Does everyone get jelly belly post baby?

[Joyzerelly]

A girl at work has just showed me her post baby tummy (her boys are now 5 and 3) which she said appeared after her first baby. She's really slim and has a really toned tummy underneath but the loose skin on top looks like kneaded bread dough... Her doctor has told her the only way to get rid of it is a tummy tuck(!) Which costs thousands.
Does everyone get this jelly/dough belly? Or is it genetic? Does it depend on other factors in your pregnancy?
I hate to be vain but I am, I don't want to spend the rest of my life with a tummy like that, it would really mess up my body confidence. I had just been a bit concerned about stretch marks but now I realise that they're the least of my worries!
For ladies who've had a baby before, do you still have excess skin on top of firm muscle giving you this 'jelly belly'?

Thanks ladies. X

 

[lynnikins]

i had it initially but managed to escape keeping it, I definatly had a bit more padding before this baby but no loose skin like what you describe and if i hadnt been carrying a bit of extra weight then im sure it would have gone back to what it was prior to ds, im going to put in a bit of effort after this baby is born to tone back up a little and make sure i dont put on unessacary weight like i did,

 

[midori1999]

I did after my first three. It made it hard to lose weght, as when I did it became looser and saggier, but when I put on weight I looked pregnant, as my tummy muscles were so seperated.

I solved it by having a tummy tuck.

This is what it looked like before: (pics of both when I had lost some weight and when I had gained some, hence saggy in some an dpregnant looking in others)

https://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/20291887

4 weeks post op: (still some swelling etc, it takes about a year to properly heal from this op, but totally flat)

https://www.picturetrail.com/sfx/album/view/20465929


I am not pregnant with twins, so I doubt it will still be lovely and flat afterwards!

 

[babythinkpink]

I have always lost the belly, and my flat tummy has gone back, i usually pile on the weight while pregnant but it comes off and the jelly belly goes away.
I have noticed friends not being quite so lucky and when i had no4 i still looked 6 months pregnant for ages!
I am a bit concerned about this time but i know i will do it however hard i need to diet!
I got stretch marks 16 years ago with my first, and they are more disfiguring than anything for me, and are more what causes that jelly apperance but my shape is fine so only me and my husband know they are there!

I will say i breast fed all mine and some say that really helps, so i would have to agree from my experience. I was just too lazy to bottle feed!



midori1999, pretty impressive pics

 

[midori1999]

Thanks.

I will say, in the case of stretched skin, and sometimes damaged muscles, no amount of diet and exercise will make it change.

 

[angelstardust]

Mine looks like midoris before pic, it looks horrible, more so because I had c sections with Ds2 and DD.

I've always had a converse tummy (pot belly) even when not eating (technically I wasn't anorexic because I didn't make myself vomit, I just didn't eat anything except a toddler portion of food at dinner time some days), I think genetically I'm not the shape to have a flat tummy.

Obviously it worse now that I have put on weight after having my children and it is all on my tummy.

But a close friend had a tummy tuck to get rid of it and ended up on life support and has now got scarring all round her tummy upto her breasts thanks to a botched op then infections etc. So I just wouldn't risk it just to have a flat tummy (that I wouldn't show anyway due to the stretchmarks!

However, I do think it's sad that mums can't enjoy being a mum because we are expected to look as good as we did in our teenage pre baby days.

 

[Vicyi]

My Mum lost all her pregnancy weight and more (from size 18 during pregnancy to size 8 afterwards) and now has very loose skin around her tummy.
I only put on 1.5st during 1st pregnancy and afterwards although my belly wasnt flat it didnt have loose skin, just untoned muscle (not that i tried to do much about that lol)
My step sister on the otherhand put on 3st during pregnancy and is straight back into her pre pregnancy clothes 1 WEEK after having bubs and has no sign of a 'mummy tummy' at all!!
I think just people are just luckier than others unfortunatly

 

[nada87]

after having to kids i have the loose skin. it hasn't gone away (it now kinda hags from the bottom of my little bump) but that could be becuz i keep getting pg (dd is 3.5 ds is 1.5 and i'm 18 weeks pg) if it doesn't go away by the time i hit 30 (thats 7 more years) me and my bff are going to get tummy tucks together

 

[carmen]

Mine went back to normal, i've always been slim and you dont see by my stomach that i had a baby.

