Pregnancy Signs & Symptoms, Week by Week Pregnancy Guide

Although the baby is already out, you may still feel like you still look pregnant.

Besides this your post pregnancy belly could also have the linea negra not to mention all the stretch marks.

The women who had a caesarean section also have to deal with the scarring.

Information about the belly after pregnancy

Don’t forget that your body needs time to recover from the pregnancy and so does your belly. Think of your belly as a balloon. Childbirth doesn’t pop it, it just creates a leak. This means that your belly will slowly start to shrink. After the birth of the baby the hormones will make the belly deflate.

You should know about your post pregnancy abdomen that it takes about 4 weeks for the uterus to go back to its original size. The cells of the body swell during pregnancy and they start releasing fluids that you will notice in the form of sweat, urine and vaginal secretions.

The good news is that the baby fat from the post pregnancy belly will start to burn off. However it takes a few weeks for you to be able to see the results. The bad news is that the linea negra and the stretch marks last a little longer. The stretch marks become less noticeable in 6-12 months.

The pigmentation of the stretch marks on the abdomen after pregnancy becomes lighter and so the marks fade. However the texture of the marks will not change. In about a year the linea negra will fade but it is possible that it won’t disappear completely.

Time matters

There are some stories of mothers whose post pregnancy belly got flat right after childbirth. Although this is possible, it is extremely rare. Normally it takes months for women to reduce the baby fat and the sad truth is that sometimes it never really disappears.

The key in case of the post pregnancy abs is patience. For nine months your belly was expanding to accommodate the baby so it is just natural that it takes just about that long for it to get back to its normal size. Naturally the length of this transition phase depends on your body size.

Genes, exercise and patience

Some other factors that influence the post pregnancy belly is how much exercise you have, the weight you gained while being pregnancy and naturally, your genes. The women who put on less than thirty pounds, who exercised during pregnancy, who have only one child and who breastfeed have high chances of getting rid of the belly fast.

Breastfeeding is always a good idea

However regarding your abs after pregnancy, if you don’t breastfeed, you will have to be really careful about what you eat and how much you eat to lose weight. Now you don’t need as many calories as you did during pregnancy. In order to burn more calories you should opt for breastfeeding.

The truth is that post pregnancy belly isn’t the easiest thing to handle, but remember that millions of women succeeded with getting rid of it and you can also be successful.