How Long After Birth Should You Wait Before Getting a Mommy Makeover?

A Mommy Makeover can help you transform your body to its pre-baby state, but most patients are surprised to learn they may have to wait for the chance. This blog discusses how specific procedures can directly improve the body where it’s most affected by pregnancy, how long patients must wait after childbirth, and why waiting can yield better results.

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What Can a Mommy Makeover Do for You?

Pregnancy and motherhood are wonderful paths for many women, offering exponential fulfillment. However, the drastic changes to a woman’s body can be disheartening, causing many women to feel that they no longer recognize themselves in the mirror!

A Mommy Makeover is a cosmetic procedure that can help women restore their figures to their pre-baby bodies–-or even better! Naturally, many women want to have their Mommy Makeovers as soon as possible, but how soon can that be? Below, we’ll dive into the best timeline for cosmetic surgery after your baby.

When Can I Have Plastic Surgery After Giving Birth?

If you’ve ever been pregnant, you know how much your body changes. It’s because of these drastic changes to the body that plastic surgeons require patients to wait at least six months before undergoing any invasive procedures, including a Mommy Makeover.

Of course, the six-month waiting period is just a guideline, as every patient will have a different healing process after childbirth. Since a Mommy Makeover is a combination of procedures that aim to treat areas of the body most affected by childbirth, those areas need to be fully healed before it is safe to operate.

If you think you might be a candidate for a Mommy Makeover in Southern California, call AesthetiCare Cosmetic Surgery Institute today at (800) 662-1055 to schedule your comprehensive Mommy Makeover consultation. Our experienced aesthetic surgeons will help you determine if this procedure is right for you and help you plan your Mommy Makeover just how you want it.

What Does a Mommy Makeover Treat?

Following pregnancy, childbirth, or just the natural aging process, many women see changes in key areas of the body: the midsection and the breasts. Mothers can also experience excess pockets of fat throughout the body, sometimes around the abdomen or belly, the flanks, hips, or thighs.

A Mommy Makeover allows patients to customize their treatment to best enhance their bodies their way. Mommy Makeover patients usually choose to combine abdominoplasty, also known as a tummy tuck, liposuction, and some form of breast procedure such as a breast lift, breast augmentation, or breast reduction.

Breast procedures can help restore your breasts after hormones and breastfeeding take their toll. Throughout pregnancy, the breasts swell to prepare for breastfeeding. This increase in volume often looks great, but it’s usually not permanent. Volume loss is also quite common after childbirth, especially after breastfeeding. These changes can cause the breast tissue and skin to stretch, and then once the volume depletes, the breasts can look saggy and deflated. The nipples, too, can change throughout breastfeeding and pregnancy, sometimes growing larger, darker, or elongated.

A breast lift removes excess skin that causes ptosis (sagging) and can also reposition the nipple to a more pleasing position. If your breasts are deflated, your aesthetic surgeon can combine your lift with an augmentation with breast implants, creating a more uniform, voluptuous result.

Some women with naturally large breasts before pregnancy discover that the weight of their breasts and the stresses of breastfeeding have left their breasts sagging, heavy, and misshapen. A breast reduction has similar benefits as a breast lift, as reduced breast tissue, fat, and skin can bring your breasts higher on the chest wall, with a smaller and more pleasing appearance.

A tummy tuck or abdominoplasty is almost always included in Mommy Makeovers, as pregnancy is notorious for altering the appearance of a woman’s midsection. Rapid weight and hormone fluctuations can cause the abdominal muscles to stretch, and they often remain that way in a condition called diastasis recti. Without surgical intervention, this is nearly impossible to remedy, and it can make exercise extremely difficult.

A tummy tuck is the only cosmetic procedure that deals with this issue specifically, allowing your aesthetic surgeon to surgically tighten the abdominal wall, remove excess sagging skin (even stretch-marked skin!), and create a smooth, flat midsection.

Liposuction is another fantastic procedure to add to a Mommy Makeover, as pregnancy and hormone fluctuations can cause the body to harbor excess weight in new ways. It’s not uncommon for mothers to struggle to lose their “muffin tops” or “love handles” even when they are otherwise thin. That’s where liposuction comes in: this procedure allows your aesthetic surgeon to target specific “problem areas” and permanently remove pockets of fat that won’t budge.

Why Do Moms Have to Wait to Have a Mommy Makeover?

It’s no surprise that your body goes through major changes during and after pregnancy, but the same is true for undergoing invasive surgery like a Mommy Makeover. Any cosmetic procedure, really, should be put on hold until your body is fully ready. But what does this look like?

Most plastic surgeons will give two general guidelines for when they will start the Mommy Makeover process with a new mother: that she is done breastfeeding and it is at least six months since she gave birth. Of course, many mothers breastfeed for longer than six months, so that’s usually the timeline that they follow. The goal is to let your body settle as much as possible, as your body is still going through changes after childbirth. Your surgeon will want your body to revert back to its original state as much as possible in order to get the most reliable cosmetic result.

There’s another caveat that may or may not be applicable to you: it’s highly recommended that you wait until you are completely done having children to undergo your Mommy Makeover. Why? Because a subsequent pregnancy will most likely undo all of the work of your cosmetic procedures, potentially necessitating a secondary procedure. So, to save yourself some time and money, be absolutely sure you are done having children!

Want to Learn More About Your Mommy Makeover Options in Southern California?

Our experienced team is standing by to help you get your pre-baby body back. Call AesthetiCare Cosmetic Surgery Institute today at (800) 662-1055 or fill out our online contact form to schedule a consultation at any of our four Southern California locations.