Stretch marks in later pregnancies but not the first?

[AmyKT]

I was incredibly lucky in my first pregnancy and didn't get any stretch marks. I gained between 30 and 35 pounds, and it was pretty steady. I don't know if it had to do with my pattern of weight gain, or if it's just genetics.

I'm wondering if that means I'm off the hook for this pregnancy, too, or if they might find me this time.

Anyone have experience with not getting stretch marks the first time but getting them in later pregnancies? If so, was anything different that time? Weight gain, exercise, water intake?

Mind you, I'm not completely stressing over whether I get them or not, I'm just curious, though I'd rather not have them, if given the choice .

[gentlestrengths]

Originally Posted by AmyKT

I was incredibly lucky in my first pregnancy and didn't get any stretch marks. I gained between 30 and 35 pounds, and it was pretty steady. I don't know if it had to do with my pattern of weight gain, or if it's just genetics.

I'm wondering if that means I'm off the hook for this pregnancy, too, or if they might find me this time.

Anyone have experience with not getting stretch marks the first time but getting them in later pregnancies? If so, was anything different that time? Weight gain, exercise, water intake?

Mind you, I'm not completely stressing over whether I get them or not, I'm just curious, though I'd rather not have them, if given the choice .

Definitely. I didn't get stretch marks until my 2nd pregnancy. My first baby was 8 pounds, and my second was 8 pounds 12 ounces. I didn't get very many though. I don't think I'm all that prone to them. I just got a few around my navel...2 or 3 really. My stretch marks also "disappear" well. i actually ate and drank and exercised WAYYYYYY better with my second pregnancy. i did not gain as much weight either. so i think it all comes down to growth spurts (for some people). I think that was it for me. I went on to have an 8 pound 5 ounce baby and then a 10 pound baby. Stretch marks only from the 2nd!

[MammaB21]

Good thread, I'll be

Last pregnancy I used cocoa butter from the very beginning, twice a day and no stretch marks. I think it has more to do with genetics then using the lotion, but I'm a little worried because I can't stomach the smell of the cocoa butter this time around so I haven't used it at all. I like to at least feel like I'm doing something productive.

[Pinoikoi]

I didn't get any stretch marks with my first, but by my third I did (but only around my boobs).. I think it was because my third developed the longest/strongest nursing relationship compared with my other kids.

[MiaMama]

I did get gnarly stretch marks with my first, and I think that that are genetic. Mine look exactly like my mom's. I also did not get them in the places that stretched the most, but other random places.

I was getting comments all the way through like "wow, really you're pregnant?? you're sooooo tiny? I can't tell!" Yet my marks are like the very fabric of my skin tore and was replaced with weird silky skin with no substance below (sorry if that sounds gross!) LOL. It really seems unlikely to me that they are from the physical act of stretching. The ones on my belly from pregnancy have a totally different character than the ones on my breasts that I got during puberty. The ones on my breast are just slightly different color lines that seem like they could heal/fade. The ones on my belly (and inner thighs??? lol) seem like my skin is irreversibly changed.

So, I've got my fingers crossed that if you missed them with the first, you will either miss them with later pregnancies or get the kind that can heal and fade. I actually cheer for the women who never get them, and feel a bit sorry for my daughter.

[Ashes]

I can't stand the smell of cocoa butter either. Palmers has a kind that is scent free from the drug store in a white pump bottle. It has a bit of a smell, but not cocoa butter, more like... a cheap cream. hah.

I am on my second pregnancy so really I am just listening in this thread. I had 3 small stretch marks with my first and they didn't appear until around week 38 or 39 - on my belly that is.

I got MAJOR ones around my breasts after the baby was born. It was from when my milk came in and my boobs turned into torpedoes. So keep applying the cream to your breasts before and after birth in case that helps.

[Deir]

Cream just can't help. If you saw the stretch "marks" I have you'd know what I mean. I get annoyed when people say they put some cream on their belly and that's why they didn't get any. I am a fit, active healthy person-I am a professional actor/choreographer. But I am also a fair haired Irish person and who knows maybe there is some chronic nutritional deficiency that contributed but whatever, I gained 30 gradual lbs with each pg and developed these "marks"that look more like my skin has been burned or raked with something. I hope you don't get them! I've finally made peace with them but it took alot of time. Ahhh vanity!

[AmyKT]

Thanks for the replies!

I want to clarify that I didn't use any creams at all, other than the occasional bit of regular body lotion after showering. I think I did just luck out in the genetics dept. My mother has just a few stretch marks on her belly (I think she said from her 2nd pg -- with my brother, not me! ha!), and you can barely see them because they are the same color as her skin. We are both very pale. I have some on my thighs from puberty, and they are barely visible, as well. They never were red. Always silvery beige.

For those of you with extreme stretch marks, you have my sympathy. My SIL is a very petite, athletic woman who didn't gain more than 30 pounds with her first pregancy, but she also developed very visible stretch marks. She is not one to complain, but she has made a comment or two about how they bother her. She is pregnant with twins this time, so they will probably increase.

I'll just keep hoping to get as lucky as I was the first time, and if I do get them, maybe they'll be the nearly invisible kind. If not, I guess I'll deal with it. Luckily, I've never been a bikini wearer.

[Tizzy]

I didn't get any stretch marks in my first pregnancy until I was "overdue" by 2 days. Then I started to massively retain fluid and got just a couple right below my navel.
I thought for sure I'd be doomed because I have a bunch on my thighs from puberty.
2nd pregnancy I didn't get any new ones and I'm 24 weeks through my third with no new ones.
I never use any special creams, the only thing I do that could possibly help is that I drink a lot of fluids to stay hydrated from the inside out.

[Georgetown HB Mom]

I am on baby #3 and don't have one single stretch mark anywhere on my body. I gain between 25 and 35lbs with pregnancy and I don't do anything special to prevent stretch marks.

Lisa

[MiaMama]

Originally Posted by Deir

I gained 30 gradual lbs with each pg and developed these "marks"that look more like my skin has been burned or raked with something. I hope you don't get them!

I know exactly what you mean. My mom and I joke that it looks like we got mauled by bears. Mine are a bit smaller than my mom's, but she had 3 kids, and I am still baking my 2nd, so maybe I'll catch up. Hers are 3 inches long, and 1/2 wide, and they are just not normal skin anymore. Mine are the same, just smaller.

At first, I couldn't stop touching mine, because they felt so weird. At least they are really silky soft on the inside, and it feels like the skin is paper thin! Totally bizarre. They got lighter in color, and thus less noticable after I got down around my prepregnancy weight after my daughter, but I can not even imagine anything that would make them go away short of surgery.

[MamaMelis]

I'm 22 weeks with my third child and have yet to get a one. I don't use any creams or anything ~ so don't fear, there is hope to not get them in subsequent pregnancies!

[noobmom]

I think genetics has a lot to do with stretch marks, but also your age. Skin is less elastic as you get older...and you're always older with subsequent pregnancies. Size matters too--I didn't get any stretch marks until the last few weeks of pregnancy, if I had given birth at 38 weeks instead of 41, I might have been able to escape them. And I've only gotten 1 or 2 new ones with this second pregnancy. I hope you are as stretch mark free in the future!