stretch marks

[sadia]

high everyone
this is not realted to atkins but it is a problem most women face with pregnacy and it satys with u forever
i want advice from all of you on how to avoid these stretch marks
i am 12 weekpreg and i feel very itchy in the breast area with my last pregnacy i scratched and have few marks on my breast that look really bad after delivery as they become dark lines ,but thnak God none on the tummy
but i don't want to have any this time
so help me out .
thnax

[GabrielleG]

I've heard that breaking a vitamin E tablet open and rubbing it into the skin helps. I've also heard cocoa butter works. I think the key is keeping the area moisterized. At the very least lotion the areas that are itchy.

[Meg_S]

I've heard a lot of things... nutrition, lotions, not getting big fast, as well as homones but I think it MAINLY boils down to individual genetics and how stretchable you are. For example, it seems like people with fair skin are more prone to stretch marks. In midwife circles I've heard them talk about how they can spot a woman who will tear in delivery by her pale skin, esp if she has red hair...they mentioned extensive stretch marks being an indicator too. Anyway.. the point of this is that I don't think there is anything you can do beyond keeping your nutrition as good as you can and using the usual stuff that's recommended.. cocoa butter, shea butter, vit. E oils .... etc. I know that afterward you can help your skin by dry drushing but am not very helpful when it comes to prevention. <sigh> I'm about to pop and have to say that I can barely look at my belly in the mirror at this point the stretchies are so bad.

[tigersue]

I'm not sure there is anything you can do about stretch marks. I have them, so I have to live with them. They do go more silvery later and don't stay the red they start with. Aside from what is suggested, and also mentioned about genetics and skin in general, I would think trying to avoid to rapid of a gain would be the best thing to do. I just happen to believe that all the so called "preventitive cures" are just a hoax, they might make the skin feel better and be more supple, but I don't think they can stop stretch marks. They are usually caused by the skin stretching faster than it can reproduce to the growth.
Tanya

[Meg_S]

I hate when people make you feel like it's your fault you have stretch marks. (lol, kind of like when people seem to think I should be ashamed for not having a tan. That mainly happend in NY rather than in Canada though) I got a lot of my original stretch marks even before adolescence and getting fat. I have a friend who's had 3 kids, not a mark in sight, and her abdominal skin looks as tight as anything you'd see on a teenager who has never chubby. According to her all you have to do is not gain weight quickly, or gain too much weight (ie: under 30-40lbs) and you'll never get them. My mother, who is close to the same age has never gained much weight with any of her 4 pregnancies and her stomach looked like a war was waged on it's surface when I was younger (and the last kid was still a baby). I think if you have them a big factor in how good they'll look is losing the excess weight so that they can become small and silver. Before preg I already had a lot on my belly (lower and around the bellybutton) but they didn't look bad because they were just silver lines. They did look bad before I had lost weight though and they were wide deep grooves.

[athensmom]

I think it has lots and lots to do with genetics and skin make up. I get tremendous with each pregnancy - from 127 to 180 the first time (53 pounds!!!) and had one 1/2 inch stretch mark on my hip. I got a couple more small ones during my next pregnancy on hip and chest. After three pregnancies - still none on the stomach. My sister and my mother don't have them either. I know lots who gained much less weight than I did who do have stretch marks.

There are two things that REALLY work after you have your child. The first is .01 percent (the strongest) Retin-A, used while still red. I used this after I quit nursing although some would say it is fine to use while nursing or even pregnant because so little is absorbed into the bloodstream. It made me too nervous to do that though. There have been several good medical studies on this and it does work by rebuilding collegan I think. It will vastly improve the looks of them but may not rid you of them completely.

Also, laser treatment works. This is much more expensive, though.

Or just live with them - I have discovered there are lots of things like this as we get older anyway!

[tigersue]

LOL Athensmom, Isn't it true that as we get older we just seem to accept more. I'm fairly lucky I suppose in the fact that showing my stomach to anyone other than my husband or the odd medical personel, I just don't fret about it. I will never do a bikini, or show my abs with short cut shirts. Just chalk it up to my religion. If my husband thinks I look good than I just can worry about it.
Tanya

[athensmom]

No bikini for me ever again either . . . I think even at my goal weight that would be yucky! For some reason I feel that as a 37 year old mom of 3 I should be relegated to a tankini - still stylish but more modest.

I didn't like myself in a bikini skinny before kids - it would be terrible now!

[Meg_S]

This is a little off topic.. but bikini's were mentioned. I don't go to the beach often, but last time I was visiting Germany (I live here now) I noticed something strange on the beach. It took me a while to figure out what looked so different and then it hit me! The men were wearing bathingsuits that ranged from somewhat form fitting to speedo! All of them! On an American beach you do not see anything of a man's leg past his knee.. or calf if he's younger because they wear these huge shorts. Another thing (more relevant to this thread) was the large number of bikini wearers.. and it was funny because it was all the normal people wearing bikinis..moms, chubbies, grandmothers....... the really fit hardbodied girls (for the most part) had on one piece sporty suits. I suppose they're more functional! :) Oh, and most kids were naked.
Not saying this what it's like everywhere.. but at least on the one beach I went to.

[tigersue]

Well my understanding of European beaches that just about fits. You never know what you are going to find. LOL