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Women's health

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Original poster

How long after giving birth did your body feel back to ‘normal’?

47 replies

PretzelBite · 22/03/2023 18:58

just as the question says really. My hormones are still very up and down, I have no core strength, my vaginal walls still feel weak, I still have the odd bout of mastitis or soreness. I’m 5 months pp and hate still feeling like a stranger in my own body. When did you start to feel, rather than look, better in yourself? Tell me there’s light at the end of the tunnel!

OP posts:

Twizbe · 22/03/2023 19:46

5 months can be a bit of a wall with breastfeeding. It can start to feel a bit more physically demanding. The good news is that once weaning starts and they start to drop feeds it starts feeling easier again. It's only a few months on from then that you could be down to just 2 feeds a day.

On the rest, well, it took 9 months to grow them, sometimes it takes 9 months to go back.

For me, it was once I was done having children that I could focus on fully returning to a better physical condition than before birth.

Original poster

PretzelBite · 22/03/2023 19:47

Thanks everyone - it’s interesting to hear a range of responses.

OP posts:

Original poster

PretzelBite · 22/03/2023 19:48

@Twizbe very true, thank you. 2 feeds a day will be amazing!

OP posts:

HappyAsASandboy · 22/03/2023 19:49

Not yet for me. My kids are 12, 8 and 3.

I can still wear the jeans I had in my 20s, but without clothes on my body is a car crash. I have no muscle tone, saggy boobs, sore back/hips.

I am hoping for some magical improvement to hit me in time for some good years before I get "old" pain! I'm 44 now, so probably not much chance of that,

AudHvamm · 22/03/2023 19:50

@PretzelBite sleep was so important for me! I night weaned at 7 months and that meant I could trade full nights of sleep with my partner, that and exercising helped me restore.

Not long til your baby will be weaning and you'll be breastfeeding less as well. I hope sleep settles down again, you'll get there!

Plantmoretrees86 · 22/03/2023 19:51

I'm 8 months pp and I've felt noticeably better since about 6 months but I'm still lacking core strength and don't feel fully 'me' yet. I've heard a lot of people say about a year

badg3r · 22/03/2023 19:53

I had my first baby eight years ago and peed myself in the car park last week 😂 kegels are something that if I don't remember to do, I know about pretty badly. I do t think bodies ever go back after childbirth any more than they can after puberty or menopause. But with all my kids I felt like my body was mostly the same size and shape again after about a year.

Butternutscotch · 22/03/2023 19:57

Never :(
But I might be one of the unluckies

Aphrathestorm · 22/03/2023 20:01

Mines an adult.

I'll let you know...

Original poster

PretzelBite · 22/03/2023 20:06

@Butternutscotch @Aphrathestorm sorry to hear that ladies. In what kind of way if you don’t mind me asking?

OP posts:

Bumblenums · 22/03/2023 20:13

5 years - sleep deprivation and breast feeding didn't do anything for my figure, my youngest started school this year, stopped breast feeding and started sleeping through- I've lost a stone!

Dyslexicwonder · 22/03/2023 20:16

I was in best shape between my 2 children. I would say when DS was about 11 months.

Original poster

PretzelBite · 22/03/2023 20:18

@Bumblenums well done!👏

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Greensage · 22/03/2023 21:35

I felt myself again for about 90% around 9 months pp. That's when all the physical discomforts had gone. Felt 100% again around 2 y when I stopped breastfeeding.

CiaoBellisima · 22/03/2023 21:36

30 years and counting tbh.

leatherlovingluke · 22/03/2023 21:41

In all honesty, about 4 years after my second. 2 and half year age gap between mine so 6 and half years after giving birth to first. I struggled A LOT with how my body changed.

NotYourHolidayDick · 22/03/2023 21:42

I was back to sex and feeling 100% after 4 days from having my third. My first 2 at 18 and 21 also barely registered with me or my body.

But I refused to breast feed, and I'm ADHD as fuck so can't sit still. Im sure that helped! It's all down to luck.

You could be fine after days, could take years. Literally nobody can tell you.

thatsn0tmyname · 22/03/2023 21:43

9 years and still waiting....

CatchThatCat · 22/03/2023 21:47

I’m nearly a year on now and still numb round my C-section scar which I think I associate with trauma slightly still (had a cord prolapse ) but other than that and larger boobs from breastfeeding I feel back to normal .

Aphrathestorm · 23/03/2023 06:01

Stretch marks and overhang can only be corrected by surgery (and a scar).

Whatalovelypair · 23/03/2023 06:08

My vagina felt normal around 6 months mark and my body felt mine about 3 months after stopping breastfeeding.

stopbeeping · 23/03/2023 06:17

I've had three babies
1 term pregnancy
Felt better after 4 months for all three pregnancies but progressively longer to recover with each section

Last section I spent two weeks at home I was really sore

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