Should I Wait Until I’m Done Having Children Before I Get a Tummy Tuck?

Whether you’ve been pregnant once or multiple times, it’s normal to feel excited about getting your pre-pregnancy body back after giving birth, especially since both pregnancy and childbirth can take a tremendous physical toll and leave you feeling like a stranger in your own skin.

Pregnancy stretches out the skin in your abdominal area, so you can be left with a lot of excess skin during the postpartum period — no matter how many times you’ve been pregnant. 

Thankfully, a cosmetic surgery known as a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty) can effectively address sagging skin after pregnancy and childbirth, helping you achieve your body goals and boost your self-confidence. 

Board-certified cosmetic surgeon David Davila, DO, FACOS, and our team at Houston Cosmetic Surgery Center in Houston, Texas, offer tummy tucks to help anyone looking to transform their appearance reach their goals, including moms wanting to feel like themselves again.

In this month’s blog, we discuss what you need to know about getting a tummy tuck, including whether you need to close the pregnancy chapter of your life before you have one. 

When is the right time to get a tummy tuck?

A tummy tuck is a cosmetic surgical procedure that flattens your abdomen by removing excess skin and fat and tightening your abdominal wall. Because a tummy tuck is a major surgery, undergoing one also requires major consideration.

To be considered a candidate for a tummy tuck, you need to meet several qualifications, including:

• Be in generally good health
• Be close to your ideal weight
• Be a non-smoker
• Have realistic expectations for your results

Besides these general tummy tuck candidacy factors, the timing of your tummy tuck also matters. 

If you’ve recently had a baby, you need to wait until you’re at least six months postpartum — and also done with breastfeeding for at least six months — before getting a tummy tuck. This allows your body to fully recover from childbirth and your hormone levels to settle, which helps you obtain optimal results.

It’s ideal to wait until you’re done having children to get a tummy tuck. While it’s not required to be done having kids before undergoing the procedure, it’s important to recognize that going through pregnancy again would virtually undo your tummy tuck. 

So, our team highly recommends waiting until you know that you won’t get pregnant again. 

What to expect from your tummy tuck

There are a few different tummy tuck approaches, and the one our team recommends depends on your specific needs and goals. 

If you have significant amounts of excess and sagging skin, Dr. Davila may do a full tummy tuck; however, if most of your excess skin and fat is below your belly button, he may recommend a “mini tummy tuck.” 

A full tummy tuck makes an incision above your belly button, while a mini tummy tuck makes an incision below it. 

A full tummy tuck is more invasive. With this approach, Dr. Davila removes significant amounts of tissue, skin, and fat from your abdomen and then tightens your abdominal wall. During a mini tummy tuck, Dr. Davila doesn’t remove as much tissue and relies heavily on liposuction to eliminate unwanted fat deposits, flatten your abdomen, and create a tighter profile. 

No matter the approach, you need to take at least two weeks off from work, which includes your job as a mom. Because you should be totally off your feet for those weeks, you may need to hire full-time childcare for optimal recovery. After six weeks, you can resume most normal activities; full recovery may take up to three months. 

Reclaim your pre-pregnancy body with a tummy tuck

After one or more pregnancies, you’re probably more than ready to feel like yourself again. Schedule a consultation at Houston Cosmetic Surgery Center to see if a tummy tuck can help you do just that — give us a call today, or use our online booking feature at your convenience.