Location:
Call: 040 4488 5333
[email protected]

19 March, 2019

10 Ways in which Pregnancy can change a woman’s body

It is said that being a mother brings about a lot of changes in a woman’s body. This is absolutely true as growing a new human requires a woman to adapt to these bodily changes. After all, her heart pumps 50 percent more blood when she’s pregnant, and she will also experience brain changes among other things.

While a lot of changes disappear after birth, a few of them can be permanent. Here are some things during pregnancy that can change a woman’s body forever:

  1. Bigger Feet

Due to changing hormones and weight gain, women experience a change in their shoe size too when they’re pregnant. According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), women of normal weight should gain between 11 to 16 kilograms weight during pregnancy. Carrying this excess weight around when you’re expecting and even after giving birth can cause the foot’s arch to flatten out. This is why some women gain about half an inch shoe size during pregnancy. The hormone relaxin also plays a role by helping relax ligaments and bones in the pelvis. It also affects ligaments all over the body, including in the feet, which can cause a woman’s feet to loosen and spread out. These changes are often permanent, even after a woman loses weight and relaxin production stops.

  1. Bladder Changes

Giving birth can put some mothers at an increased risk for incontinence, or loss of bladder control. This is because vaginal delivery can weaken the muscles needed for bladder control and can even damage bladder nerves and supportive tissue, leading to a dropped pelvic floor. This can happen for C-section deliveries as well. Women can practice Kegel exercises to strengthen these pelvic floor muscles to avoid bladder issues.

  1. Dental Problems

The increased blood flow during pregnancy can cause dental problems such as enlarged and bleeding gums. If women have morning sickness, the acid from vomiting can wear away the enamel on teeth. Hormonal changes during pregnancy can also affect the bacteria population of a woman’s mouth. Therefore it is very important to practice good dental hygiene during pregnancy. Woman should see their dentist when they’re expecting and get their teeth cleaned regularly to avoid other problems postpartum.

  1. Breast Changes

A woman’s breasts go through several changes during and after pregnancy. They get bigger at first, as the dormant fat tissues in the breast get replaced by functional tissue in preparation for breastfeeding. However, after a woman stops breastfeeding, the changes stop and the breasts aren’t as large as before. If a woman gains a lot of weight after pregnancy, she will replace those fat cells in her breasts. There may also be changes in the shape and firmness of her breasts, causing them to sag or droop. Once this happens, they will not perk up again as this is due to stretching of the ligaments and elastin that hold the fatty tissue in place.

  1. Stretch Marks

Pregnant women may notice pink or red stretch marks on their skin during pregnancy. Although this condition can happen at any time, it is more likely when you’re expecting and witness a drastic increase or decrease in weight. While these stretch marks will not go completely, the good news is that they will get much lighter over time. They usually fade out in a year or two. However, if a woman gets pregnant again, or gains or loses too much weight, these stretch marks may become more noticeable.

  1. Hair Growth

Women experience dense and more beautiful hair on their head during pregnancy. This is due to the increased levels of hormones that can cause hair fall to reduce over the course of a woman’s pregnancy. This is why women may have thicker head of hair when they are expecting. After hormones levels return to normal after pregnancy, they may start losing hair. This is temporary and hair loss will resolve on its own by about 12 to 18 months.

  1. Skin Changes

There are so many skin changes that happen during pregnancy. For instance, linea nigra is a common occurrence that most women experience when they’re expecting. It refers to a dark, vertical line that runs over the belly to the pubic hair region. Women may also develop melasma, which are brown patches that color the face. They can also get freckles and moles during this time. Linea nigra and melasma are caused due to an increase in melanin, the pigment that adds color to your skin and hair. The dark areas fade after the woman gives birth but some may have melasma for a couple of years after. Using sunscreen or wearing hat can address the dark patches.

  1. Diabetes

Several women experience a spike in their sugar levels during pregnancy. This leads to a condition known as gestational diabetes. After giving birth, up to half the women who had gestational diabetes are likely to develop type 2 diabetes later in life. Usually, those women already know they’re at risk because they have family members that have diabetes. If a woman has gestational diabetes, it is important that she maintains a healthy weight and diet, monitor her blood sugar, and get screened for diabetes in the years following her pregnancy so that she can be aware if she’s becoming prediabetic.

