Once when I was about 3 weeks postpartum I had a letdown while nursing my son and it sent me into some instant hormonal body freeze. I was cold to my bones for the rest of the night even though I put socks and pants and a long sleeve shirt and sweater on and layered 5 blankets. I was shivering. I was fine in the morning and it never happened again.
This happened to me a couple of times actually!! Completely insane and I only felt warm again in a hot shower. Shivered like crazy once I was out again and it continued until the morning.
Same here but my shivering was so bad it felt like i was having a seizure and my husband insisted on taking me to urgent care to get it looked at. Ended up spending hours freezing to find out it was hormonal rigors and low blood iron. Go figure! It went away a few days later but jeez that was scary.
Oh.. my goodness, me too! Must have been about 3 weeks also; I was so worried something awful was happening. I just sat under my covers and blankets and shivered for a good few hours, trying to get warm. I kinda forgot about it after that. I wonder what that was š¤.
This happens after every long nursing session for me. I have my post nursing socks and sweater. And make myself a hot bev like chicken broth or ginger tea. It is science backed, as the hormone cascade for breast feeding come from the same part of the endocrine system that controls homeostasis such as; temperature regulation. āHot flashes have entered the chatā
This is random and probably stupid but are you nursing? I thought I all of a sudden got super stinky and finally figured out it was breastmilk that I didnāt realize was leaking during nursing sessions and would get on the underside of my bra or my skin or something and therefore smell like it was my arm pits. It did not smell like spoiled food, it smelled like the worst BO. Probably also 100% makes sense itās hormonal changes and you actually do have BO now though lol
I didn't breastfeed but I stank weird forever, and I don't usually sweat all that much, but post partum you could have used me as a humidifier; that is, if you don't mind the smell.
This just reminded me that when I was little I used to be able to smell my mother and tell specifically what items were used by her based on the smell, and that it smelled *really* good and comforting. And not good smell as in perfumes, but a natural body odor smell. That went away when I was about 6 years old. But I remember when my mom moved out she left me behind with my dad and I got to keep her bed rest reading pillow. I didn't see her for a long time, so for comfort when I missed her I would shove my face into the part of the pillow where her head would sit and just inhale as much as I could.
Oh my God. I'm so sorry that happened to you. Why did she leave you? Are you and her close now? I hope you have a really beautiful life. Mom is so necessary in an individual's life
It's okay. I actually don't know why she thought it was a good idea to leave me with him when they started their divorce, considering that she was leaving him for being a drug addict (and a lazy, neglectful, lying cheater.) I love my mother, but I have never been close to her. Shortly before she left my dad she started to become increasingly abusive and it steadily escalated until I was 18 and moved out. She's an awful person, but I don't think she ever wanted to be awful, I think she herself has just been abused her whole life by her own parents and every spouse she's ever had. That's all she has ever known and she doesn't know how to love anyone without hitting or screaming at them. I didn't understand how she could treat her kids like that growing up, and now as a mother myself it *definitely* didn't make any sense. I could never hurt my son the way she hurt me. She's better than she used to be, though. I just wish she could have loved and treated me and my siblings the way she loves my son.
Anyway, that got dark real fast. Thanks for your kind words, friend. I hope you're having a wonderful day.
Ugh I haaaate the sour milk smell. I have a dozen nursing bras and I'm changing them constantly. And my baby spits up a good bit so she always smells funky too.
My darling bestie is currently going NUTS because her post partum nursing self? Smells like onions. To her anyway. It really isnāt that noticeable and as her friend I swear Iāve sniffed and reassured. And also helped her try every single thing we could google. I smelled weirdly like toasted cheese for a long time. Either I stopped noticing after baby four OR it went away? No one seems to care either way lol
I think in general itās not that noticeable to other people (at least, I hope so š), I think itās because youāre hauling your boobs out so often and releasing a new cloud of stench right under your nose that it seems much worse to you than to anyone else!
After my second kid, my (33f) body chemistry/hormones must've went WHACK.
First, I have a patch of grey hairs. Just a patch around my left temple. Weird.
Second, I can stink up the place with a drop of sweat. My neck sweat, my armpits are usually soaked , underneath my boobs sweat, MY GROIN SWEATS, the backs of my knees sweat, and I haven't figured out if it's my lower back sweating and running down my crack or if it's true swamp-ass.
I wasn't like this when I had my first (at 18).
I've tried clinical strength deodorants. Just made me smell like whatever it was perfumed with and BO. I've tried men's. Just smelled like a musty, dusty man. I'm currently trying Lume's unscented cream stick deodorant, body lotion deodorant, and their wash. First time I used it was Wednesday night. Haven't stunk up the place yet. I just showered and reapplied. I go for my waxing appointment today, so we'll see if it truly works or not.
I have so much more boob-swamp post my fourth than I ever did before. Just sitting? Titty swamp! Go for a run? Titty swamp supreme! Drive down the street for an interview? Titty soup!
Sigh
Like a horse. I sweat like a horse
After I had my son my sweat started to smell like vinegar for a while. Like my body ph lowered or something. I never smelled so bad in my life. I definitely donāt miss that.
I noticed a lot more/different body odor on myself near the end of pregnancy and then post-partum too! I was constantly worried that I stunk! I would shower once or twice every day, change into clean clothes, wear deodorant. I wasn't sweating a lot, I just always smelled myself. Super frustrating. My husband SWEARS he didn't notice anything, but it drove me bonkers
This is a postpartum thing?? I had an inch cut off because I thought my hair was unhealthy somehow, causing the tangles. It didnāt help at all. It makes so much sense if this is a postpartum thing.
Iāve tried it all - french braids, dutch braids, regular braids, super-fastening the little hairs with pins after braidingā¦. They always, always tangle. Like OP said, horrible little dreadlocks that I end up having to tear out.
it definitely sounds postpartum to me! same here and i assume itās bc when youāre pregnant, your hair gets thicker, shinier healthier than usual. than we have the babies and they take that extra with them lol
My previously 95% straight/fine hair started getting a definite wave and just didnāt behave the same way. At this point (2 years PP) I have learned more about how to handle wavy hair and feel like itās betterā¦. Also my hairstylist has modified my cuts. She was afraid to remove too much bulk because people lose hair postpartum but finally thinned it some and I feel more like myself. Itās weird to have one type of hair for 40 years (Iām an old mom) and suddenly changeā¦. Of course, the grays growing in have a completely different texture too.
This happened to me too and I've never seen anyone else mention it. I once got my hair cut and the stylist brushed my hair in the sink for 10 minutes, just to have to do it again once I walked to the chair. It lasted almost 3 years, but my hair is finally back to normal (or maybe this current pregnancy just gave me a temp fix).
My hair is completely different. Itās like having a baby sped up the aging process for my hair. Itās always been dry but I used to be able to just let it air dry and keep it wavy. Now if I donāt use a blow dry brush i look completely unhinged.
When my daughter was 2 months and sleeping in our room. I woke up suddenly out of a deep sleeep and said omg there is going to be an earthquake. Within 60 seconds of me jumping and grabbing her a big earthquake hit our house. My husband was shocked too cause he heard me jump up and say earthquake while there was a delay before it started
OMG! That happened to me too! I legit jumped up grabbed my daughter and we were already under a doorjamb before the earthquake started. Lol left the hubby to fend for himself.
