Pregnancy stretch marks are very common and it occurs at various places including belly, lower abdomen, thighs and even hands. The stretch marks often appears in these places since your skin becomes less elastic. Stretch marks can as well be seen in the arms and buttocks during pregnancy.
What Are Stretch Marks?
These are basically reddish purple marks (lines basically) that tends to develop due to over growth of stomach during pregnancy. Your skin stretches when the baby starts to grow bigger. This results in skin cracking, which eventually leads to ugly stretch marks.
It is difficult to avoid pregnancy stretch marks since every woman has different types of skin, elasticity and texture. You can take certain precautions to reduce and prevent these stretch marks from appearing.
Noted herein are some useful steps to be taken to avoid pregnancy stretch marks:
Avoid Overeating During Pregnancy
Although pregnant women are supposed to eat for two, it is not that they are eating for two adults. Hence, it is very important to eat in moderate portions and avoid overeating. You will increase your chances of getting stretch marks if you eat too much during your pregnancy. Overeating increases your overall body fat, which accumulates along with the growth of the baby. You should not take more than 300 extra calories a day on top of your regular daily caloric intake.
Drink Lots of Water
Water is the best solution to everything. Drink plenty of water when you’re thirsty and avoid juices or sugary drinks. Artificial fruit juices are packed with sugars and additives that can make you fat, whilst water helps in maintaining a slim body. Water also improves the elasticity of the skin that helps in avoiding pregnancy stretch marks.
Eat Healthy
It is very important to eat healthy during pregnancy. A healthy diet containing all the essential nutrients makes the skin healthier too. Have lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, proteins and whole grains and some fiber to maintain a functional system during pregnancy. Your diet should also include dairy based products such as milk.
Olive Oil Massage
Our grandparents suggested the use of olive oil massage during pregnancy and how it helped in preventing stretch marks from appearing. Well, it seems so foolish then, but it’s true. You should massage olive oil at least once a day and continue on until the postpartum stage. Areas you should be concentrating on would be your stomach, buttocks and thighs. Olive oil has excellent moisturizing properties that help in making the skin elastic.
Use Creams and Ointments to Remove Stretch Marks
If the stretch marks are already appearing on the stomach, start applying stretch mark creams immediately. They would help in reducing the depth of the harsh lines and also reduce the same and eventually make them diaper. However, if you are too late at using the creams, it might take time to diaper.
It’s quite hard to complete avoid pregnancy stretch marks. However, there have been many who managed to completely avoid them. You will need help if you are not one of them.
