Healing

[u/stretchyCB]

I’m 7 weeks postpartum and still can’t wear underwear or non maternity pants. I’m getting extremely frustrated and feel so gross. My stomach feels so flappy now. Has anyone else experienced this? I hear a lot of people saying how their stomach felt tighter post c-section and that’s not the case for me.

[u/Moxie__56]

Are you sure people aren’t talking about the incision part of their stomach being “tighter “ everyone I know who had a c-section talks of this tightness but it’s not in reference to their actually belly or body being tight but more as in the feeling of that area feeling tight, for my first it took me about 6 months to be pretty good then nearly 18 to be fully back to pre pregnancy weight now 14 months post with twins and I’m still 7 pounds away from my goal so will most likely have a bit of flab until 18 months

[u/tiredndexhausted]

Nah my stomach felt weirdly floppy for a while. I had high waisted pregnancy underwear I still wear at 7m pp. honestly it still feels floppy but not as bad..like I can at least feel my ab muscles

[u/biorose_316 → u/tiredndexhausted]

Same here at 4 almost 5 months pp. Core is slowly coming back online, though i still look 4 months pregnant when I completely relax my belly

[u/iMightBeAManatee]

4 weeks in for me and I have to wear high waisted underwear and can only wear big cozy soft pants or sweats. Honestly I've just leaned into the athleisure look and have some cute sweats/lounge clothes from Kindred Bravely and Amazon. I personally like the look of high waisted pants and a cropped shirt on me so that's had me still feeling sorta put together and fine leaving the house at any time. I'm so sorry you're feeling this, I hope you can find some comfort and maybe some clothes that feel good physically and mentally!!

[u/frequentnapper]

Where is your incision located? I just had my C-section 4 weeks ago and I’ve been wearing high waisted underwear for at least a week. My incision is really low- like on my pubic mound, below my underwear indent. Clothing doesn’t bother me. But when I tried low cut underwear, I couldn’t take it for more than a few hours and switched back to high cut.

[u/ZiggySaysSmile]

I found I needed underwear that was really soft, no seams and high waisted for a while. My belly wasn’t comfortable sleeping sideways for a long time. I had to like put a pillow under it to keep it up. I think that was about 3 months or 5

[u/ZestyLlama8554]

It took me months to find comfortable clothing because ever since my nerves starting coming back, I have pretty severe pain whenever clothes touch my stomach from above my scar to my belly button. It's been a struggle.

Also, I'm pretty sure the tightness is from scar tissue behind the incision, which can lead to adhesions.

[u/biorose_316 → u/ZestyLlama8554]

Finally someone else with sensitivity from incision to belly button! It was so bad for me that even high waisted underwear hurt to wear 😫

[u/InterestingFeed7931]

I’m 4 months postpartum and still wearing high waisted clothes. I finally got a referral for PT for scar massage because I still have tenderness. Physical therapist says my stomach feels very sticky (scar adhesions) and she’s doing scar massages to break that up and help the slight ab separation close up and then giving me strengthening exercises for my lower abdomen, pelvic floor, lower back, and hips. I’m back to the weight I was before I was pregnant but these issues I’m having with scar adhesions and abdominal separation/weakness has slowed my recovery. You can ask your OB for a physical therapy referral to get evaluated there for anything that might be slowing or preventing a full recovery.

[u/svmmome]

My.stomach didn't feel "right" for a least 4 months after c section and I didn't get real abdominal strength back until like 6 mo pp it was so frustrating having to break into a sweat just getting up from a chair or sitting up in bed.