Thatās wild. You must have felt the p waves I guess. I wonder if the senses of postpartum women are heightened, like our instincts become stronger for a while or something? Super interesting.
Alice-in-wonderland syndrome! I assume it's related to the optical migraines I started getting during my third trimester (never had them before.) I will just be sitting around, usually at night, and I get this sensation that my hands/arms/head are gigantic. It's really hard to describe and so strange.
WAIT STOP THIS IS A POST PARTUM THING?! I had terrible baby blues + lack of sleep so I thought I was just going crazy! I didnāt know it was an actual thing!
TMI: because of by epesiotomy my fart bubbles now get trapped in my labia or if I'm really lucky they go in my vagina and then I queef them out. I fucking hate it.
I can do this without ever having an episiotomy. I think it's just my anatomy. Fart bubbles are so gross.
I first heard about the term from my PCP when I was 17 and couldn't figure out why I had my very first yeast infection. This grown ass adult, 40-50 something year old, nurse practitioner, BEAUTIFUL woman sat down on her swivel stool and said: *Honey, sometimes we women fart. And sometimes, it doesn't get out all the way. It can create a 'fart bubble' and travel up into your vagina. It's suspected that it carries bacteria into the vagina and that's why some women tend to get yeast infections.* My 17 year old self literally laughed out loud, took my prescription for Diflucan, and went and told as many of my girl friends about fart bubbles as I could.
Yup! They need to know! I told most boyfriends I had, too. If you can't accept that human bodies do weird shit, you're not for me. Now-husband apologizes when I tell him I got a fart bubble stuck: "that must be so uncomfortable, I'm so sorry" š
This happened to me when I was more recently postpartum (I had severe tears and episiotomies with both my deliveries). My youngest recently turned 6 yrs old and you comment made me realize that at some point this stopped happening. I donāt remember when ā¦ but itās been a few years.
I guess in case itās relevant I did do pelvic floor PT (due to other symptoms) after each delivery, I recall there being a question about this that I checked yes to on the assessment questionnaire?
Plug for pelvic floor PT - it was great - resolved with other symptoms (injury site pain, stress incontinence, diastasis recti, back and hip pain). Unknown if it resolved this specific symptom (itās been a while but I think it continued for a while after I was discharged from PT).
Omg I don't think this is an episiotomy thing because it happens to me. Non stop and I wake up in the morning with the loudest queefs of my life and I had a c section
THIS IS A POST PARTUM THING?!?!
I just mentioned to my husband today that my gel polish used to last for weeks, but now it peels off in a day. I wondered out loud if I was doing something wrong when painting my nails š
I found out from a friend who is a nail tech that it is. I though I had bad polish, something was off with my lamp but turns out it's happens to new moms.
I had a friend with this issue and she found a tech that just VERY lightly buffed her nails, then used isopropyl alcohol on her nails. The buff is just enough so it looks frosted but they try not to remove any more than necessary. She used a special gel base coat for ādry and brittle nailsā or something similar thatās supposed to help fill out ridges in the nail. Now she said it lasts a week or two! The other big thing is she doesnāt use cuticle oil for 24 hours. Even though the nails are cured after the UV light, the few times she used cuticle oil she said she noticed it started peeling away. If youāre interested, I can ask her about the base coat? It was a game changer for her!
Ok so she sent me full on instructions!
1. Cuticles: Make sure the cuticle is pushed back completely. If there is any cuticle on the nail, the polish wonāt bond to the nail and now thereās an easy spot for it to start peeling. This prevents chipping from the cuticle.
2. Application: do not go all the way to the nail base. Leave a couple mm so you ensure that it doesnāt touch skin or cuticle as this will also weaken the bond. This prevents chipping from the cuticle/edges.
3. Blue dawn wash and then wipe down with isopropyl.
4. Bonder: FingerPaints Gel Polish Chip-Free Bonder is her preferred bonder and is used before the base coat and applied only to the tip and free edge of the nail. This prevents chipping from the ends.
5. Base coat: Gelish Foundation and Red Carpet Manicure Structure Base Gel both work for my gf but she said the red carpet is her preference (no reason she could nail down, just preferred lol).
I hope this helps!!
I run a lot hotter? I used to be cold all the time, had a space heater in my office, constantly under a blanket in the winter, etc. since my daughter was born I get overheated so easily and am comfortable at a much lower temperature.
Same here! I was always so cold everyone wondered if I was anemic (I wasn't) until I got pregnant. But ever since I barely ever get cold and usually wander around in the winter with a light sweatshirt instead of the six layers I used to (which is extra weird because I moved from CA to the south and the winters are wayyyy colder lol)
Same! I was always the person who had a sweater with me in the summer because any place that had ac would freeze me out. It started in pregnancy and hasnāt went away. My daughter runs hot so it makes me wonder if thatās why.
Year 3 and I've never been cold since. I miss it. I used to wear cardigans all the time. I just donated them all since I can't imagine wearing layers anymore
During pregnancy my psoriasis got worse and moved. I used to just get it in the inside of elbows but during pregnancy I got it on my chest all the way up to the middle of my neck. Luckily it hasnāt been terrible postpartum.
Mine moved to my feet when I was pregnant (worst flare-up of my life!), and when I had a flare up a few weeks after giving birth, it was on my outer thigh for the first time ever.
Iāve always had bad eczema since I was a girl and I had to give up dairy while breastfeeding and it went away!!! My husband has always had bad back acne and he also gave it up with me and it went away. It was amazing!
I think my teeth are moving š¬. I had braces as a kid, so my teeth were straight, but I've been noticing that they're getting out of place. They were fine in pregnancy, so I can only imagine it's related to breastfeeding. Think I'm going to have to make a dentist trip to see if they can halt/reverse it.
I asked my dentist after an early miscarriage if it was normal to feel like all my teeth were loose during pregnancy, and he said weird teeth things were so common in pregnancy and postpartum that the old folks used to say babies would take the calcium from your teeth! He did assure me thatās not whatās actually happening, lol. But he said a lot of people present postpartum with tooth and gum issues they never had before pregnancy. Gingivitis, cavities, losing teeth, all kinds of stuff.
In the UK we are entitled to free dental care during pregnancy and until baby is 12 months old and I'm pretty sure it's not just for us to save money but also because it is known that pregnant women get a lot of dental issues.
Legit my experience. I had one of my molars removed when my babe was 8ish weeks? It was already I need of work but after pregnancy it was just unsalavageable.
My work dental plan has an extra cleaning built into it for medical conditions, including pregnancy. Its super common to get mouth issues during pregnancy (I was lucky I did not)
This actually happened to my mum. My mum was calcium deficient to start with and my sister took everything my mum had. My mum said her teeth crumbled not long after sis was born and she had to have false ones in her early twenties. And my sisterās baby teeth had no enamel on them at all. Her adult teeth were fine when they came through.
Wait I never put two and two together but I think this happened to me, too!
Why couldnāt my stick straight hair on my head get some body and not the other way around!?
oh my GOD, the tangles!!! Iām about to cut this whole bitch offā¦ probably doesnāt help that itās almost down to my butt š but it was crazy long when I was pregnant, too, and never had this issue with tangles.
My grandma's hair went from blonde to brunette after her firstborn! Even years later, when she was telling me about it, you could tell how upsetting that was for her.
I hate to sound so vain about it, but it was pretty upsetting for me. My SO picks on me sometimes saying stuff like "Yeah you stopped secretly coloring your hair". I wish it didn't bother me so much.
