My Postpartum Body After Having A Second Baby

I have to admit that my body after having a second baby has not changed a lot from my body after having my first child.

Now don’t get wrong, my body has changed, but the differences are what I expected to happen.

When you have a baby, your body goes through a lot throughout pregnancy from stretching to accommodate a tiny human to your breasts getting larger to hold the milk that will feed your child.

As much as all of us hate what our stretching bodies leave behind once we have given birth, it was necessary to get our beautiful babies here.

We have to endure what comes along with having babies and that is accepting the changes that occur and learning to love our postpartum bodies.

Because there will definitely be some changes that we will have to face.

And the more pregnancies that you experience, the more changes that will likely occur.

I know for myself personally, I bounced back pretty well after having my first baby and was able to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight very quickly.

In fact, I kept dropping weight and my doctor had to tell pack the weight back on.

A lot of this was due to experiencing postpartum depression with my first child.

So based on my first postpartum experience, I figured that I would have a pretty similar experience and that has for the most part been very true.

Here is my postpartum body having a second baby.

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Is It Harder To Bounce Back After Having A Second Baby?

Before I get into my postpartum body after having a second baby, I want to answer this question.

Is it harder to bounce back after having a second baby?

Like I mentioned above, I have pretty much bounced back and I’m back at my pre-pregnancy weight at 2 months postpartum.

But not everyone bounces back as I did.

As much as I wish I could tell you all how long it takes to get your body back after having a baby, there really is no telling.

It is very common for moms to have a harder time losing weight and bouncing back after having their second baby than it was with the first.

For instance, with myself, I have returned to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I also still have that little pouch on my stomach lingering from pregnancy.

Is it huge? No.

But for someone who is not used to it, it doesn’t feel like it belongs.

After having my first daughter, I did not have that pouch still lingering, so I will have to work a little harder to make that pouch go down.

The same goes for stretch marks.

I had some existing stretch marks from my first pregnancy before I had gotten pregnant again.

Even though I was making sure I stay moisturized and practiced healthy habits throughout my pregnancy to help my body stretch without creating more stretch marks, I still got some this pregnancy.

And I got them in the same spot as well.

Diane from Early 2 Bed, Early 2 says that some of the reasons listed below can also affect your ability to bounce back from baby #2:

• PPD, PPA, and/or PTSD
• Adrenal Fatigue
• Leaky Gut/Food Allergies
• Not Enough Rest
• Unhealthy Diet
• Diastasis Recti
• Hormone Imbalances
• Blood Pressure and Sugar Levels
• Thyroid Issues

So bouncing back from having your second baby is a little tougher than we would like to admit.

Now that we know that it might be a little harder to bounce back from having your second baby, let’s get into what my body looks like after having my second baby.

My Postpartum Body After Having A Second Baby

Weight

As I stated above, the first thing to note is that I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight.

I was very sick in the first trimester of my pregnancy, so I lost weight at first but once I started feeling better, I began to pack on the weight.

I gained a total of 25 lbs during my pregnancy so I didn’t have a ton to lose after giving birth.

If you all follow me on Instagram, I got many comments from my followers stating that I was all belly during my pregnancy and I pretty much was.

Within a week of given birth, my belly had gone down a lot.

As far as how I lost the weight these are the things I have been doing:

• Breastfeeding
• Getting rest when I can
• Eating small meals throughout the day
• Drinking water

And that is it.

I want to start exercising more, but I will have to figure that out with two littles with me.

Stretch Marks

As I mentioned above, I already had existing stretch marks from my first pregnancy and I was trying to avoid more with this pregnancy, but I still got a few.

With my first daughter, I got stretch marks around my belly button at the very end of my pregnancy.

With my second pregnancy, I started getting stretch marks a lot sooner and they, too, appeared around my belly button.

I did not get stretch marks anywhere else on my body.

Stretch marks are hereditary in my family so I wasn’t too surprised that I got a few more.

If you are interested in what I was using to keep my body moisturized in order to further prevent more stretch marks, I used the SheaMoisture Raw Shea Butter Hydrating Body Lotion along with the matching body wash.

Stomach

While we are discussing the stretch marks on my stomach, I also want to talk about what else is going on with my stomach.

So with my first daughter, my stomach got really dark after giving birth.

Like 2-3 shades darker.

My stomach looked black and I had no idea why.

And it happened again after giving birth for the second time.

Well apparently, this is very common in many moms and is caused by the pigmentation in our skin that has stretched and separated.

With time, my stomach returned to its normal color after my first pregnancy and I’m expecting the same thing to happen again.

It’s been over 2 months and I have already noticed my stomach starting to lighten up.

Breasts

So my stomach wasn’t the only thing that changed during my pregnancy.

My breasts also did as well.

I already had larger breasts before pregnancy and they did not get any larger during my pregnancy, but they have definitely gotten bigger postpartum.

My breasts went up one cup size.

I do breastfeed which might have something to do with it and I breastfeed exclusively.

With my first daughter, I was able to wear the same size bra during pregnancy and postpartum and with this baby, I had to get the next size up.

Varicose Veins

Something new that happened during this pregnancy and not during my last pregnancy was the number of varicose veins that appeared on my legs.

Varicose veins are another common pregnancy symptom that affects many women due to the extra weight that you are carrying.

Even knowing this, I still wasn’t prepared to see these spider-web-like veins showing up around my ankles, on my calves, and on the back of my knees.

I did check in with my OBGYN and she assured me that these veins should go away after I have given birth, but some of them may still linger.

She was right and the veins around my ankles and calves did fade, but a few of the ones on the back of my knees are still there.

Hair

And the last thing that I noticed about my body after having my second baby was my hair.

Just like with my first child, I started to experience some postpartum shedding.

When I first started experiencing hair loss with my first daughter, I could not figure out what was going on and why my hair was falling out.

When I was pregnant, like many moms, my hair was strong and very healthy-looking.

After I gave birth, my hair broke off and shed a lot more

From what I have looked up about postpartum hair loss, the reason for this is due to the changes in your hormone levels once your body stops producing for your body.

What I have noticed that has helped is taking my prenatal vitamins because they can contain biotin.

The prenatal vitamins that I take are these Prenatal Multivitamins from Rainbow Light.

Your Turn

Well, that is my postpartum body after having my second baby. Like I said above, there were definitely a few changes, but pretty much everything that I expected. I want to hear from you all now. What was it like for you after having your second baby? Let me know in the comments below and while you are still here, check out my previous post. Until next time!

• Read More: Breastfeeding Essentials For Second-Time Moms

Love,

Just Jass