Stretch marks – The curse of pregnancy

Pregnancy is a beautiful thing, there’s absolutely no question about that. You’re growing a new life in your body, ready to bring it into the world.

Your body and mind are completely changing to prepare for one of the biggest changes yet. Whilst some of these changes are very welcomed, others are, well, not so much.

Stretch marks are one these changes – could we not just have the magic of pregnancy without them?

The most important thing to know is that they’re completely normal, and shouldn’t cause you any extra stress. For many of us, pregnancy changes our body – and post pregnancy stretch marks can become the battle scars of such a glorious event.

My name is Sara. I am a fellow Mom of Two. My first daughter was an assisted delivery – she was not for budging! My second, a C Section baby. Two very different deliveries and with their own impact on my body.

You’re probably wondering now, are stress marks during pregnancy preventable? What is the best remedy for stretch marks? What is the best stretch mark removal cream?

We’re here to help.

What are stretch marks?

To begin, it’s quite important to touch on what exactly stretch marks are, this way you can fully understand what is happening to your body.

Stretch marks are just small scars located on the middle layer of your skin, that are visible on the top layer of your skin.

They form when you gain weight or when hormone changes stretch the skin, faster than its ability to repair itself. They’re quite literally just the signs that your body is growing – hence why people also form them during puberty or times of weight gain.

To be honest, stretch marks are an indication of how amazing your body is. Your skin can stretch and adapt, even in extreme circumstances (like pregnancy), and work overtime just to heal itself.

Stretch marks are also super common with pregnancy because of hormone changes. With the excess oestrogen and cortisol, your skin’s collagen and elastin reduce, limiting the stretchiness and making it less able to handle the growth. It’s just the perfect environment for stretch marks to form.

Now that we have all the technical jargon out of the way, let’s get down to preventing stretch marks during pregnancy.

Can stretch marks be prevented?

Prevention is key

We’ve all heard the saying “prevention is better than cure” and this is true with stretch marks. The best ways to stop stretch marks is way before they even start to appear.

Once you have stretch marks, although not impossible, they are difficult to eradicate. As soon as you know you’re pregnant, start practicing these prevention tactics.

Please note though – they are completely normal and it’s about learning to love the postpartum version of you!

1. Diet

Your diet is super important during pregnancy, for multiple reasons. Keeping your body full of the nutrients it needs will not only help you and the baby, it’ll promote faster cell rejuvenation.

Your diet should include:

• Three servings of protein a day, whether that’s through meat or vegetarian alternatives
• A source of calcium
• Whole grains
  An abundance of fruit and vegetables, follow the five a day rule for both.
• Prenatal vitamins

It’s also recommended that you stay away from really sugary or sweet food. This has an extra benefit of helping to minimise nausea. Always talk to your doctor about nutritional advice, just to make sure.

2. Vitamin D

A study also found a link between the levels of vitamin D and the occurrence of stretch marks. Obviously, it’s early research but it’s quite telling. We’re excited to see if more information derives from it.

It’s also well worth a try – if healthy levels of vitamin D reduce my risk of stretch marks, then count me in.

The easiest way to get vitamin D is with the sun, you might as well use your pregnancy as an excuse to sunbathe, right?

If you live in a cave then look into which Pregnancy vitamins contain Vitamin D that could help with preventing stretch marks.

3. Stay Hydrated

Staying hydrated throughout your pregnancy is super important. However, we’re talking about a different kind of hydration to drinking water (Which is also very important!).

Every time you moisturize, you’re hydrating your skin. You might already be doing this to your face and neck, now it’s time to treat your bump.

My favorite product to use is Body Merry Cocoa Butter. It’s specially formulated to reduce and prevent the appearance of scars and stretch marks but it’s made from completely natural ingredients. Phew.

Hydrating moisturizers, like this one, help your skin’s elasticity. Basically, allowing it to snap right back into place without stretch marks forming.

I couldn’t recommend the Body Merry Cocoa Butter enough; I really believe it is the best lotion for stretch marks.

That being said, if you’re looking for something different, please choose one that is proven to be safe for both you and the baby. It’ll always say on the label. If it doesn’t, put it down.

4. Specially formulated products

Don’t underestimate the power of the products specially formulated for stretch marks.

The most popular being Bio Oil, everybody’s heard of it. If you’re like me, you probably like to search for new products, but Bio Oil is kind of unbeatable.

It’s super safe to use whilst pregnant and has been used for over 20 years, it’s safe to say that it’s been tried and tested.

Bio Oil is really effective in helping to improve the appearance of stretch marks. It also contains ingredients that help with the elasticity of the skin – helping to prevent stretch marks too.

If you’re looking for something a little bit more natural or organic, Rosehip Oil is one of the best natural products for stretch marks (as well as scars and wrinkles).

It has been studied extensively and is completely safe to use during pregnancy. Again, as well as helping to fade away stretch marks, Rosehip Oil is also great for preventing them.

With all specially formulated products, make sure that you don’t have any allergies before using excessively. If you’re worried, your doctor will always be able to help.

5. Exfoliate

We’ve talked about hydration and special products, but to really make the most out of these you should be making an effort to exfoliate your stretch-mark prone areas.

I would exfoliate my stomach, thighs, chest and hips once a week. Exfoliating removes all the dead skin cells, allowing all your products to penetrate the lower layers of skin much better.

Also, exfoliating helps your body to grow new skin cells, again helping to prevent stretch marks whilst pregnant.

As with everything, make sure that the products you use are safe for pregnancy. I personally stuck to very natural products like baking soda and witch hazel. Coffee scrubs are also a nice literally luxury to indulge in.

6. Massage

Another little tip which you can incorporate easily into your routine; massage. When you’re applying your creams or oils, take a bit extra time to really massage the products into your skin.

Massaging has loads of benefits, these include:

• Upkeeping the skin’s elasticity
• Pushes products deeper into the skin
• Directs blood to the skin to promote healing
• Breaks up any stretch marks that may have already begin to form

A massage a day will relax you and help with your stretch marks. What could be better?

This was the go to method for stretch mark prevention for me – bio oil or cocoa butter massages – i would spend an age just admiring my bump!