4 Easy Ways To Prevent Stretch marks

More than half of pregnant women get these pinkish or purplish streaks across their belly, butt, hips and thighs. This happens between the 13th and 21st weeks of pregnancy.

What Causes Stretchmarks
As your waist expands to accommodate your growing baby, your skin too stretches. Hormones cause collagen fibres that give skin its elasticity to become less sticky, so they can be pulled apart as the baby grows. Unfortunately, if this happens too quickly, you end up with stretchmarks.

Whether you get them depends largely on your genes. If your mother had them, it is likely that you will too.

Other factors are how quickly you grow and how strong your abdominal muscles are. Having strong abs should slow the rate at which your bump pops out and hence, the rate at which your skin stretches.

4 Easy Ways To Slow The Stretch

1. Moisturise. Some women apply cocoa butter or oil onto their stomach. While they may not prevent stretchmarks, moisturising your skin may help them fade quickly

2. Nourish from within. Plenty of Vitamin C in your diet may keep your skin toned and less prone to stretch marks.

3. Watch your weight. Put on the kilos slowly and steadily rather than in quick spurts.

4. Be Patient. Your marks will fade after you give birth. If they bother you, you can look into dermatologists’ treatments like laser therapy and Retin-A after pregnancy, as they are not safe to do while you’re pregnant.