  1. Abdominal Separation

Yet another common and permanent change associated with pregnancy is a condition called diastasis recti abdominis. This is when the abdominal muscles separate, creating a gap between the stomach muscles. All women will have this separation at a later stage in their pregnancy to make room for the growing belly. More than two-thirds of women will retain some separation between their abdominal muscles after a year postpartum.

  1. Wider Hips

Some women may experience their hips are getting wider following childbirth. This may be due to the deposition of fat into areas of the body that have extra fat cells. Although, many women think this is due to relaxin, a hormone responsible for relaxing and softening the joints and ligaments in the pelvis to help make the birthing process easier. However, this may not be the real reason behind wider hips.

These are some of the many changes that you will experience even after you’ve given birth. To know more about ways to stay healthy during and beyond pregnancy, meet our doctors at KIMS Cuddles.

*Information shared here is for general purpose Please take doctors’ advice before taking any decision.

SIMILAR ARTICLES

blog featured image

29 July, 2026

Irregular Periods: When to Investigate

Period irregularity is something many women experience at some point, and most learn to live with it, at least for a while. A late period during a stressful month, a lighter cycle after illness, a missed period after a long flight. These variations are common and usually self-correcting. The problem is that irregular periods are also how the body signals conditions that genuinely need attention, and because the irregularity can feel familiar, it is easy to keep waiting for things to normalise when they never will without proper evaluation.Knowing where the line sits between normal variation and something worth investigating is genuinely useful.What counts as irregularA normal menstrual cycle runs anywhere from 24 to 38 days, measured from the first day of one period to the first day of the next. Variation of up to eight days between the shortest and longest cycle is considered normal. Lengths ranging between 8 and 20 days of variation are considered moderately irregular, and variation of 21 days or more is considered very irregular.Changes outside the cycle length are also irregular. Periods that are either much heavier or lighter than normal, periods that are much longer or shorter than normal, periods between periods, and periods that are absent altogether, in a woman not pregnant, breastfeeding, or in menopause,
Read More
blog featured image

29 July, 2026

Fertility Decline: What Women Should Know

Conversations about fertility tend to happen too late. Women often begin thinking seriously about their reproductive timeline only when they are ready to conceive. At this point, some of the most important biological facts have already been playing out for years without their awareness. The decline in female fertility with age is one of the most consistently misunderstood aspects of reproductive health, and the gap between what women know and what the biology actually shows is significant.This is not about creating anxiety. It is about giving women accurate information early enough to make genuinely informed decisions.The Fundamental BiologyA woman is born with all the eggs she is going to have in her lifetime. Her eggs age with her, decreasing in quality and quantity. Age is the single most important factor affecting a woman's fertility.Females are born with a finite number of oocytes. The number of oocytes peaks in the womb at around 20 weeks of gestation and subsequently declines steadily until approximately age 32, after which the number decreases at a greater rate until age 37, beyond which oocyte numbers drop even more rapidly.This is not something that can be slowed by fitness, diet, or general good health. Even though women today are healthier and taking better care of themselves than ever before, improved
Read More
blog featured image

29 July, 2026

PMOS: Causes Beyond Hormones

Most patients understand Polycystic Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome, or PMOS, as a hormonal condition. Irregular periods, elevated androgens, and ovarian cysts on an ultrasound. The hormonal picture is real, but it is only part of the story. Decades of research have made it increasingly clear that PMOS is far more complex than a hormonal imbalance in isolation. It involves the metabolic system, the immune system, the gut, and genetics, all interacting in ways that produce a condition that looks different in every woman who has it.Understanding the fuller picture of what causes PMOS matters because it changes how the condition is managed and why lifestyle interventions work as well as they do.What PMOS Actually InvolvesPolycystic Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome is a complex endocrine and metabolic disorder, typically characterised by hirsutism, hyperandrogenism, ovulatory dysfunction, menstrual disorders, and infertility. The name itself reflects what the condition truly is. The metabolic component is not secondary to the ovarian and hormonal picture. It is central to it. Treating the hormonal symptoms without addressing the underlying metabolic drivers is one reason PMOS management often produces only partial results.Insulin Resistance Sits at the CentrePMOS insulin resistance, where cells throughout the body fail to respond normally to insulin, is considered the primary pathological basis for the reproductive dysfunction seen in PMOS.
Read More
Loading booking..