These stretch marks can appear from your belly to your feed and hands. The stretch marks often appears in these places since your skin becomes less elastic. Stretch marks can usually be easily seen on arms and buttocks.
What Are Stretch Marks?
During pregnancy, the skin of your stomach stretches beyond it’s limits. This causes red-purple lines (stretch marks) to appear. Your skin stretches when the baby starts to grow bigger. This results in skin cracking, which eventually leads to ugly stretch marks.
It’s not easy to avoid stretch marks especially since every woman has different types of skin, elasticity and texture. However, there are certain steps that can be taken for reducing these stretch marks and preventing the same 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. The recommended caloric intake for a pregnant woman is not more than extra 300 calories than her usual portions.
Drink Lots of Water
Water is the best solution to everything. Drink plain water instead of juices and 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. You should also add milk or dairy based food to your daily diet.
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.
While it’s possible to complete avoid stretch marks during pregnancies, only few will be that lucky. You will need help if you are not one of them.
