Crepe paper tummy - any hope of losing it ?

[didireallysaythat]

Ok, so I've got a crepe paper tummy. I had one after my first pregnancy and now 18 months after my second I've still got it (maybe it got better between, I really can't remember). My stomach muscles are returning, I'm almost back to my pre-pregnancy weight but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do to reduce the crepe paper effect. I've given up hope of ever wearing a bikini but it would be nice not to have a circle of wrinkles around my belly button.

So is there anything I can do ? Or should I just stop whining and start therapy ?

Bumping this! Please god tell there be something!

What about sit ups?

Sorry to say no, short of surgery. I have had the wrinkles around belly button since ds1 was born 9 years ago. But when I lost all the weight and toned up it looked a lot better. Don't think there is much hope for me this time though after my 3rd.

Mine has got a lot, lot better with time, and toning up.

I think Bio Oil has definitely improved mine and that was years after my last baby. Keep up with exercise as well though.

Mine's the same from weightloss, I'm using Rescue Oil as a cheaper alternative but no idea if it's doing any good. I'm just jumping on the thread in case someone has a miracle product recomendation!

it looks better when you tone up

but for most people, never really goes away IMO

sit ups, sit ups and more sit ups in my case

I'm not onto situps yet (6 months of physio to correct the damage I caused trying to do a situp before the muscles had moved close enough to each other - doh!), but my stomach is fairly flat now. I'm not sure if exercise is going to tighten up and flatten the corregated cardboard look around my belly button, but I'll start rubbing in every kind of oil I can lay my hands on and report back....

I was going to ask the same question, hoping for some success stories! I'm using clarins body tonic oil I bought with my boots points racked up buying all those nappies...

So on another line of thought, if I use magic oil/mama mio stuff (I think I have a ww coupon for something of theirs) if I stop using it do you think thte crepe paper goes back to the state it was in before you used it (if you see what I mean).

I don't mind forking out for a bottle of a miracle potion, but I'm less excited about having to use it for the rest of my life...

I know. I want everything. And I want it now...

I have the same problem and no, exercise, diet, creams, oils, nothing works. I am already naturally slight of build and underweight so don't want or need to lose any more weight! Doctor said the only solution is cosmetic surgery because the skin being overstretched is an irreversible change. If you managed to get your tummy flat looking despite the wrinkly appearance then that probably is the best you can achieve without surgery.

Yes it can leave a big scar. Some pictures here fyi : Before and After

crikey it does leave a big scar, think I'd rather have the stretch marks. Toning up does help, mine is very crepey though but I have just accepted that that's how it is now...

Gosh. I hadn't even given surgery a thought. It's more of a vanity thing for me, but it's not going to effect my life. If there's something I can do to make it look a little better, I'll give it a go but surgery isn't an option for me ! I guess I got a little puzzled when you see the photos of a celebrity 2 weeks after having given birth, lying on a beach in their bikini looking like nothing happened, and here I am, 18 months on with nice, dimpled tummy.

Actually, I think that's the picture I'm going to work on. I have a cute, dimpled tummy. I can't believe everyone doesn't want one....

Mine improved massively after 2 weeks sunbathing on the Costa brava last year.

Not being flippant, but I reckon the daily moisturising from my sun lotion and the sunshine on my pasty white belly really improved the appearance.

It's still like corduroy, but having a tan and lying very still on my back helps

I believe that having a tan and lying very still on my back may solve a lot of my issues. I'll get back to you on that !

IMO/IME filling it out a bit makes the wrinkly bits less noticable, what I mean is when ive lost a fair bit of weight its looked worse, when ive been a bit plumper it looks better.

The fat fills the wrinkles!

Im in my late 30s, ive had 3 children and id say it does get better over time, moisturise lots too as that will help with the general condition and smoothness of your skin.

anniemac I have been asked what happened to my stomach too but only once and that was the perpetrator - DC3 (the other two didnt leave a mark!)
I said "you". It seemed to satisfy his curiosity!

I know there is no real solution but using creams and oils that plump out the skin a bit is definitely better than dry and wrinkly.

Mine did get flatter with time and exercise. It took a year to 3 for me (with DC3 it took 3). I got the crepey tummy straight after the birth of DC1 and I've had 3, so yes am pretty sure it's here to stay. I have to say the ones who have commented about it have all been women so far. One was a midwife One was a childless friend (I'm sure that put her off having children), and another was a friend who had 2 boys already but still has a washboard tummy without anything done to it. My toddler son has an attachment to my tummy. It was and still is his comfort/substitute for the breast (after I weaned him off when he was about 2, to get a better night's sleep). As for the beach, I wear tankinis.

Yes sit ups and crunches can make it worse. Make sure the gap/diastasis recti is closed before commencing on exercise routines involving sit ups and/or crunches. The Tupler technique is good for closing up diastasis too.

A gap of about 1 finger wide is normal apparently. I did the Tupler technique for about 8 months post pregnancy and reduced the gap in mine to a finger and a half and it does seem as if that's the most it'll go, and its good enough for me. There are health benefits, not just cosmetic, when the gap is closed. For example, I have a stronger back now and no longer plagued by back pain as I did when the gap was still wide. Also I noticed a reduction in flatulence and IBS type symptoms. I've lost some of the flab around my tummy so it looks pretty flat now (posture too makes a huge difference in how big the tummy looks. A sway-back posture actually makes the tum look bigger.)