Pregnancy is an unusual period in the life of every woman, at the end of which she can give life to a new person. Not so long ago, literally in the last century, to have as many children as possible was great happiness and an occasion for respect. However, in the modern world, everything has changed. Women are trying at all costs to maintain youthfulness and beautiful appearance. After all, the body after childbirth looks very different than before them. You can deny this fact, wear stretch underwear, do plastic surgery. But, unfortunately, the fact remains that the woman’s body after childbirth changes very much, and (according to the current laws of attractiveness) not for the better.
What processes occur in the body of a woman during pregnancy
Already from the first days of pregnancy in a woman’s body, changes begin to occur at all levels.
- Metabolic changes. It is generally accepted that only the balance of sex hormones changes dramatically. In fact, many hormones are active in the female body, and during pregnancy, as well as after childbirth, their balance changes. In the blood of a pregnant woman, an increase in the concentration of glucose and insulin, as well as fatty acids, proteins and amino acids, is noted. All body activities are aimed at specific goals - preserving the life of the fetus and maintaining the life of the mother. The body does not "think" about how a woman’s body will look after childbirth. Therefore, often hormonal imbalance leads to skin problems, overweight (sometimes even obesity), hair loss, the appearance of cysts, etc.
- The cardiovascular system during gestation is forced to pump a much larger amount of blood. As a result, the vessels wear out, problems with veins may begin. Most young mothers report signs of varicose veins after birth. The body also changes: nodes of protruding veins appear on the legs, couperosis can form on the face, spider veins on the arms and legs.
- The reproductive system is undergoing tremendous changes. The uterus of a pregnant woman increases significantly in size. Its weight increases from 50 g to 1,200 g. The walls of the vagina loosen, expand. Small and large labia also increase in size. This condition persists for some time after childbirth.
- Changes in the endocrine system inevitably entail changes in the functioning of the nervous system. This is reflected indirectly in the appearance: the woman always feels tired and irritated, as a result, she has neither the desire nor the strength to maintain a decent look of her own body.
Excess weight after pregnancy
Perhaps the most obvious and painful for many women body changes after childbirth is the presence of excess weight. Thin-boned, fragility - where does all this go after a woman becomes a mother? Of course, there are lucky ones who, after childbirth, managed to maintain grace and fragility. But they, as a rule, sat on strict diets and loaded themselves with physical education, even during pregnancy, to achieve the result, and this may not affect the condition of the fetus in the best way.
The presence of excess weight after childbirth (usually a condition is diagnosed as obesity of the first or second degree) is due to a change in hormonal balance. Estrogens are a group of hormones, the main of which are estrone, estradiol and estriol. They are produced in the ovaries, support the development of the fetus, and are also necessary for the possibility of subsequent feeding of the baby. The modern fashion for thinness and body relief is alien to a normal, healthy female body. The presence of a normal amount of estrogen in the body after childbirth makes the tissues soft, loose, and also provides the possibility of full lactation - the milk should be as much as the baby needs for full saturation.
When to start fighting overweight
Restoring the body after childbirth is not a quick process. Often women even refuse to breastfeed in order to lose weight as soon as possible. You should think about responsibility for your own child, because better than breast milk food for babies has not yet been created.
Therefore, you should begin to lose weight and engage in physical exercises no earlier than six months after the birth. This is a minimum period. It is best to start fitness and dieting about a year after giving birth.
Best Practices to Revert
How to restore the body after childbirth? In order to gain harmony and grace after childbirth, you should act in stages:
- The first thing to visit is an endocrinologist and make sure that there are no problems with the balance of hormones (both genital and produced by the thyroid gland). You should also make sure that there is no diabetes and normal insulin synthesis.
- Start with minimal workloads. You can attend group aerobics classes a couple of times a week - this will be enough to start the metabolism.
- Do not stain yourself with strict diets. You need to purchase a kitchen scale, weigh each serving of food and write in a diary. This will help to track how many calories the daily diet exceeds the norm, gradually reduce the number of calories, while a woman should not feel hungry.
