Belly Wrapping « Back to Group Discussions

[Veritas Vitae]

I've been intrigued by this idea since Ithappened brought it up in the hospital bag thread, so I thought I'd start a thread for it.  I did a search on mothering and found a couple of previous DDC threads which discussed how they went about wrapping their bellies. It seems they were happy with the results.

This first thread seems to have the most information as far as links to different products:

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1326676/belly-wrapping-post-pregnancy

Here are some other threads that discuss belly wrapping:

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1321396/belly-wrapping-after-birth

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1270989/belly-wrap-questions

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1326651/belly-wrapping

http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1257878/belly-wrapping

[poppylove]

Thanks VV. I have been meaning to chat with y'all about this too, but keep forgetting. I don't think I want to deal with the giant sheet postpartum, but am definitely thinking about belly binding. Will probably just grab the one that folks use after abdominal surgery. Can't hurt right? Will be nicer to feel all tucked in anyways, rather then sitting around with empty space tummy. 

I see you are expecting your first. In my experience it really wasnt that awful, since I barely had a moment to think about it. As in all I was doing for weeks was eating.feeding.sleeping..repeat. Ha. And nursing rocks for this. By my 6 week appt I had lost 30 # and it wasn't because I wasn't eating like the hungry creature I was. 

Anyways, the reason I feel like doing it this time is because I now have  a toddler and feel like I want to be more "together" sooner then later. 

Thanks for bringing the subject up, interested to hear if someone has experience with this.

[andaluza]

Thanks Veritas. I hope that if anyone on our ddc has any experience with this they'll chime in. I'm interested in both belly and hips.

I'd love to know if anyone with prior pregnancies has noticed what happened to their hips with or without the binding in the past. I want to get my hips back into a similar range so I don't have to buy a completely new wardrobe post partum. I was alarmed last month when some skirts with elastic waists that I though I'd be able to wear wouldn't slip past them anymore. Of course I notice the belly, but the hips seems a little more subtle but also quite important.

My mom's friend from Thailand was going to look into one for me when she went this summer, but her plans have changed, so I think I'll probably stick with one of the ones made in the US. 

[~Demeter~]

I bound my belly after my 5th daughter,. It helped my diastasis immensely... I have before and after pics (after my 4th and after my 5th comparison pics) and the difference is very noticeable. I will do it again after this baby comes...

[sallyrae17]

I didn't have any difference in my hips after my first pregnancy. I was actually way smaller after having my son than I was pre-pregnancy, which I attribute to breastfeeding. 

EDIT: I should add that I didn't use binding and that my hips weren't smaller...I was just super scrawny.

Edited by sallyrae17 - 6/7/12 at 8:29am

[LeAnn A Doula]

I'm thinking about using one of those elastic wraps and maybe the hip thing. I think i might notice the difference in my hips as a fairly petite first time mom. I'm also wondering if a pair of Lululemon leggings would work as a replacement for compression hose in the next couple months? I don't really have any swelling at this point but I'm wondering if it would help w circulation/vericose veins. They have a weave that's pretty intense.

[monkeyscience]

I'm planning on getting an abdominal binder - probably one of the basic post-surgery types because they're much cheaper.

In looking through that thread, I do have a question - anyone have any idea how safe hip binding is if you're planning on future pregnancies? I would be worried about narrowing my hips too much, and making future deliveries difficult. Theoretically, the relaxin produced in future pregnancies should help with that, but I'd hate to take the chance. Plus, and maybe this is weird, I'd be worried about narrowing my hips too much. I like having curves! It would be weird if I didn't have hips any more. That may be anatomically impossible, I don't know. But at least from the front, I've been blessed with an hourglass figure since puberty, and I'd hate to lose that. (From the side, well, that's a different matter!) Since I have no idea what my hips measured before pregnancy, I have no idea if they've grown. I've been in maternity pants pretty exclusively since about 10 weeks, due to a sensitive tummy. The few times I've tried wiggling in to non-maternity pants to see if I could use the belly band SIL loaned me, the pants have gotten hung up on my thighs, so who knows about my hips? At least I know where some of my pregnancy weight is going.

[andaluza]

Hi Demeter! Glad to see you back, it feels like you've been away for a long time. What belly binder did you use? 

That's a good question, Monkey, and I have no idea, but I personally disbelieve a lot of the claims that these products make anyway (i.e. Your hips will be smaller than prepregnancy!!!). How is that even possible? I know that relaxin is supposedly still working in the first 8 weeks postpartum, but the short term binding won't remove bones or turn you into a circus freak. Given how effective relaxin was in widening my hips, though, I am confident that it would widen me again. It's funny because I'm a lot older than a lot of you, and having my first, and I did think it would be my only child, so I wasn't really concerned about that issue before. But lately I've been a little less sure that this will be the only one. It's a little premature for me to be making that decision yet, but since I probably have less fertile time left, it's definitely something we need to give serious consideration soon.

