Pregnancy Stretch Mark Prevention (honest tips from a mom of 4)
Are you pregnant for the first time and worried about preventing pregnancy stretch marks?
Don’t worry mama, I’m here to help pregnant women avoid stretch marks the easy way! Keep reading to follow these 5 easy tips!
Below is a step-by-step process to prevent the appearance of stretch marks using cocoa butter and a few other treatment options that actually work!
With so many stretch mark creams on the market today, it may be hard to choose the right one. We’re here to tell you what stretch marks creams and which active ingredients in those products will actually give you the best results!
This way, you won’t be wasting your time buying a bunch of skin products that make you promises but don’t deliver!
This post was all about pregnancy stretch marks.
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Cause of Stretch Marks
First and foremost, new moms need to understand what are the causes of stretch marks. Stretch marks are streaks or stripes on the abdomen caused by stretching of the tissue from rapid growth, stretching skin, or rapid weight gain. (Source)
This rapid growth can happen during pregnancy or even during puberty. When the skin is overstretched, the normal production of collagen growth, which is the protein that makes up the connective tissue in your skin, gets disrupted and forms the development of stretch marks. (Source)
Stretch Marks appear in 50-90% of pregnant women when dermal collagen is damaged and blood vessels dilate resulting in the formation of reddish-purple early stretch marks. Stretch marks during pregnancy are also known as striae gravidarum. (Source)
What Do Stretch Marks Look Like?
Below are a few photos of noticeable stretch marks in pregnant women. Some of the marks can be lighter than others depending on your skin color and ethnicity. Many stretch marks start out reddish or have purplish streaks and then may lighten up over time to pinkish stretch marks.
Darker-skinned women normally have stretch marks that are lighter in color or white streaks than lighter-skinned women. Lighter-skinned women tend to have more red and purple stretch marks that appear darker in color.
Stretch marks during pregnancy may not only appear on the baby bump! Stretch marks can appear in other places on a woman’s body like breasts, back, butt, upper arms, and thighs.
When Do Pregnancy Stretch Marks Appear?
Stretch marks can appear anywhere from when you are 13 to 22 weeks pregnant normally in the second trimester of pregnancy. (Source) However, I have had friends tell me that their stretch marks appeared as early as 6 weeks!
A great first sign that stretch marks may be developing during pregnancy is having dry skin. You may experience very itchy skin on your baby bump due to the dry patches on the top layer of skin. This is a great time to make sure to moisturize and be proactive!
Ways To Prevent Stretch Marks
Below are 5 honest tips to prevent stretch marks during pregnancy but number #5 is by far the MOST important!
- Watch your Weight
Try not to gain too much weight too fast. Gaining weight at a healthy pace is best for both mom and baby. Obviously, you want to eat healthy and gain some weight so please don’t starve yourself or the baby over stretch marks! Just try and take notice of how much you’re gaining each week.
- Eat a Healthy Diet
This pretty much goes hand in hand with gaining a little weight at a time. Pace yourself, eat a balanced diet, and if you do, you will maintain a healthy weight and shouldn’t have to worry too much about stretch marks appearing too quickly.
- Hydration
Be sure you drink plenty of water throughout your day! Pregnant women should drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Not only is water good for you but the more hydrated you are, the more elasticity your skin will be during pregnancy which will help prevent stretch marks. So carry around your favorite water bottle ladies and drink up!
- Vitamin C Serum And Supplements
Vitamin C plays an important role in collagen production. Why does this matter? Collagen keeps our skin elastic which helps the prevention of stretch marks and wrinkles. (Source)
There are many ways to get more vitamin C in your diet and here are a few.
Be sure to take a great prenatal vitamin that has a good amount of Vitamin C in it. Below is our favorite and I took it throughout all of my pregnancies:
Take a great Vitamin C supplement if your prenatal doesn’t have enough. Even if you aren’t sure, getting a good amount of Vitamin C can do wonders for your overall health!
Here are a few of my favorites below:
Add a topical Vitamin C cream/serum to your baby bump:
Tru Skin Vitamin C serum with Hyaluronic acid is just one of the best vitamin C serums on the market today!
Women rave about using this vitamin C serum for preventing stretch marks. I personally have not tried this myself only because I didn’t know about it at the time.
However, it really helps to add hydration to your skin, especially those dry patches on your baby bump.
Many pregnant women have stated that it has helped to dramatically reduce the itchiness that can be associated with pregnancy and your growing belly.
It is made with not only vitamin c but also vitamin E and aloe vera which work wonders for hydrating and calming the skin!
- Moisturize, Moisturize, Moisturize as soon as you get out of the shower!!
I can’t say this enough! This is the key to preventing stretch marks! I had my best friend tell me this secret YEARS ago before my first baby!
I DID NOT use a Vitamin C serum but I will tell you that I took a prenatal vitamin AND I took extra vitamin C so possibly the combination of the two plus using the cocoa butter below helped reduce stretch marks for me.
Below is EXACTLY what I used for all four of my pregnancies that worked!
I truly believe moisturizing right after you get out of the shower or bathtub is the secret to keeping your skin moisturized and preventing stretch marks!
Palmer’s Cocoa Butter
This is the old-school brand and has been used on pregnant women for years! There’s a reason why they sell so many and for so long…it just works!
DO NOT use the cocoa butter lotion they make. I’ll be honest with you, it’s just not thick enough!
To fight and prevent those stretch marks during pregnancy, you need a thick belly butter like cocoa butter cream on your belly, not the lotion!
This WILL be greasy and many women hate that about cocoa butter and will opt for the lotion instead. However, the grease is the MAGIC along with applying it right after the shower or bath! The combination from the hot water on your skin seems to help the cocoa butter melt into your skin faster and prevent stretch marks
Palmer’s Tummy Butter is very similar to its original cocoa butter above. I’ve used both and both do the job! This one may actually be a bit more greasy but to be honest, the greasier the better!
You also get a better deal with this one, they sell it in packs of 3 which trust me, you will smoke through!
If you don’t want to take my word for it, click on the photo below to read more about how many pregnant women love this:
Important Tips for Applying Stretch Mark Cream While Pregnant
Start early! DO NOT listen to others who tell you to apply this in your second trimester because it may be too late then.
Even if you don’t see any appearing or have any itching on your belly, apply stretch mark cream anyway! As soon as you find out you’re pregnant, go buy this stuff and use it!
How often should you use it? Literally every day! I’m not kidding, I went through a tub of cocoa butter a month. Put it next to your shower and as soon as you get out, put it on!
Be sure to not only apply it on your belly bump but also on your breasts, thighs, and butt! Trust me, you can get them anywhere your skin stretches/grows the most!
You may have to wait a bit before getting dressed because it’s very greasy, so wearing an old tank underneath your other clothes may be a good idea. Trust me, it’s worth it in the long run!
Last tip: As I mentioned above, make sure you apply this daily but most importantly as soon as you get out of the bath or shower while your skin is still warm/hot! This is important and I truly believe it helps with skin elasticity!
Do Genetics Play An Important Role in Stretch Marks?
My mother had stretch marks so I assumed I was doomed! However, my best friend that told me these tips above said that her mom also had stretch marks and she was determined not to get them!
These stretch mark prevention tips are as honest as you can get! These tips are exactly what worked to prevent stretch marks through ALL 4 of my pregnancies!
You may also be interested in:
9 Pregnancy Symptoms You May Be Having a Baby Boy!
10 Morning Sickness And Pregnancy Nausea Remedies that Work!
Natural Deodorant for Pregnant Women that works!
This post was all about pregnancy stretch marks.