Varicose veins after pregnancy and childbirth
Varicose veins - an unaesthetic disease, which also brings pain and discomfort to a woman. Alas, it often occurs on the body after childbirth. The photos presented in the article eloquently indicate that this pathology forces women to be shy of their own legs, wear closed clothing, and resort to surgical methods of getting rid of venous nodes.
Varicose veins should be treated comprehensively: a change in diet and drinking regimen, a complete rejection of bad habits, as well as regular intake of venotonics. The most popular and effective today are Venus, Phlebodia. Reviews also praise Eskuzan drops (alcohol tincture of horse chestnut fruits), which are inexpensive and bring significant relief from varicose veins.
Gynecological problems after childbirth
Alas, the period of pregnancy and childbirth often contributes to the onset of the development of pathological processes in the ovaries, uterus, and tubes. Some women have a hereditary tendency to oncology of the pelvic organs, pregnancy and childbirth are often a catalyst for the development of tumors.
After childbirth, you must regularly visit a doctor every six months. And not only the gynecologist, but also the mammologist - neoplasms in the chest are found no less than in the tissues of the genital organs.
Severe hair loss after pregnancy and childbirth
After childbirth, the level of dehydrotestosterone often rises, which leads to partial baldness. Of course, this process is not observed in all young mothers. However, if the hair still began to fall out strongly, then you should not hope that the process will stop by itself.
Often the process of hair loss gets out of hand. As a result, women develop bald patches that cannot be overgrown without taking specialized drugs.
How to get rid of baldness after childbirth
After the hair begins to fall out, you should visit the andrologist. Independent attempts to “treat” shampoos and masks not only will not stop the loss, but will also contribute to even greater hair loss.
In some cases, intense prolapse can be triggered by a decrease in ferritin and hemoglobin in the blood of a woman. Such a clinical picture is not uncommon after childbirth. Ferritin and hemoglobin levels should be tested. If they are unsatisfactory, start taking iron-containing drugs - Maltofer, Sorbifer Durules. According to the girls, the hair stops falling out already a month and a half after the start of taking iron-containing drugs.
The condition of the skin after pregnancy and childbirth
Stretch marks on the body after childbirth appear almost always. In cosmetology and medicine, stretch marks are called striae. They are formed due to the fact that the skin simply does not have time to adapt to the growing tissues of the body. As a result, tears appear on the skin that look like small scars (while they are fresh, they have a reddish tint, after a year or two they become pale pink or white). This is the stretch marks that make the body after childbirth unattractive.
Today there is only one really working method of getting rid of stretch marks, and it involves the use of a special laser. At home, it is impossible to completely get rid of stretch marks, you can only make them not so noticeable.
Postpartum Depression in a Woman
The placenta, which forms during pregnancy, produces progesterone. This hormone stimulates the development of mammary glands and their preparation for lactation. Under the influence of progesterone, the muscles of the uterus and intestines relax. Progesterone has an inhibitory effect on the nervous system. Of great importance is the effect of progesterone on the development of adipose tissue of a pregnant woman.
As a result of hormonal effects, the body during pregnancy becomes loose, full. After childbirth, a woman only thinks about how to put her body in place after childbirth, but now she is in charge of a baby who requires breastfeeding and constant attention. Young women develop postpartum depression.
This condition is rarely spoken out loud. It is generally accepted that motherhood brings only joy and happiness to a mentally healthy woman. Do not be shy about your feelings - if there are signs of depression, then you need the help of a specialist and, possibly, taking antidepressants, normotimics, etc.
How to restore the attractiveness of a woman giving birth?
Hundreds of thousands of women will claim that childbirth has made their figure sexier, that they have become very successful with men. However, statistics indicate the opposite: a huge number of marriages break up precisely after the advent of children. A woman’s body after giving birth no longer seems attractive to her husband.
Reviews of girls who tried to lose weight at any cost after giving birth are not always positive. When a woman is focused solely on herself, the child and spouse are often deprived. As a result, the marriage will break up.
Rare women do not cross the thin line between love for themselves, for their body, and at the same time for work for the benefit of the child and husband. You should not go to extremes - it is important to try to combine all women's responsibilities and at the same time return to excellent physical shape gradually, without zealous fanaticism.