[LeAnn A Doula]

I was just thinking that it would help my hips return to their pre-preg condition, much like the wrap helps your abs return to their regular state. Kind of holding everything in place as it heals rather than maintaining the slightly broader position their bound to be in. It's probbaly less noticeable to some, depending on the structure of the pelvis. Some have to expand more to accomodate baby. I doubt that it would do much to change your pre-preg figure, any decrease there would more likely be from lost weight rather then any kind of compression. For me, its more about avoiding the feeling that my hips have broadened post-baby. Vain, I know, but what do you do?

[ilovetchotchkes]

Honestly, my hips are so MASSIVE, that wrapping them woudl do little more than make me crazy. 

Seriously- lets put it this way, when i'm not preggo. My measurements are  40 to 42 (depending on time of the month) 32 48. My sister teases me that women like me are just MADE for having babies. :) 

Then again, my ribs and everything else went back FAST after my son was born. YAY for corsets and  being a Civil War reenactor!!!! I was back in my smallest reenacting clothes 3 weeks after!

[ithappened]

any updates? what have people decided to try/do?

[Sol_y_Paz]

I am going to do nothing.  That is mainly since I can't imagine researching all that time and then buying another thing at this point...I am still working on my list of things for baby in regards to that.  I can't wait for that part to be done and over with!  

Plus I have a hunch my body will bounce back on its own, don't laugh.  Yeah, it won't ever be exactly the same, but I am not too worried about it.  

[LilyTiger]

I wasn't really going to research anything.  I'll probably get the one that they sell at Target and see how it feels.  I can't imagine doing it for long periods of time or anything, but it might be nice for the first week or so just to get things moving back to their original positions.  A lot of it will depend on what kind of birth I end up having.  A lightweight duty one will be fine for a vaginal birth, but I would get the heavy duty surgical one if I ended up having a C-section.  That's partly why I'm not buying anything until after the birth.

[Ninetales]

They gave me a big piece of fabric with velcro on it after my c-section.  I used that thing constantly for probably two weeks after, and still quite a bit for a long time.  My sister hated the thing, but I liked having it on.  I'll probably use that again.

[Mama Chickadee]

I unknowingly kind of did belly wrapping after my first, having never heard of it. It felt like my insides were going to drop out of my vagina after giving birth, and it was such a disconcerting feeling. I had a couple of "bella bands" - you know, the kind you use to extend the life of your non-preggo jeans and zipper pants when you can't button them anymore? I wore both of those kind of over/under my belly, and also used the pregnancy back brace I'd been wearing in the 3rd trimester for a bit, too. I felt much better and more "secure" and like my mid section wasn't mushing all over the place. 

For my 2nd birth, I did some research, and eventually ended up getting a belly band off amazon.com - can't remember if it was specifically a belly binding band, or just a post-abdominal surgery band. It worked just fine, and more convenient than layering pregnancy tummy things. I do recall that I didn't feel comfortable using it until about 3 days after the birth (too tight), and still ended up using the bella band for the first couple of days. I probably wore it for several weeks after the birth. I felt like it was worth the money for me.

I got a moby wrap to carry my second kiddo in, and though it seems pretty large, I wonder if that might work for the first few days. I will probably just be wearing my pregnancy dresses for the first week or so anyway since they are the most comfortable thing for me right now, so I don't care too much about the bulk.

As for the question on shrinking hip width, I have no idea. I didn't use belly binding for that purpose, and guess I just don't care enough anyway!

[Mama Chickadee]

Oh, one thing I do remember about my research into belly binding - its important to make sure your uterus is in the correct position when you do this. The last thing you want to do is tightly bind your belly, and end up with a prolapsed uterus.

The easiest way to put on any belly binding implement is to lay flat on a bed with your feet close to a wall.  "walk" your feet up the wall a foot or two so that gravity helps push your uterus down (in this case, actually up toward your rib cage) Put the belly binder on, and you are good to go. 

[andaluza]

Thanks for sharing more experiences, ladies! I still haven't purchased anything and it seems likely that whatever I get will be from Amazon.

[monkeyscience]

I think I'm going to get this one, based on reviews. I'm just annoyed that the size/color combination I want is $5-10 more expensive than other size/color combos. People's biggest complaint seems to be that it's too big/loose, so I'm definitely going with a small.

[1stTimeMama4-4-10]

Originally Posted by monkeyscience 

I think I'm going to get this one, based on reviews. I'm just annoyed that the size/color combination I want is $5-10 more expensive than other size/color combos. People's biggest complaint seems to be that it's too big/loose, so I'm definitely going with a small.

This is exactly what I got too! I hope mine isn't too big though.

[Veritas Vitae]

I got the same one, I hope it works out. I was thinking of getting a hip one too, but I'm not sure.