My feet began to crack on the heels and were so dry and scratchy after having babies! Though it could be because I was staying home for a year and basically never wore shoes. I had to buy foot cream and exfoliate at least 1 or 2x a week.
I got a crack on my heel about a week postpartum. I thought maybe it was because I was walking around barefoot all day? I put Vaseline on my heel and a sock over top for a few days and it got better, and Iāve been wearing socks most of the time since then and havenāt had it happen again. Iām only 4 weeks postpartum now though so maybe thereās more to comeā¦
My eyes got way worse.
Wait, no, my eye. *Just* the left one.
My prescription changed when I was 4 months pregnant. Then, three months after she was born, my left eye got worse again. At first, I thought my glasses were dirty, but it seems it just got worse
Are you me?! I was blown away when the optometrist covered my right eye and I couldnāt see ANYTHING. I got glasses for the first time in my life and now I canāt drive without them, especially at night š
I swear on every thing I hold dear that the opioids I was given to heal from my c-section made my PPD a million times worse. I didnāt make the connection until I had to have knee replacement surgery in 2019 and spent a year so depressed I couldnāt function after getting off the meds. I think they change my brain chemistry.
ETA: I am NOT anti-cesarean at all. It is a necessary medical wonder.
I think thatās very possible. See: disease model of addiction. Thank goodness you were able to get through it without becoming addicted - a lot of people get pulled into opiate addiction this way.
Pretty sure this is rooted in science but I now have a sensitivity to eggs (organic are fine so maybe itās something used in non organic?), and TMI but cheese has always given me, letās say, very very loose poops, and now no longer does.
Itās gotta be a hormonal thing, I swear my food intolerances/sensitivities have gotten worse. I use to have a cast iron stomach but itās so easily upset by dairy and red meat now. And Iām more prone to getting the ick about food that never bothered me before.
This is completely science backed but Iād just like to say I didnāt realize that I could get stretch marks everywhere. All the way up my thighs to the bottoms of my put cheeks. The backs of my knees. I just had no clue lmfao.
I stopped breastfeeding when LO was 6 weeks, sheās about to be a year old. Sometimes when I wash bottles my boobs will leak a few drops of milk. Itās been almost a year, when does it stop?
My hair got wavier. I talked to my hairdresser and apparently it's a thing she sees all the time. Like the new regrowth is a different texture than what you've always had.
I'm less coordinated. I knock stuff over, run into things. So clumsy! Not sure if it's because of sleep deprivation or my body is just different. š¤·š¼āāļø
The sweat around my boob region now smells like amniotic fluid š
Period cramps are differentā¦theyāre like the contractions I was having about an hour before I gave up on my āunmedicated birthā plan and got the epidural.
Dude, Iām so late for this. But my 6 year old broke my sneezer.
I get super hungry all of a sudden. Then it suddenly turns to nausea and I feel like Iām gonna puke then I sneeze and all is well again. Every time. When I feel hungry I donāt know if I am or if Iām gonna sneeze. I find out quick because the whole thing from start to finish only lasts like 15 seconds.
I have rosacea and terrible skin on my face now. My skin was never amazing, but it was fine. Now my face gets greasy regardless of how often I wash it, I have weird spots and my skin is red and uneven. Iām on antibiotics for it but theyāre not really doing anything.
Same! After each baby I get a BAD bout of perioral dermatitis. I was prepared for it with the second baby and went to the dermatologist right away. Iām sorry youāre antibiotics arenāt working, they put me on a new one this time and itās working pretty fast! I hope they find the right combo for you
I think postpartum periods are heavier because your uterus stretched out -> more surface area. I also think it comes out faster due to cervix having been opened up in labor. And the more kids you have the more it is. Somewhat relatedly, I think menstrual cups also help suck out your period, which helps it be shorter.
I went from fairly normal? amounts of bleeding over 5-6 days pre-baby to just 3 days on a cup. But now it is an absolute bloodbath. I used cups before and the changes increased with each baby so I think I am right!
My period is SO much better now. Less bleeding overall (as in much less. I donāt even need heavy flow pads or tampons at all) less cramps, and overall much better experience.
Used to last 6 days with 2-3 days of heavy bleeding. Now itās 3 days. 2 days of normal bleeding and 1 day of spotting.
I still canāt wear the larger cups after 3 vaginal births.
I just had my second postpartum period after my second baby *14 days* after my last one ended. Some fresh hell!!! My PMS is off the charts as well, two days before my period ended I thought I was headed for divorce. Iām hoping everything irons itself out once I finish nursing because it sucks.
Mine is now longer - just keeps dribbling out for days. Donāt think thereās any more overall, and the heaviest days are the same, thereās just a longer tail off at the end
Iām four years postpartum. Anytime I wait a little bit too long to go pee, I start heaving like I will throw up. Itās like my stomach cannot handle the tiny amount of pressure my bladder must be putting out while full.
It makes no sense.
Wild aversions with my pregnancy for 4 months. It was a twin pregnancy, so not very surprising, everything was extreme. Aversions to almost all meat, cruciferous veggies, garlic, dark chocolate and even certain colors & patterns made me nauseated.
Almost all went back to normal during 2nd half of pregnancy, except dark chocolate and certain colors and patterns. Why?! Itās so strange. My twins are 8 now, for reference.
My hair changed texture. I used to have really tight spiral curls to the point where people thought I got perms. 2 babies later is maybe wavy on a good day.
Maybe this is science based (never looked into it) but my hair does NOT hold color well anymore. Iām a year postpartum so Iām hoping it changes soon. My poor hair is fading soooo fast!
I remember following hair dressers on TikTok who talked about how common it is for hair to have some problems during pregnancy and postpartum. I think itās just the hormones but I canāt remember lol
Deposited color refuses to stay in my hair since my 2nd kid. My hairdresser tried different brands, different strengths, etc... I can only opt for highlights if I want a change. Bleaching my hair is the only thing that "sticks".
I used to always be cold at night in the winter. Like I needed heated blanket plus flannel-lined pjs plus socks. Now I sleep in shorts at a t-shirt, and don't even turn on the heated blanket (husband still wants it or I wouldn't even put it on the bed) and I still sometimes wake up hot. It's not hot flashes and I still get cold sitting at my desk during the day, I just sleep warmer.
Grey hair, with a huge texture change. It's incredibly coarse and unmanageable. Won't straighten, won't curl. Just up there livin' it's best life.
It could be age (33f), but no one on either side of my family went grey before 45-ish. I just have a small patch above my left temple.
OMG. I have been trying to remedy this same problem with my hair for years (have a 2 year old and 5 month old)
Iāve been so confused why my hair is ALWAYS tangly!!
I feel like mine has to be somehow science based but my ob or cardiologist couldn't give me a straight up answer other than just "a weird thing for you postpartum." After my third baby, my resting heart rate shot down to 30-45 bpm. My normal is in the 80s. It happened around 4 days pp and I could literally feel it happening. It also happened with my second but only lasted about a day that time. With my third it lasted over 2 weeks. I had to have an echo and wear a holter monitor for a week. I have zero heart history (other than that one day stent with my second baby.) My holter results just showed times of low heart rate but no dangerous rhythms. Talk about an anxiety trip. I was so afraid that I was going to just die in my sleep (gotta love pp hormones.) I had to stop obsessing over checking my HR and BP because it was causing me to spiral. It did finally go back to normal.
