After giving birth to our baby girl 7 weeks ago my girlfriend is pretty pissed off with the way her stomach looks.
It resembles a piece of olive wood kind of like this.
Her naval has turned almost completely black.
Now I think this will fade in about a year. If I push and pull portions of her belly the marks smooth out and all but disappear. It seems to me that once she tightens up a little in the abdomen she will notice a big difference.
She half believes me but she doesn’t think the colour will ever go from her belly-button.
She is hampered from doing exercise as her stomach muscles split during pregnancy. My GF is 24 and white.
Please tell me about your stretch marks and if you got rid of them.
Still got 'em. My bikini wearing days are over, if I ever had any to begin with. They did fade over time, but I’ve still got 'em.
Robin
I have never had a baby, but I have stretchmarks from weight gain and then loss. They started out purplish but now they’ve all faded to a silvery color that is much less noticeable. Stretch marks usually fade over time, but they never actually go away completely on their own. If they still bother her after they have had some time to fade, plastic surgery or microdermabrasion can help.
It might be a little late for it now, but for any mums-to-be reading this thread, my mother swears by baby oil. She’s had two children, and has not got a single stretch mark. She applied baby oil twice a day right from when she first found out she was pregnant, and continued for a few months after the baby was born. I guess it might be luck, it might be good genes, but it’s worth a try.
It’s only been 4 months since I had my baby but I have them clear as ever. I am using an over the counter gel that is supposed to help them but so far I haven’t noticed a difference. I heard Mederma is supposed to help them fade, it is a prescription for scars (which is what stretch marks are.) I used lotions and oil faithfully throughout my pregnancy trying to avoid them, and no luck. I managed to hold them off until that last month and bam, there they were.
Supposedly they will always be there but will fade over time so they won’t look so purple forever. I’m writing my tummy off as another loss, along with my boobs - after 4 months of breastfeeding they are starting to head a little south. My husband swears he can’t tell, but I sense the loss of perkiness. Sigh.
Still got 'em, 12 years later and going to add more to them soon. (Hmm, I wonder if this baby would be considerate enough to re-use her big brother’s stretch marks and not give me any new ones - can stretch marks be hand-me-downed?)
They’ve certainly faded. I have very fair pinkish skin, and my stretch marks were livid purple. Now they’re sort of colorless, but the texture is still very different from the rest of my skin. I don’t know about darker skin (which I’m guessing the OP mom has, since the marks are black) but I’d expect the color itself to fade. I did have a very dark brown line down the center of my abdomen near the end, and that disappeared completely. I don’t remember my navel changing color, but it did pop out like a turkey timer when I was ready to deliver.
I also oiled every day. Didn’t help. Doctors told me it was simply a genetic thing. I don’t think I’ll bother with the oil this time - I didn’t really enjoy it much.
I’ve had stretch marks since I was 12. No I didn’t have a baby.
On my hips from a growth spurt.
So, the stretch marks on the stomach and boobs are just a part of the package plan. And they don’t bother me at all.
I used tons of Vitamin E oil throughout pregnancy and didn’t get any. Not sure if that had much to do with it or not.
Some old friends used to go to the tanning bed to try to minimize the appearance of their stretch marks, it didn’t help much though.
I didn’t get stretch marks (and I didn’t use a thing) but I thought I’d pipe in to say that the darkening of my belly-button went away gradually. I generally think of it as “nine months up, nine months down” …once my kid was nine months old, my body looked pretty much like it did before I got pregnant.
Except for the feet. My feet grew (or flattened out) a half-size and never went back. I’m okay with that though, I got to buy all new shoes!
Change hips to belly, and you’ve got me. My boobs aren’t pretty at all.
The black bellybutton syndrome is basically dead skin, which will flake off over time–grody, but temporary. While her navel will likely never be quite the same, it will look pretty ordinary again.
Some people recover great from pregnancy, others don’t. My tummy skin is still (1.5 years after the second birth) loose, and while the stretch marks have faded, they’re still visible. I, however, produce giant babies of great poundage, and generally look horrifyingly huge before delivery, so OP mom may do better.
Stretch marks fade but never go away. I thought it was pretty much accepted scientific fact that whether or not you get them is based on heredity and all the oils in the world won’t help you.
As far as the black belly button, IANAD so YMMV. I was so sick of having a dark belly button about two months after giving birth, and decided to try cleaning it with rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip. It only took two such cleanings about a week apart to remove the dead skin completely - with no side effects.
Yeah, I think that’s true. Throughout my pregnancy, I used a special lotion that was supposed to prevent stretch marks (contains vitamin E and a bunch of other stuff). Didn’t work. My son is almost 16 months old and my stretch marks are now almost the same color as my skin, but you can definitely see them. I also have a lovely c-section scar and I’m still a little stretchy. Luckily, my husband views all of it as a badge of honor and bravery. He thought the patterns the stretch marks made over my pregnant belly were neat. He’s a cool guy.
I have stretch marks from weight gain and growth spurts, and I found Mederma really did make a difference on mine. I just can’t afford to keep buying it, and you need to use it for the whole of the recommended time (something like 3-6 months).
YMMV.
Yep, but that’s not as bad as the cottage cheese stomach. (My daughter is five)
They are there to stay. They will fade in time, but never go away. My doctor says plastic surgery can cure the cottage cheese stomach - but I think my midriff bearing days are over. No more even considering a belly button ring for me…
I’ve got stretch marks. Used to be livid purple, now fairly colorless but shiny.
My youngest is five. I’ve had many of them since the birth of my oldest, now nine. I figure they’re here to stay. Weirdest locale: I’ve got them on my BOOBS. I didn’t know you could get them there. But I got huge pregnancy tits, and boy did they ever go away! 
Mrs. Furthur
Audin - Walgreens has their version of Mederma and I found it worked perfectly well on the tiny scar my daughter has on her face (a flying clarinet dinged her last year - the scar is not noticable at all)
23 years post delivery and my stretch marks are still there, although they are tiny, silvery streaks that you barely notice.
Two of my daughters have had very quick growth spurts and both have stretch marks on their thighs, knees and hips. They both say tanning helps, but I’m not so sure. I can still see them clearly on my white daughter, but on my black daughter they are much lighter in the summer.
Yes! YES! Matthew is nearly 11, and Jimmy re-used the same marks. I think it helps that I was really pretty fat and then lost 70 lbs before getting pregnant. Be careful, though… the skin is stretched out and delicate, and prone to rupture. Be REALLY CAREFUL if you’re itchy and get to scratchin’ - use something like Gold Bond powder to stop the itching, rather than your fingernails. I split open in two places :eek: near the end.
Eek! Good to know. And this is the sort of advice that just isn’t on those irritating pregnancy boards. 
…Which is exactly why I didn’t register or frequent any of them.