Belly button, linea nigra, and post-pregnancy body

ladybug122

Hi!

My baby is 1 week old and I have a few questions regarding your bodies after birth (I ask this group because your bodies have had longer to recover).

When did your belly button go back to normal? Mine is still an outie and I am really hoping it will return to being an innie.

Also, when did your linea nigra fade or disappear?

And if you have been able to return to your pre-pregnancy wieght, when did you reach this goal?

?Thanks so much for answering! ?

JuneMagnolia

My belly button never popped, so I can't help you there, and I don't remember when the linea negra faded. But, I really started losing the weight around 9 months PP. (I didn't exercise religiously though, and my dh deployed around that time.) 

ToBeClements

polkadot1022:

Hi!

My baby is 1 week old and I have a few questions regarding your bodies after birth (I ask this group because your bodies have had longer to recover). Congrats!!!

When did your belly button go back to normal? Mine is still an outie and I am really hoping it will return to being an innie. A couple months I think...

Also, when did your linea nigra fade or disappear? Same as above

And if you have been able to return to your pre-pregnancy wieght, when did you reach this goal? I wore my first non-preg clothes about 3 month pp. Lost all but like 5-7 lbs of the baby weight which I'm ok with!

 Thanks so much for answering!  

JJ1973

11 months here...

My belly button is still pretty weird, but it is probably only noticeable to me. It got bigger and deeper. Mine never went out.

My linea nigra was never super dark, but is pretty much gone.

I was one of the lucky ones...I went back to my pre-pregnancy weight probably at around 4 months...a month after returning to work. I just needed to move around more and get off of my butt, and I stopped eating crap all the time. I started off with a healthier diet once I returned to work, but with everything else, that went to crap after a few months. I've been breastfeeding this whole time. I'm now 10 pounds lower than my pre-pregnancy weight without doing anything. I don't expect that to last when I wean (I'll probably go back to normal). Irregardless of what happens, I desperately need to improve my diet and get back to exercising, but with my more than full time job, pumping, and daycare drop off/pick up, nightly routine, etc. I'm a little overwhelmed and not taking the best care of myself.  

laubeth87

My bellybutton popped early and it never returned back to normal. It doesn't stick out but it also isn't as far in as it used to be. My linea nigra didn't go away until about 6 months post partum. It faded significantly, but it was still there for a while. I Iost all of my pregnancy weight (65lbs) by 5 months post partum. I didn't exercise, i think it came off from not raiding the cabinets every 5 min. like i did when i was pregnant.

MrsMommyQ

1. My belly button went back to normal pretty quickly.

2. Linea nigra took about 6 months to go away. I have olive skin and it was pretty dark.

3. I lost of all the weight in the 1st month. Before you hate me, let me explain. I gained 30 lbs. About 3 lbs of that was swelling. My daughter was 9 lbs, the placenta weighs a little bit, the extra blood, etc. So once all that went away I only had 7 lbs to lose. I went to weight watchers for a month and lost it.

tripleas

polkadot1022:

When did your belly button go back to normal? Mine is still an outie and I am really hoping it will return to being an innie.

Pretty much as soon as I had my baby.  DS was born early, and I never got that big to begin with, so my belly button never popped out.

Also, when did your linea nigra fade or disappear?
I never got one.  I blame it on being as white as a ghost.

And if you have been able to return to your pre-pregnancy wieght, when did you reach this goal?

About 2 weeks PP.  All my baby weight just melted away.  However, don't go thinking I'm all full of myself!  Pre-baby I was about 120, 2 weeks PP I hit 120, 9 months PP I'm about 110, but my body will never be the same!  I work out like a crazy person (hence the 10 lb weight loss) but no matter what I do, I still have a pooch.  I am small everywhere but my belly, so I look like I'm about 12 weeks pregnant.  I have to be really careful what kind of clothes I wear, because I've actually had people ask me when I'm due. 

I managed to avoid any stretchmarks throughout my whole pregnancy.  This was a shock to me bc my mom has a ton of stretchies, and I figured I would follow suit.  As soon as I came home from the hospital they all appeared!  Tons of red marks all over my tummy, back, and sides.  Strangely enough, they have all faded and I even have been wearing a 2 piece, but they are still there.  Now they are white instead of red, you can only see them if you look closely.

The point of that whole story is just so I could share this, I whole heartedly believe that after pregnancy my body will never be the same.  But it is sooooo worth it!

 

Yules

Before you read my response, please know that I'm on the outlying end of the spectrum. I'm small, baby was huge.I worked my butt off to get back into shape. I ended up at 104 lbs within 7 months post partum. That's 4 lbs less then I weighed pre preg. Sadly, the more weight I lost' the worse my belly looked. The skin just piled on and let gravity take over.My belly button was detached and I had diastasis, abdominus rectus separation. Please dont get scared, but I posted earlier today about my tummy tuck experience.Good luck girl, I hope you never need to deal with this crapola and that your belly gets back to normal in no time.

CBBB2010

I don't remember when my belly button went back to being an innie and when my linea negra disappeared, but they happened pretty quickly.  I was back to pre-pregnancy weight within 3 months.  I gained ~ 25 pounds during pregnancy and BF for the first 8 months or so and I got lucky that the weight came off without much effort.  However, as PP said my body is nowhere near the same as it was pre-pregnancy!  I have a squishy, flabby, poochy belly and my boobs are now saggy and feel like shrunken water balloons.

Nhev

Hi, congratulations!

my belly button was back in right away, if I remember right. I don't recall having a PP outie. I don't know how long it took me to lose the weight, but I was back to a healthy pre-preg weight at my 6-week checkup. My linea nigra has slowly been fading but is still somewhat visible!

hayatiggs

Congrats new mommy

 My belly button never popped out, it just stretched until it was flat like my tummy. Like there was no belly button at all. This went back to normal as soon as the girls were born.