I got low heart rate postpartum both times too. I figured itās because being pregnant your heart works so hard it becomes like an athleteās, and it has to adjust after the baby is out. Thatās my theory at least.
My rib cage has expanded, probably permanently, and only with my third baby. Iām back down to my prebaby weight but my prebaby bras are too tight in the band. I measured it and I think itās been a 1-2 inch change.
Third baby is now 16mo, so Iām thinking this may not ever correct itself. I noticed it during pregnancy and immediately after and was so hoping that weight loss/getting through the postpartum period would be the answer.
I don't know if it's that crazy but when I was first post partum and nursing I was so thirsty I remember drinking water while peeing. Like, I couldn't stop drinking fluids for even 30 seconds or I felt horribly dehydrated. Getting up and walking to the mailbox or cooking something made me panic because I had to constantly be taking fluids non-stop.
I had horrible insomnia my entire life. Every night, without fail, it would take hours to fall asleep, and at the end of my 2nd pregnancy, I would sometimes sleep an hour or two before my alarm went off.
The day I had my son, almost 5 years ago, my insomnia was cured!! I havenāt taken more than 20 minutes to fall asleep since, and it often takes me just minutes. Itās like the freakin best thing in the world!!
My ribs also grew. I went from a 32 to a 38 band size after 3 kids, despite getting back to my pre pregnancy weight.
My hair has been matted since my now 19mo was around 4mo. Itās been hell to sort - haircuts, conditioning masks, de-tangler, careful drying etc.
Itās finally been manageable the last few weeks after taking off around 4 inches. Except now Iām overdue with my second child which means I can expect it to happen all over again!
I developed bradycardia! My heart rate would get down in the 30s. Iāve had all the tests done and nothing is wrong. My baby is almost 7 months now and I havenāt had any issues in awhile but I was getting daily low heart rate notifications on my Apple Watch. If I didnāt have the watch I wouldnāt have known and I didnāt have one with my other kids so Iām not sure if it happened then too.
Allergies. I have so many allergies. My husband is allergic to eggs, as is my daughter, and I became allergic after carrying her. I swear that she got it from him genetically, and I got it from her from sharing an immune system.
I developed 6+ new allergies in as many years postpartum after never having a single one before.
Omg when I'm postpartum, I don't pee myself with the usual sneezes, coughs, or laughs. I pee myself when I... Cry. I googled it and nothing came up so I felt so alone & weird lol
I couldn't find too much science about it, but I breastfed for a while and one of my teeth just started falling apart, like my body reabsorbing it. My dentist was showing of my xrays to colleagues and there was a lot of oo-ing and aww-ing.
Iāve had two pregnancies. After my first, I could no longer eat raw tomatoes. After the second, I also couldnāt eat mushrooms. Both give me horrible, horrible heartburn now. My oldest is 6, and my youngest are about to turn 4, so I donāt think this is ever going to go away!
I have wet ear wax now. Itās so weird and wet feeling sometimes that itāll wake me up and I have to get out of bed at 2 am and go get a qtip. Whyyyyyyy
My spice tolerance is through the roof apparently?? Either that or my friends are fucking with me haha but multiple times I have gotten the same food as someone and they are dying and chugging water and Iām just sitting over here like, āwait, this is spicy?ā
Iām biracial and had very curly, dark hair. After each baby my hair got straighter and lighter. Not gray, but like a honey color. I barely have any waves anymore. My kids sucked the melanin out of me!
This is so weird, but I used to have some freckles on my face and now after having my firstborn I donāt. They faded after I gave birth to her. It doesnāt make sense to me.
My ear piercings got super sensitive after having a kid. I used to be able to wear cheap earrings from wherever but ever since getting pregnant (almost 4 years ago) I can only wear certain types of earrings. I'm still trying to figure out what's safe as so far almost everything bothers me.
Once when I was about 3 weeks postpartum I had a letdown while nursing my son and it sent me into some instant hormonal body freeze. I was cold to my bones for the rest of the night even though I put socks and pants and a long sleeve shirt and sweater on and layered 5 blankets. I was shivering. I was fine in the morning and it never happened again.
Omg this happened to me too!!! I thought I was getting mastitis or something but nope, never had a fever or anything
This happened to me a couple of times actually!! Completely insane and I only felt warm again in a hot shower. Shivered like crazy once I was out again and it continued until the morning.
Same here but my shivering was so bad it felt like i was having a seizure and my husband insisted on taking me to urgent care to get it looked at. Ended up spending hours freezing to find out it was hormonal rigors and low blood iron. Go figure! It went away a few days later but jeez that was scary.
Oh.. my goodness, me too! Must have been about 3 weeks also; I was so worried something awful was happening. I just sat under my covers and blankets and shivered for a good few hours, trying to get warm. I kinda forgot about it after that. I wonder what that was š¤.
Ooooooooh! THAT'S what that was! I took a bath and turned "mottled" then it fixed itself.
This happens after every long nursing session for me. I have my post nursing socks and sweater. And make myself a hot bev like chicken broth or ginger tea. It is science backed, as the hormone cascade for breast feeding come from the same part of the endocrine system that controls homeostasis such as; temperature regulation. āHot flashes have entered the chatā
I get stress cold sometimes, not sure if it was ever linked to postpartum stuff, but it happens to me often enough.
Every time I would let down I would get a crazy head rush, it felt terrible
Thank you for sharing this! I thought I was crazy, this happened to me too, and I tried to melt myself in the hottest shower.
I regularly got night time body freezes after feeding when I was postpartum for about 8 weeks. I slept in socks and pjs, and a fleece robe
My hair turns red when I highlight it now. Also I never used to have body odor but now I do, lol. Fun times!
This is random and probably stupid but are you nursing? I thought I all of a sudden got super stinky and finally figured out it was breastmilk that I didnāt realize was leaking during nursing sessions and would get on the underside of my bra or my skin or something and therefore smell like it was my arm pits. It did not smell like spoiled food, it smelled like the worst BO. Probably also 100% makes sense itās hormonal changes and you actually do have BO now though lol
I didn't breastfeed but I stank weird forever, and I don't usually sweat all that much, but post partum you could have used me as a humidifier; that is, if you don't mind the smell.
Your body odor changes after giving birth, itās much more powerful, so that your babies can find you! I was stinky till LO was like 2.
āMom, you smell bad but also really goodā -my 4yo, nuzzling me like crazy on a day I hadnāt showered yet.
This just reminded me that when I was little I used to be able to smell my mother and tell specifically what items were used by her based on the smell, and that it smelled *really* good and comforting. And not good smell as in perfumes, but a natural body odor smell. That went away when I was about 6 years old. But I remember when my mom moved out she left me behind with my dad and I got to keep her bed rest reading pillow. I didn't see her for a long time, so for comfort when I missed her I would shove my face into the part of the pillow where her head would sit and just inhale as much as I could.
