7 things that happen to your body postpartum
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Remember those days of pregnancy when you had the thickest hair of your life and everyone told you you glowed? Yeah, more over pregnancy skin and get ready for the postpartum changes. You’d think your days of dramatic body changes were over once you give birth but things are still shifting around. Here’s my top 7 changes I had no idea were coming before they happened.
7 ways your body continues to change postpartum
Hair: Goodbye sweet, sweet pregnancy hair blowing in the wind like you’re on a romance novel cover. All those lovely hormones that kept you from shredding your regular amount of hair during pregnancy are now winding down. With that you’ll likely notice you lose more hair than usual around 2-4 months postpartum. If you’re lucky, the process will be quick and painless. However, some mothers get bald patches. Yep. The good news is you should be back to normal by your child’s first birthday.
Breasts: You’ve probably noticed changes to your breasts in pregnancy such as your areolas growing and darkening and your breasts increasing size. Postpartum, it’s doubtful your old bras will fit as your breasts can go up a size or two and remain that way while breastfeeding. Good news about those areolas, though. The size will start getting closer to normal as will the shade. By the end of your breastfeeding journey, they should be relatively back to what you had pre-pregnancy. They typically remain a little darker overall.
Abdomen: Were did my abs go? Not that I had a very impressive set before my pregnancy but afterwards, wow did I miss them. After birth I couldn’t sit straight up in bed, get off the floor without crawling up furniture, or lift my baby easily from a low position. Along with being weak, many postpartum women experience diastasis recti where their abs are stretched apart during pregnancy. This causes the “mommy pooch” where the belly sticks out further than it would have. It can take special exercise or surgery to close the gap.
Stomach: Changes are good you’ll have stretchmarks after birth. If you’re one of the ones who doesn’t, you lucky duck you. Most women will have stretchmarks though their size and severity can differ widely. Many creams claim to help remove them but the truth is they’re there to stay and will lighten into a silvery colour on their own. You may also notice your stomach feels soft or flabby. There are a few reasons for this including the change in abdominal muscles, pregnancy weight gain, and hormones. But early on it’s also because the uterus hasn’t fully contracted yet which can take around 6 weeks.
Allergies: Ah-choo. Grab the tissues because your lovely little baby might have given you seasonal allergies. Yep you heard that right. Hormonal fluctuations can trigger an onset of allergies which is why many postpartum women report an issue during allergy season. Lovely.
Teeth: A few months into your postpartum months you may have tooth pain. Tooth sensitivity is a common postpartum problem and can sometimes cause severe pain. There are a few things that can contribute to this. You might find your dental hygiene has decreased postpartum. During the newborn phase there were days I couldn’t remember if I’d brushed my teeth or not. You’re probably not doing a stellar flossing job right now. You also might find yourself grinding your teeth more from stress. But the main reason is because those cute little leeches we created are sucking the nutrients they need right from our bones. So long as your breastfeeding, aching teeth might just be an ongoing reality.
Feet: Time to invest in a pair of good shoes. I went barefoot for much of my first few months and over time my feet started to hurt more and more. The extra weight from pregnancy that I hadn’t shed plus the 25 pound infant that was always in my arms was putting extra pressure on my feet. There are many things you can do to manage postpartum foot pain including getting orthotics, foot stretches, and heat therapy. The bottom line is be gentle to your feet and get shoes with supportive insoles.
Buckle up, mamas. You think everything goes back to normal post baby but in reality there’s a lot of new changes to get used to. But you can do it! The back pain or falling hair is all worth it when you have a bouncing baby in your arms.