I never had a line. Well, not a linea anyway... I had this great *sarcasm* little line of belly hair instead. It has gone away for the most part...

I actually weigh more now than I did after the girls were born, but here's why I think that is.. With them being born preemies at the beginning of October, they had to stay inside totally (except for doctor visits) for 2 months. They nursed every 2 hours, and I slept with them in between those times because I stayed exhausted. After their 2 months was up, it was the middle of winter, and I didn't get them out much for fear of pneumonia or ear infections. And they were still eating at least every 3 hours. Because of all of this, I wasn't able to get back into my walking/jogging routine. When the weather got warm, I was already back at work full time (7am-6pm). I miss the gym. I miss the road. I miss my running shoes. I miss my old weight...

Ardmhs83

My belly button is an innie, but yet it never really popped out that much.

I still have a light linea nigra and my son will be 1 on August 5th!  I'm so ready for it to go away! 

Yes I am back down to my pre-pregnancy weight, 119.  It didn't take me very long...a couple of months maybe.  It helped that I exclusively breastfed until 9 months and I also exercised 4 days a week while I was pregnant.  They say that really helps the weight fall off and it did!.  I also watch what I eat and still work out.  If you do all of those things, it shouldn't take you long either.

Good luck!

ILoveRunning

First of all, congrats on your new LO!

1.  My bellybutton is still not back to normal.  It is much wider and shallower, then it used to be.  The good news for me is that it is now easier to keep clean

2.  My linea nigra was really long and dark during pregnancy, and it still hasn't faded entirely.  I honestly think that it will be with me for life.

3.  I hit my pre-pregnancy weight about 12 weeks PP.  I think that losing my weight as quickly as I did was a combination of breastfeeding, not having time to eat like I used to, and having a more restricted diet because of DS food allergy.  I had gained somewhere between 35-40 pounds during my pregnancy, but I think quite a bit of that was water weight.  I did not start exercising until about 5 months PP.

kg_08

I've always had a very deep innie. It went back in within a couple weeks, but it's not exactly the same. A little more shallow, and a little loose.

Linea nigra is still hanging around a little bit.

I was back to pre-preg weight by 2-3 months, and then kept losing and am now underweight. BF stole my butt.

carolinakiwi

Congratulations on the birth of you LO and welcome to motherhood - the best gift ever!!!

My DS just turned 9 months on the 5th.

1. Linea negra - I am still BFing, so I still have a very faint linea negra.  It actually was still pretty noticable until just the past month or so.  Or at least noticeable to me.  I have it below and above my belly button.

2. Belly button - Mine didn't pop out all the way, so I can't completely answer your question.  But about half of my belly button stuck out a bit. It was as if my belly button was at an angle, and just a tip of it stuck out.  It went back to normal probably right after DS was born.

3. Pre-pregnancy weight - I still have 14 pounds to lose until I'm at pre-pregnancy weight.  I thought with BFing that it would fall off extremely fast.  I worked out occasionally after DS was born (some running, 30DS, other exercise DVDs) but it still hasn't all come off.  I have read that some mom's bodies, who BF, hold on to the last 10-15 pounds.  I hope that's what my body is doing. 

I have a very long torso, and never looked very big while pregnant.  But now I feel like I have a lot of toning to do in my mid-section.  I have have some loose skin now and need to concentrate on cardio and abs.  I'm not happy with my mid-section since it's the one part of my body that's always been very flat and tight, and now that it's loose and somewhat poofy, I hate it.  But in time I'm sure it will get back to normal.  I have re-committed to working out consistently.

 

Rach21

Congrats on the new baby!

1. My belly button never "popped" but it's much deeper than it used to be. I'm glad I took my belly ring out a couple of years ago because there's no telling where it would have ended up.

2. I didn't have linea negra, but my stretch marks started to fade around 6 month mark.

3. I gained 50 lbs while pregnant even though I exercised and ate well. I dropped 40 lbs within 2 months pp due to breastfeeding. I had to stop breastfeeding 4 months pp because my DS couldn't handle my milk. I also was having problems regulating my birth control pill, so the scale has been climbing steadily until I got off the pill a month ago. For me (and every other lady in my family), the scale doesn't go down as fast as it climbs!!! Needless to say, I've got 30lbs to lose to get to my goal weight (10 lbs below my pre-preg weight which would put me at the high-end of my healthy BMI). My personal goal is to reach that weight in 3.5 months, for my baby's 1 year birthday.

nosoup4u

I had a really inward innie bellybutton before I got pg, but it was a lot more shallow after DS1, and now just sort of saggy after DS2.

I never had linea nigra.

I gained about 45 lbs for each pregnancy, and lost about 20 lbs in the first few weeks with both. I lost the rest by the time DS1 was one, and I'm at my usual weight (but 10 lbs heavier than I was when I got pg with DS2) now, so about 8-9 mos with DS2.

BUT, I'm pretty sure my abs are separated, bc my stomach is messed up, to put it lightly. I'm hoping to an evaluation with a PT for some help with it. So just be aware - I think you have to wait until you baby's 6+ months before you can tell if you have it, though! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diastasis_recti

NeishaRuth

Hi! Are you breast feeding? I heard you loose the weight faster when you breast feed. I did, and lost an extra 20lbs pre-pregnancy after about 5 months. I didn't exercise...I had no energy. Maybe faster if you exercise? The lines fade, so will your belly button. Unfortunately, my breast now sag. lol Everything else is fine and back to how it was...better even. Just be patient. Eat well. Sleep well. Enjoy your little one. All will be fine. Congratulations on the birth of you babe!