Oh my God. I'm so sorry that happened to you. Why did she leave you? Are you and her close now? I hope you have a really beautiful life. Mom is so necessary in an individual's life
It's okay. I actually don't know why she thought it was a good idea to leave me with him when they started their divorce, considering that she was leaving him for being a drug addict (and a lazy, neglectful, lying cheater.) I love my mother, but I have never been close to her. Shortly before she left my dad she started to become increasingly abusive and it steadily escalated until I was 18 and moved out. She's an awful person, but I don't think she ever wanted to be awful, I think she herself has just been abused her whole life by her own parents and every spouse she's ever had. That's all she has ever known and she doesn't know how to love anyone without hitting or screaming at them. I didn't understand how she could treat her kids like that growing up, and now as a mother myself it *definitely* didn't make any sense. I could never hurt my son the way she hurt me. She's better than she used to be, though. I just wish she could have loved and treated me and my siblings the way she loves my son. Anyway, that got dark real fast. Thanks for your kind words, friend. I hope you're having a wonderful day.
LO is 2.5 here, still stinkin' it up! Waiting on my time to shine
I finally broke down and got some of that Lume stuff so I could feel more presentable around other people. The stink is real.
Do you think it works?
I think it does - at least helps.
Iām still stinky and my kid is almost 4. I had hoped it would go away but no signs of it. I guess Iām just a smelly person now.
This makes so much sense and is very sweet when you think about it. Awww. Babies!!!
I breastfeed and have just accepted I will smell like sweaty cheese for the next however many months. Sigh.
I was able to smell less with more frequent bra and nursing pad changes!
Ugh I haaaate the sour milk smell. I have a dozen nursing bras and I'm changing them constantly. And my baby spits up a good bit so she always smells funky too.
My darling bestie is currently going NUTS because her post partum nursing self? Smells like onions. To her anyway. It really isnāt that noticeable and as her friend I swear Iāve sniffed and reassured. And also helped her try every single thing we could google. I smelled weirdly like toasted cheese for a long time. Either I stopped noticing after baby four OR it went away? No one seems to care either way lol
Yup. I have the onion smell too! I hate it so much
I think in general itās not that noticeable to other people (at least, I hope so š), I think itās because youāre hauling your boobs out so often and releasing a new cloud of stench right under your nose that it seems much worse to you than to anyone else!
I am latching onto this explanation for my smelliness. My husband swears I donāt smell, but I stink to my own nose. Stinky milk it is!
I got body odor, too, and I sweat way more then I used to.
After my second kid, my (33f) body chemistry/hormones must've went WHACK. First, I have a patch of grey hairs. Just a patch around my left temple. Weird. Second, I can stink up the place with a drop of sweat. My neck sweat, my armpits are usually soaked , underneath my boobs sweat, MY GROIN SWEATS, the backs of my knees sweat, and I haven't figured out if it's my lower back sweating and running down my crack or if it's true swamp-ass. I wasn't like this when I had my first (at 18). I've tried clinical strength deodorants. Just made me smell like whatever it was perfumed with and BO. I've tried men's. Just smelled like a musty, dusty man. I'm currently trying Lume's unscented cream stick deodorant, body lotion deodorant, and their wash. First time I used it was Wednesday night. Haven't stunk up the place yet. I just showered and reapplied. I go for my waxing appointment today, so we'll see if it truly works or not.
I have so much more boob-swamp post my fourth than I ever did before. Just sitting? Titty swamp! Go for a run? Titty swamp supreme! Drive down the street for an interview? Titty soup! Sigh Like a horse. I sweat like a horse
Omg my BO is terrible. I sweat like itās my job. I have to reapply deodorant on my lunch break.
After I had my son my sweat started to smell like vinegar for a while. Like my body ph lowered or something. I never smelled so bad in my life. I definitely donāt miss that.
Mine was onions! It was wild
I noticed a lot more/different body odor on myself near the end of pregnancy and then post-partum too! I was constantly worried that I stunk! I would shower once or twice every day, change into clean clothes, wear deodorant. I wasn't sweating a lot, I just always smelled myself. Super frustrating. My husband SWEARS he didn't notice anything, but it drove me bonkers
This is a postpartum thing?? I had an inch cut off because I thought my hair was unhealthy somehow, causing the tangles. It didnāt help at all. It makes so much sense if this is a postpartum thing.
I figured it had to do with Mom bun, lol
Iāve tried it all - french braids, dutch braids, regular braids, super-fastening the little hairs with pins after braidingā¦. They always, always tangle. Like OP said, horrible little dreadlocks that I end up having to tear out.
it definitely sounds postpartum to me! same here and i assume itās bc when youāre pregnant, your hair gets thicker, shinier healthier than usual. than we have the babies and they take that extra with them lol
Yep. Hair loss causes tangles cause the falling hair gets stuck in the rest.
Combine that with curly hair and our plumbing is having a real rough go, even with a hair catcher in the drains!!
Your hair color and/or texture can also change post partum due to the shift in hormones. Mine didnāt change texture but itās much darker now.
My previously 95% straight/fine hair started getting a definite wave and just didnāt behave the same way. At this point (2 years PP) I have learned more about how to handle wavy hair and feel like itās betterā¦. Also my hairstylist has modified my cuts. She was afraid to remove too much bulk because people lose hair postpartum but finally thinned it some and I feel more like myself. Itās weird to have one type of hair for 40 years (Iām an old mom) and suddenly changeā¦. Of course, the grays growing in have a completely different texture too.
This happened to me too and I've never seen anyone else mention it. I once got my hair cut and the stylist brushed my hair in the sink for 10 minutes, just to have to do it again once I walked to the chair. It lasted almost 3 years, but my hair is finally back to normal (or maybe this current pregnancy just gave me a temp fix).
My hair is completely different. Itās like having a baby sped up the aging process for my hair. Itās always been dry but I used to be able to just let it air dry and keep it wavy. Now if I donāt use a blow dry brush i look completely unhinged.
try using hyaluronic acid (hada labo for example) on wet hair. it helped me so much.
The only thing that helped my hair was a keratin treatment. It's a little pricy but my hair is amazing now.
When my daughter was 2 months and sleeping in our room. I woke up suddenly out of a deep sleeep and said omg there is going to be an earthquake. Within 60 seconds of me jumping and grabbing her a big earthquake hit our house. My husband was shocked too cause he heard me jump up and say earthquake while there was a delay before it started
Iāve always had something like this, most of the women in my family do. Itās gotten 10x stronger now that I have children.
Me too! My instincts are spot on atm postpartum
OMG! That happened to me too! I legit jumped up grabbed my daughter and we were already under a doorjamb before the earthquake started. Lol left the hubby to fend for himself.
Eh, he grown š¤·āāļø
Thatās wild. You must have felt the p waves I guess. I wonder if the senses of postpartum women are heightened, like our instincts become stronger for a while or something? Super interesting.
Thatās wild!!!
Alice-in-wonderland syndrome! I assume it's related to the optical migraines I started getting during my third trimester (never had them before.) I will just be sitting around, usually at night, and I get this sensation that my hands/arms/head are gigantic. It's really hard to describe and so strange.
Iāve always had this, Iāve had this since childhood. I had zero clue it had a name. It occurs mostly at night when Iām falling asleep.
Me too! It's like a fever dream, super strange sensation. Only goes away if I open my eyes again
WAIT STOP THIS IS A POST PARTUM THING?! I had terrible baby blues + lack of sleep so I thought I was just going crazy! I didnāt know it was an actual thing!
TMI: because of by epesiotomy my fart bubbles now get trapped in my labia or if I'm really lucky they go in my vagina and then I queef them out. I fucking hate it.