Also he was big......... 4500 gram, and i didn't get stretch marks.

I know some one late thirities who has had 3 children and she does do exercise and her stomach muscles are great.Flat as anything.

 

[emsiee]

I did for a while but mine went away. I had a flat belly pre pregnancy too. I always had the loose skin kinda thing (especially when I bent over but it was never that bad that I couldnt wear a bikini or a tight fitted top or dress)). I went flat again and am hoping the same happens this time. It kinda looks like it needs ironing but if its flattened out, you cant tell.

 

[lynnikins]

it really has an effect how you lose any weight on your tummy if you drop it quickly then your more likely to have loose skin as everything needs time to tone, lots of people lose huge amounts of weight sensibly with combined diet and exersize and dont end up with huge saggy skin patches its all down t o how you do it, if you crash diet then of course you will end up with sag

 

[sobersadie]

Mine was worst after my 1st. I remember looking at my belly in the hospital mirror after i had him and i was horrfied! I had no idea it wud look like that! It did go down and as i lost weight it got better but i had a huge bump with no.2 and i ended up with what i call 'the baby bag' a kind of saggy belly that once contained a baby. I was slimmer when i had my 3rd and she was small so it didnt get too bad after her and i was in my size 12 jeans going home from the hospital but no matter how much weight i los now theres extra skin there and its a bit crinkly - that wont go away with exercise. Its manageable though and i wear a tankini to go swimming and look fine in it. Who sees you naked apart from hubby anyway?!?! lol

 

[sobersadie]

Mine was worst after my 1st. I remember looking at my belly in the hospital mirror after i had him and i was horrfied! I had no idea it wud look like that! It did go down and as i lost weight it got better but i had a huge bump with no.2 and i ended up with what i call 'the baby bag' a kind of saggy belly that once contained a baby. I was slimmer when i had my 3rd and she was small so it didnt get too bad after her and i was in my size 12 jeans going home from the hospital but no matter how much weight i lose now theres extra skin there and its a bit crinkly - that wont go away with exercise. Its manageable though and i wear a tankini to go swimming and look fine in it. Who sees you naked apart from hubby anyway?!?! lol

 

[jessndoug]

I had the whole "deflated bag" look.i started working out a few weeks after having my son mostly crunches and it went away within 6-8 weeks of having my son.

 

[tasha41]

Yes. After my c-section I have loose, stretched skin that hangs esp. w/ the incision scar there, I also have muscle damage so I don't think it's going away without a tuck

 

[honeygrl]

I had it after both of my older kids for a few years. Eventually it shrunk back to normal and I ended up with a nicer looking belly than I had before I ever had kids. Don't think I'm going to get that lucky this time since I'm older now and have gained a LOT more weight with this one. The 2 previous pregnancies I only gained 25-30Lbs. I've doubled that this time.. lol

I have seen women who never got rid of the extra skin though. If it truly bothers you then a tummy tuck probably isn't terribly expensive anymore!

 

[Arielle]

Kneaded bread dough...hahahaha
LOL that is soooo funny.

The first thing I did after I gave birth was felt my tummy and it jiggled.
It went away though.

Kneaded bread dough..you are too funny!
Did you tell her that?

 

[WannaB]

I was the same as Sadie! I saw my tummy after my first and nearly died! That was all of 16 years ago now, was/still am 54kgs 175cm tall, so Im a thin person. Mine went back to normal pretty quickly, b/fing also helps bring you back into shape faster. The second time I wasnt so shocked and it took a little longer to go away, but it did. I would say its going to be a combo of things, cant beat good genetics first off, I have only a couple of stretch marks, then healthy eating and excercise, although I must admit I didnt do squat to get it back as far as excercise, was too busy with babies! Housework is still pretty good excercise though!