it was a regular topic amongst my antenatal group and I felt really odd for not having any.

I’m covered in them from 1 pregnancy, like a tiger let loose whilst I slept! Ds is 9 now and they haven’t faded like they say they do. All lies! 🤣

Social media is so phoney, they are likely editing their pictures, most people I know with kids have stretch marks. All these celebs have none at all. Load of Bollocks.

Not necessarily true I'm 5 foot had 2 pregnancies first a multiple birth with twins and than a single pregnancy and I don't have any stretch marks.