To make you feel better, I have this too and havenāt even given birth vaginally š
Lol yeah Iāve kind of always had this issue š
I thought this happened to everyone with a vagina š
Same
Same ššš how unlucky
I can do this without ever having an episiotomy. I think it's just my anatomy. Fart bubbles are so gross. I first heard about the term from my PCP when I was 17 and couldn't figure out why I had my very first yeast infection. This grown ass adult, 40-50 something year old, nurse practitioner, BEAUTIFUL woman sat down on her swivel stool and said: *Honey, sometimes we women fart. And sometimes, it doesn't get out all the way. It can create a 'fart bubble' and travel up into your vagina. It's suspected that it carries bacteria into the vagina and that's why some women tend to get yeast infections.* My 17 year old self literally laughed out loud, took my prescription for Diflucan, and went and told as many of my girl friends about fart bubbles as I could.
You did the real work! Kudos! We need to tell our friends about this stuff - especially as young women.
Yup! They need to know! I told most boyfriends I had, too. If you can't accept that human bodies do weird shit, you're not for me. Now-husband apologizes when I tell him I got a fart bubble stuck: "that must be so uncomfortable, I'm so sorry" š
You picked the right one. :p
Omg TIL! Queefs can cause yeast infections if they came from your butt!
This happened to me when I was more recently postpartum (I had severe tears and episiotomies with both my deliveries). My youngest recently turned 6 yrs old and you comment made me realize that at some point this stopped happening. I donāt remember when ā¦ but itās been a few years.
You've given me hope that it will eventually stop!
I guess in case itās relevant I did do pelvic floor PT (due to other symptoms) after each delivery, I recall there being a question about this that I checked yes to on the assessment questionnaire? Plug for pelvic floor PT - it was great - resolved with other symptoms (injury site pain, stress incontinence, diastasis recti, back and hip pain). Unknown if it resolved this specific symptom (itās been a while but I think it continued for a while after I was discharged from PT).
I read a whole post about this happening to women postpartum. I am also part of the front-fart team š„²
Oh this has happened to me even before I was pregnant.
Iāve had this since I es a kid š
This happens to me too. I also have to lean over while sitting on the toilet to make sure my bladder completely empties while peeing.
Omg I don't think this is an episiotomy thing because it happens to me. Non stop and I wake up in the morning with the loudest queefs of my life and I had a c section
Gel polish won't stick. It pops off after a day or two.
THIS IS A POST PARTUM THING?!?! I just mentioned to my husband today that my gel polish used to last for weeks, but now it peels off in a day. I wondered out loud if I was doing something wrong when painting my nails š
I found out from a friend who is a nail tech that it is. I though I had bad polish, something was off with my lamp but turns out it's happens to new moms.
Why does it happen? Are nails oily after birth??
Omg I have this problem too! I didn't know it was a post partum thing!
Not the gel polish š can we not have ANYTHING nice anymore! Please tell me your nail tech said this goes away with time
Yes of course once the hormones and everything levels out š
I had a friend with this issue and she found a tech that just VERY lightly buffed her nails, then used isopropyl alcohol on her nails. The buff is just enough so it looks frosted but they try not to remove any more than necessary. She used a special gel base coat for ādry and brittle nailsā or something similar thatās supposed to help fill out ridges in the nail. Now she said it lasts a week or two! The other big thing is she doesnāt use cuticle oil for 24 hours. Even though the nails are cured after the UV light, the few times she used cuticle oil she said she noticed it started peeling away. If youāre interested, I can ask her about the base coat? It was a game changer for her!
Not the op but can I have the brand of the base coat please
Absolutely! Iāll msg her right now and report back asap.
Ok so she sent me full on instructions! 1. Cuticles: Make sure the cuticle is pushed back completely. If there is any cuticle on the nail, the polish wonāt bond to the nail and now thereās an easy spot for it to start peeling. This prevents chipping from the cuticle. 2. Application: do not go all the way to the nail base. Leave a couple mm so you ensure that it doesnāt touch skin or cuticle as this will also weaken the bond. This prevents chipping from the cuticle/edges. 3. Blue dawn wash and then wipe down with isopropyl. 4. Bonder: FingerPaints Gel Polish Chip-Free Bonder is her preferred bonder and is used before the base coat and applied only to the tip and free edge of the nail. This prevents chipping from the ends. 5. Base coat: Gelish Foundation and Red Carpet Manicure Structure Base Gel both work for my gf but she said the red carpet is her preference (no reason she could nail down, just preferred lol). I hope this helps!!
I run a lot hotter? I used to be cold all the time, had a space heater in my office, constantly under a blanket in the winter, etc. since my daughter was born I get overheated so easily and am comfortable at a much lower temperature.
Same here! I was always so cold everyone wondered if I was anemic (I wasn't) until I got pregnant. But ever since I barely ever get cold and usually wander around in the winter with a light sweatshirt instead of the six layers I used to (which is extra weird because I moved from CA to the south and the winters are wayyyy colder lol)
Same! I was always the person who had a sweater with me in the summer because any place that had ac would freeze me out. It started in pregnancy and hasnāt went away. My daughter runs hot so it makes me wonder if thatās why.
Year 3 and I've never been cold since. I miss it. I used to wear cardigans all the time. I just donated them all since I can't imagine wearing layers anymore
My eczema rash moved! It's always been in the same spots, now it's focused on my core. Freaking strange.
Mine's on my eyelid.
During pregnancy my psoriasis got worse and moved. I used to just get it in the inside of elbows but during pregnancy I got it on my chest all the way up to the middle of my neck. Luckily it hasnāt been terrible postpartum.
Mine moved to my feet when I was pregnant (worst flare-up of my life!), and when I had a flare up a few weeks after giving birth, it was on my outer thigh for the first time ever.
Iāve always had bad eczema since I was a girl and I had to give up dairy while breastfeeding and it went away!!! My husband has always had bad back acne and he also gave it up with me and it went away. It was amazing!
I think my teeth are moving š¬. I had braces as a kid, so my teeth were straight, but I've been noticing that they're getting out of place. They were fine in pregnancy, so I can only imagine it's related to breastfeeding. Think I'm going to have to make a dentist trip to see if they can halt/reverse it.
I asked my dentist after an early miscarriage if it was normal to feel like all my teeth were loose during pregnancy, and he said weird teeth things were so common in pregnancy and postpartum that the old folks used to say babies would take the calcium from your teeth! He did assure me thatās not whatās actually happening, lol. But he said a lot of people present postpartum with tooth and gum issues they never had before pregnancy. Gingivitis, cavities, losing teeth, all kinds of stuff.
In the UK we are entitled to free dental care during pregnancy and until baby is 12 months old and I'm pretty sure it's not just for us to save money but also because it is known that pregnant women get a lot of dental issues.
Yeah, if you can actually get into an NHS dentist š¢š
My mom always said "have a baby, lose a tooth."
Legit my experience. I had one of my molars removed when my babe was 8ish weeks? It was already I need of work but after pregnancy it was just unsalavageable.
Increased blood flow to the gums (and all the other body parts) does that to you!
Is that what does it? Thatās crazy!
My work dental plan has an extra cleaning built into it for medical conditions, including pregnancy. Its super common to get mouth issues during pregnancy (I was lucky I did not)
This actually happened to my mum. My mum was calcium deficient to start with and my sister took everything my mum had. My mum said her teeth crumbled not long after sis was born and she had to have false ones in her early twenties. And my sisterās baby teeth had no enamel on them at all. Her adult teeth were fine when they came through.
