improving stretch marks/toning up postnatally

[eeky]

ok, so I had a podgy but nice-skinned tum before children. With dd (18m old), tum was ok for most of pregnancy and I moisturised with pretty much anything rich, and some Bio-oil. I prob got a bit complacent towards end and a few large-ish stretch marks appeared at 38-39 weeks - bah! PG with ds soon after, moisturised even more and splashed out on mamma mio cream for tum and boobs throughout most of pg. Stretch marks didn't get much worse until last few weeks when was huge - no wonder - ds weighed in at 10lb 6oz! He's so adorable that I can't be that peeved.

He is now 6 weeks old, and although it's early days am trying to get back into some sort of shape. The bf just melted away the weight with dd and ended up less than before pg . I put on more weight with ds though so tum is still bigger than would like and has that lovely postnatal wobble! stretch marks considerably worse than after dd, although not horrendous. Bf fully and intend to do so till 6m at least.

Any tips for lotions/[potions which you have found work, or is it just a case of moisturising well and waiting for them to fade? Likewise any tips for toning up the tum specifically? Thanks.

[Mimi1977]

I did pilates from 6 weeks postnatally and it worked wonders - not only for my tummy but my pelvic floor and now not only just my tummy look almost like it did I don't wee myself when I sneeze!!

As for cream, I'm not sure. I too did the oil thing on my stomach and it worked (dd 9.9 so not quite as big as your ds but still big!). I did oil my boobs but to be honest all that went to pop after she was born because when you are BF the last thing you want is oil on your boobs and I didn't account for them swelling to epic proportions when my milk came in so they got stretch marks on. Having said that - now I can't see where it was so I guess it all fades and I'm not sure if anything really works.

[badietbuddy]

I really don't think creams work. The only thing that will improve them is time, unfortunately