Stretch marks

Stretch marks is a known pregnancy ailment. The elasticity of the skin is lost and the subcutaneous connective tissue tears. These stripes are called stretch marks.

During your pregnancy, your belly and breasts grow rapidly in a relatively short period of time. For a lot of women, the hips, thighs and buttocks also become bigger or rounder. Sometimes your body can no longer handle this enormous increase in growth and the subcutaneous connective tissue tears. That sounds very painful or scary, but it is not. The result can be annoying dough. The lines that you see developing are called stretch marks.

Stretch marks are hereditary

The predisposition to stretch marks is hereditary. This means that some women will naturally have more stretch marks than other women. However, this does not mean that you can’t do anything about it to try and keep it as minimal as possible.

What can do you to keep the stretch marks at it’s minimum:

• Don’t eat for two
  During pregnancy people say you have to eat for two, but that’s not the case. You should eat some more as normally but not double the amount. When you keep the gaining of weight to a minimum, you demand less flexibility from your skin. So you will, of course, gain the baby weight, but you should not gain too much extra weight by just eating whatever you like.
• Take good care of your skin
  There is only one thing to do: cream. You should apply cream until you weigh an ounce. Choose a special cream that helps reduce stretch marks. You can find this at the drugstore. However, these creams are not miracle cures either. Apply everyday and apply a nice generous layer to keep your skin flexible.
• A connective tissue massage
  The word massage probably brings a twinkle in your eye. Let’s just tell the truth tight away: a connective tissue massage is not very pleasant. The effect in only optimal if it hurts a little. First take a hot shower, apply oil or a moisturizing body lotion and than gently grab a piece of skin with two fingers. Gently pull on the skin until it hurts a little. This is how you work on all potential stretch mark areas.

Colored stripes

When the stretch marks appear, you can recognize them by their pink and purple color. They are small lines that appear on the surface of your skin. After pregnancy, these lines become white and shiny. Unfortunately, this remains the case for the rest of your life. It can get a little less invisable.

Itch

Tearing of the subcutaneous connective tissue does not hurt, but it can be itchy. What helps against the itching is placing a wet, cold washcloth on the spots. Or you can sprinkle some menthol powder on them.