Yes, hips often stay wider after pregnancy because the hormone relaxin causes pelvic joints and ligaments to loosen, allowing the pelvis to widen for childbirth. While some women's hips return to their pre-pregnancy size, many experience a permanent change in hip, waist, and ribcage width. Other causes include weight gain and fat distribution.
Hip Widening
This hormonal shift can lead to a widening of the hips, which may persist after giving birth. While some women may notice a permanent change in hip width, for others, the hips may gradually return to their pre-pregnancy size as the ligaments tighten over time.
Changes in Body Shape
Even after losing pregnancy weight, some women find that their body shape has permanently changed. The ribcage, hips, and waist may widen, and some may notice lingering changes in fat distribution.
So in broad terms, a young mother with an uncomplicated vaginal delivery will usually fully recover vaginal tightness within the first 6 months of having her first child.
Several women say that they feel like their hips got wider, but it's actually their pelvis bone structure that has changed, Jessica Shepherd, M.D., an assistant professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology and director of Minimally Invasive Gynecology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago, ...
You may be wondering, “What are Postpartum hip pain exercises I can do to reduce hip pain?” Some postpartum hip pain exercises you can do are pelvic tilts, cat-cow stretches, belly breathing, and wall sits. Engaging in pelvic floor exercises, such as Kegels, can significantly enhance muscle tone and function.
The plumping in the cheek area can also cause the facial contour to become weaker and less defined. For many women, this leads to an overall “fuller” facial appearance that makes them look older and heavier than before pregnancy.
Kegels Exercise
This is one of the most common non-surgical options that have been advocated for tightening the vagina after childbirth. Kegel exercises involve the rhythmic contraction and relaxation of the pelvic floor muscles. This non-invasive, cost-effective method has no known side effects.
Tighter pelvic floor muscles
And if the pelvic floor can't ever let go because of painful scar tissue, it's always tight. That can lead to anorgasmia—the inability to have an orgasm—or orgasms that don't feel as satisfying as they did prior to delivery and pregnancy.”
All of the tissues in your pelvic floor, including the muscles in your vagina, are stretched during childbirth. But just as you can stretch your leg muscles without making your legs permanently wobbly, your vagina and pelvic floor should be stronger and even tighter, not looser, once you've healed.
The "3-2-1 Rule" in pregnancy is a guideline for first-time mothers to know when to call their midwife or doctor for active labor: consistent contractions that are 3 minutes apart, lasting 2 minutes each, for 1 hour (or sometimes cited as 3-1-1, meaning 3 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for 1 hour). For subsequent pregnancies, the 5-1-1 Rule (5 minutes apart, 1 minute long, for 1 hour) is often used, indicating labor is progressing more quickly.
Losing the baby weight takes time
A recent study found that only 20% of women return to their pre-pregnancy weight within the first three months postpartum and that 24% of women retain at least 10 pounds one year postpartum. (McKinely et al., 2018.)
The 5-5-5 rule for new moms is a postpartum recovery guideline for the first 15 days, focusing on intense rest: 5 days in bed, bonding and healing; 5 days on the bed, gentle movement like sitting up and getting dressed; and 5 days near the bed, slowly moving around the home while still prioritizing rest, avoiding housework and visitors, and nurturing the body and mind for a smoother transition into motherhood.
Women accumulate fat reserves throughout pregnancy, especially in the tummy, back and thighs. These reserves store energy and are necessary to ensure that the pregnancy and breastfeeding go well.
A woman who has given birth has changes to her body. Apart from the obvious changes such as possible stretch marks on her stomach, bottom, and breasts, or varicose veins in her legs, there are internal changes to her pelvis and womb.
With the onset of puberty, the male pelvis remains on the same developmental trajectory, while the female pelvis develops in an entirely new direction, becoming wider and reaching its full width around the age of 25-30 years. From the age of 40 onward, the female pelvis then begins to narrow again.
The good news is, your vagina is elastic - it can stretch to accommodate your baby, and it won't take long for it to return to its previous shape. While the vagina may temporarily become looser, the muscles have the ability to expand and retract. As a general rule, most women feel recovered within around 6 to 8 weeks.
Oxytocin. Oxytocin is often known as the “hormone of love” because it is involved with lovemaking, fertility, contractions during labor and birth and the release of milk in breastfeeding. It helps us feel good, and it triggers nurturing feelings and behaviors.
"We can cry because we're really happy and we felt a huge connection, and we felt overwhelmed by that intimacy or feeling of being touched," she told The Hook Up. "And we can cry because we were overwhelmed in a way that brought up shame or pain or negative emotions in the body.
Yes — at least, most of the time. Although postpartum belly is stubborn, the good news is that eventually, much of it will disappear on its own. Just as you experience hormonal changes during pregnancy, your hormones shift after you've given birth.
Even though the size of the vagina does not alter much during pregnancy, various hormone variations begin to soften the vaginal tissues in preparation for delivery during the third trimester, which can feel like the vagina is looser.
Most people lose about 10 to 15 pounds immediately after birth, and gradual weight loss continues over the following months. Key factors that influence postpartum weight loss include: Breastfeeding. It can help burn extra calories, though results vary.
Sun exposure causes many skin problems. Ultraviolet (UV) light and exposure to sunlight age your skin more quickly than it would age naturally. The result is called photoaging, and it's responsible for 90% of visible changes to your skin.
Conversely, breastfeeding accelerated the rate of recovery, and women who breastfed exclusively had an average biological age about one year less than those who used formula.
DNA is our genetic code, which tells cells what to do. Inside the cell, DNA is packaged and marked. This affects which bits of DNA are used to make signals. Researchers think the way DNA is packaged and marked might change during pregnancy.