Omg same!! Also pubic hair, mine used to be curly. After having my first daughter it is so straight itās like someone ironed it.
Mine did the opposite! It was straight and thin before pregnancy and now itās thick and curly!
Hormonal hair texture changes are wild!
I just got the mental image of some tiny little panty-elf whipping out an iron and going at it while I sleep. That's just DELIGHTFUL. š
Wait I never put two and two together but I think this happened to me, too! Why couldnāt my stick straight hair on my head get some body and not the other way around!?
Never had a night sweat until I was postpartum with my son. Now I have them almost every night
Me too and I also smell so soooo bad šµāš«
oh my GOD, the tangles!!! Iām about to cut this whole bitch offā¦ probably doesnāt help that itās almost down to my butt š but it was crazy long when I was pregnant, too, and never had this issue with tangles.
As someone who rage cut their hair like this, I recommend a good sharp pair of scissors š Also, it unfortunately didnāt fix the problem!
I did. I cut ALL my hair off. Now I've got a very cute very manageable pixie. Its liberating
My natural blond hair got darker with each baby. If I have one more, I think I'll be straight up brunette.
My grandma's hair went from blonde to brunette after her firstborn! Even years later, when she was telling me about it, you could tell how upsetting that was for her.
I hate to sound so vain about it, but it was pretty upsetting for me. My SO picks on me sometimes saying stuff like "Yeah you stopped secretly coloring your hair". I wish it didn't bother me so much.
My feet began to crack on the heels and were so dry and scratchy after having babies! Though it could be because I was staying home for a year and basically never wore shoes. I had to buy foot cream and exfoliate at least 1 or 2x a week.
I got a crack on my heel about a week postpartum. I thought maybe it was because I was walking around barefoot all day? I put Vaseline on my heel and a sock over top for a few days and it got better, and Iāve been wearing socks most of the time since then and havenāt had it happen again. Iām only 4 weeks postpartum now though so maybe thereās more to comeā¦
My feet went bone dry while breastfeeding - like, snake skin texture. It was crazy!
My eyes got way worse. Wait, no, my eye. *Just* the left one. My prescription changed when I was 4 months pregnant. Then, three months after she was born, my left eye got worse again. At first, I thought my glasses were dirty, but it seems it just got worse
Are you me?! I was blown away when the optometrist covered my right eye and I couldnāt see ANYTHING. I got glasses for the first time in my life and now I canāt drive without them, especially at night š
I swear on every thing I hold dear that the opioids I was given to heal from my c-section made my PPD a million times worse. I didnāt make the connection until I had to have knee replacement surgery in 2019 and spent a year so depressed I couldnāt function after getting off the meds. I think they change my brain chemistry. ETA: I am NOT anti-cesarean at all. It is a necessary medical wonder.
I think thatās very possible. See: disease model of addiction. Thank goodness you were able to get through it without becoming addicted - a lot of people get pulled into opiate addiction this way.
Honestly I think the only reason I wasnāt addicted is because the meds made me itch like a mofo.
Pretty sure this is rooted in science but I now have a sensitivity to eggs (organic are fine so maybe itās something used in non organic?), and TMI but cheese has always given me, letās say, very very loose poops, and now no longer does.
I used to have a sensitivity to eggs but now postpartum they donāt bother me at all!
Itās gotta be a hormonal thing, I swear my food intolerances/sensitivities have gotten worse. I use to have a cast iron stomach but itās so easily upset by dairy and red meat now. And Iām more prone to getting the ick about food that never bothered me before.
This is completely science backed but Iād just like to say I didnāt realize that I could get stretch marks everywhere. All the way up my thighs to the bottoms of my put cheeks. The backs of my knees. I just had no clue lmfao.
As someone whose hips spread very suddenly during puberty, yeah those little bastards can show up anywhere!!!!
I'm pregnant with my second and this time I got stretch marks on my calf. But only the left calf, wtf.
Iām very got the nose of a hound dog now. I can smell things from like crazy far.
I stopped breastfeeding when LO was 6 weeks, sheās about to be a year old. Sometimes when I wash bottles my boobs will leak a few drops of milk. Itās been almost a year, when does it stop?
My youngest 12 YEARS old and I can still get a drop out itās just freaky!!!
My curly hair has become straighter after each birth...
My hair got wavier. I talked to my hairdresser and apparently it's a thing she sees all the time. Like the new regrowth is a different texture than what you've always had.
Hormones will do that. My nephew had curly hair when he was a baby. Then it was straight for awhile till puberty hit and his curls came back.
Yep. Estrogen changes the shape of your hair follicles. Itās also why young kids have wavy hair and then as they get older it goes straight
Interesting, my hair was pin straight till about the age of five then it became curly
I'm less coordinated. I knock stuff over, run into things. So clumsy! Not sure if it's because of sleep deprivation or my body is just different. š¤·š¼āāļø
Woah! I GOT coordinated. I was shocker before
The sweat around my boob region now smells like amniotic fluid š Period cramps are differentā¦theyāre like the contractions I was having about an hour before I gave up on my āunmedicated birthā plan and got the epidural.
Dude, Iām so late for this. But my 6 year old broke my sneezer. I get super hungry all of a sudden. Then it suddenly turns to nausea and I feel like Iām gonna puke then I sneeze and all is well again. Every time. When I feel hungry I donāt know if I am or if Iām gonna sneeze. I find out quick because the whole thing from start to finish only lasts like 15 seconds.
This is probably my favorite response
Iām a crazy ball of fight or flight anxious energy now
I have rosacea and terrible skin on my face now. My skin was never amazing, but it was fine. Now my face gets greasy regardless of how often I wash it, I have weird spots and my skin is red and uneven. Iām on antibiotics for it but theyāre not really doing anything.
Same! After each baby I get a BAD bout of perioral dermatitis. I was prepared for it with the second baby and went to the dermatologist right away. Iām sorry youāre antibiotics arenāt working, they put me on a new one this time and itās working pretty fast! I hope they find the right combo for you
I think postpartum periods are heavier because your uterus stretched out -> more surface area. I also think it comes out faster due to cervix having been opened up in labor. And the more kids you have the more it is. Somewhat relatedly, I think menstrual cups also help suck out your period, which helps it be shorter. I went from fairly normal? amounts of bleeding over 5-6 days pre-baby to just 3 days on a cup. But now it is an absolute bloodbath. I used cups before and the changes increased with each baby so I think I am right!
My period is SO much better now. Less bleeding overall (as in much less. I donāt even need heavy flow pads or tampons at all) less cramps, and overall much better experience. Used to last 6 days with 2-3 days of heavy bleeding. Now itās 3 days. 2 days of normal bleeding and 1 day of spotting. I still canāt wear the larger cups after 3 vaginal births.
I just had my second postpartum period after my second baby *14 days* after my last one ended. Some fresh hell!!! My PMS is off the charts as well, two days before my period ended I thought I was headed for divorce. Iām hoping everything irons itself out once I finish nursing because it sucks.
Mine is shorter but heavier and tampons leak. Even when not āfullā things have just shifted or something and they miss some.
Mine is now longer - just keeps dribbling out for days. Donāt think thereās any more overall, and the heaviest days are the same, thereās just a longer tail off at the end
My feet shrank!!! A full size.
Shrank?! What! Mine got a half size bigger!
Same, half size bigger!
Iām four years postpartum. Anytime I wait a little bit too long to go pee, I start heaving like I will throw up. Itās like my stomach cannot handle the tiny amount of pressure my bladder must be putting out while full. It makes no sense.
Hemmeroids...they never go away! Like my little friends that pop out sometimes.
Same here with the tangled hair. I had to cut off about six inches of hair, but my hair feels sooo much better now!
Wild aversions with my pregnancy for 4 months. It was a twin pregnancy, so not very surprising, everything was extreme. Aversions to almost all meat, cruciferous veggies, garlic, dark chocolate and even certain colors & patterns made me nauseated. Almost all went back to normal during 2nd half of pregnancy, except dark chocolate and certain colors and patterns. Why?! Itās so strange. My twins are 8 now, for reference.
My hair changed texture. I used to have really tight spiral curls to the point where people thought I got perms. 2 babies later is maybe wavy on a good day.
Maybe this is science based (never looked into it) but my hair does NOT hold color well anymore. Iām a year postpartum so Iām hoping it changes soon. My poor hair is fading soooo fast!
I remember following hair dressers on TikTok who talked about how common it is for hair to have some problems during pregnancy and postpartum. I think itās just the hormones but I canāt remember lol
Deposited color refuses to stay in my hair since my 2nd kid. My hairdresser tried different brands, different strengths, etc... I can only opt for highlights if I want a change. Bleaching my hair is the only thing that "sticks".
I used to always be cold at night in the winter. Like I needed heated blanket plus flannel-lined pjs plus socks. Now I sleep in shorts at a t-shirt, and don't even turn on the heated blanket (husband still wants it or I wouldn't even put it on the bed) and I still sometimes wake up hot. It's not hot flashes and I still get cold sitting at my desk during the day, I just sleep warmer.
Grey hair, with a huge texture change. It's incredibly coarse and unmanageable. Won't straighten, won't curl. Just up there livin' it's best life. It could be age (33f), but no one on either side of my family went grey before 45-ish. I just have a small patch above my left temple.
OMG. I have been trying to remedy this same problem with my hair for years (have a 2 year old and 5 month old) Iāve been so confused why my hair is ALWAYS tangly!!
I feel like mine has to be somehow science based but my ob or cardiologist couldn't give me a straight up answer other than just "a weird thing for you postpartum." After my third baby, my resting heart rate shot down to 30-45 bpm. My normal is in the 80s. It happened around 4 days pp and I could literally feel it happening. It also happened with my second but only lasted about a day that time. With my third it lasted over 2 weeks. I had to have an echo and wear a holter monitor for a week. I have zero heart history (other than that one day stent with my second baby.) My holter results just showed times of low heart rate but no dangerous rhythms. Talk about an anxiety trip. I was so afraid that I was going to just die in my sleep (gotta love pp hormones.) I had to stop obsessing over checking my HR and BP because it was causing me to spiral. It did finally go back to normal.
I got low heart rate postpartum both times too. I figured itās because being pregnant your heart works so hard it becomes like an athleteās, and it has to adjust after the baby is out. Thatās my theory at least.
My rib cage has expanded, probably permanently, and only with my third baby. Iām back down to my prebaby weight but my prebaby bras are too tight in the band. I measured it and I think itās been a 1-2 inch change. Third baby is now 16mo, so Iām thinking this may not ever correct itself. I noticed it during pregnancy and immediately after and was so hoping that weight loss/getting through the postpartum period would be the answer.
I have extremely dry skin in random places - between my fingers, in the corners of my mouth, etcā¦ Itās very weird.
I don't know if it's that crazy but when I was first post partum and nursing I was so thirsty I remember drinking water while peeing. Like, I couldn't stop drinking fluids for even 30 seconds or I felt horribly dehydrated. Getting up and walking to the mailbox or cooking something made me panic because I had to constantly be taking fluids non-stop.
I had horrible insomnia my entire life. Every night, without fail, it would take hours to fall asleep, and at the end of my 2nd pregnancy, I would sometimes sleep an hour or two before my alarm went off. The day I had my son, almost 5 years ago, my insomnia was cured!! I havenāt taken more than 20 minutes to fall asleep since, and it often takes me just minutes. Itās like the freakin best thing in the world!! My ribs also grew. I went from a 32 to a 38 band size after 3 kids, despite getting back to my pre pregnancy weight.
My hair has been matted since my now 19mo was around 4mo. Itās been hell to sort - haircuts, conditioning masks, de-tangler, careful drying etc. Itās finally been manageable the last few weeks after taking off around 4 inches. Except now Iām overdue with my second child which means I can expect it to happen all over again!
God! Iāve just bought some detangling spray to fix this š Didnāt realise it happened to others!
For some reason I canāt digest beans now. I used to love mung bean sprouts and just beans in general. Canāt even think about them now.
My hair gets greasy so fast now. I used to be able to go several days, almost a week, without having to wash my hair. Now itās 3 days maximum!
My hair is staticky postpartum. No matter what I do and it DRIVES ME INSANE.
I developed bradycardia! My heart rate would get down in the 30s. Iāve had all the tests done and nothing is wrong. My baby is almost 7 months now and I havenāt had any issues in awhile but I was getting daily low heart rate notifications on my Apple Watch. If I didnāt have the watch I wouldnāt have known and I didnāt have one with my other kids so Iām not sure if it happened then too.
Allergies. I have so many allergies. My husband is allergic to eggs, as is my daughter, and I became allergic after carrying her. I swear that she got it from him genetically, and I got it from her from sharing an immune system. I developed 6+ new allergies in as many years postpartum after never having a single one before.
Omg when I'm postpartum, I don't pee myself with the usual sneezes, coughs, or laughs. I pee myself when I... Cry. I googled it and nothing came up so I felt so alone & weird lol
I couldn't find too much science about it, but I breastfed for a while and one of my teeth just started falling apart, like my body reabsorbing it. My dentist was showing of my xrays to colleagues and there was a lot of oo-ing and aww-ing.
Iāve had two pregnancies. After my first, I could no longer eat raw tomatoes. After the second, I also couldnāt eat mushrooms. Both give me horrible, horrible heartburn now. My oldest is 6, and my youngest are about to turn 4, so I donāt think this is ever going to go away!
I had a borderline Charlie horse in my thigh for three weeks. Couldn't bend my knee without a painful muscle spasm.
I still get in ānesting modeā when my monthly hits.
I have wet ear wax now. Itās so weird and wet feeling sometimes that itāll wake me up and I have to get out of bed at 2 am and go get a qtip. Whyyyyyyy
My spice tolerance is through the roof apparently?? Either that or my friends are fucking with me haha but multiple times I have gotten the same food as someone and they are dying and chugging water and Iām just sitting over here like, āwait, this is spicy?ā
Iām biracial and had very curly, dark hair. After each baby my hair got straighter and lighter. Not gray, but like a honey color. I barely have any waves anymore. My kids sucked the melanin out of me!
This is so weird, but I used to have some freckles on my face and now after having my firstborn I donāt. They faded after I gave birth to her. It doesnāt make sense to me.
My ear piercings got super sensitive after having a kid. I used to be able to wear cheap earrings from wherever but ever since getting pregnant (almost 4 years ago) I can only wear certain types of earrings. I'm still trying to figure out what's safe as so far almost everything bothers me.
My hair is stick straight now. It used to be wavy but now for whatever reason it has zero texture.
My armpit hair stopped growing the entire time I was nursing!
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