Hair Loss After Having a Baby??? PLEASE HELP

Hi K.,
I am a Dr and if you had epidural or other anethesia with your birth it is very normal, also you just grow so much more hair over the 9 months of pregnancy that the extra falls out too.
If your labs including thyroid test are normal then wiat a few months and it should get better.
Good Luck!!!

1 mom found this helpful

Everyone's given you great advice - and definitely make sure your thyroid is checked, but here is food for thought: The typical person loses 100 strands of hair per day. So, if for the bulk of your pregnancy you're not losing any, then your body is just catching up to this - so you're losing your 100 normal, then extra from the pregnancy. Quantifying it should help you not be so freaked out by it.

Hi K.. I know exactly what you're describing! I too lost much of my hair, especially in the front along my hairline (where it really shows!) after my son was born. I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma when I was 19, and since my radiation treatments have not had a functioning thyroid. I take daily medication for it, and wondered if this problem somehow was related to my hair loss. But, my hair did eventually start growing back, but not until I stopped nursing my son after he turned one. So, if you're nursing it may somehow be related to that...
Funny enough, losing my hair led me to what I do for a career now! I was looking for something to help aid my hair growth, and just sort of stumbled across Arbonne's Thermal Fusion Hair and Scalp Revitalizer. I swear by this stuff! Not only does it feel absolutely fabulous on my scalp, I've noticed a definite change in my hair too! I even get comments on how healthy and shiny my hair looks now instead of how thin it's getting.
If you're interested in learning more about it, you can visit my website at www.mandyolsen.myarbonne.com or call me at ###-###-####. I think you will really find that this product helps you! Take care and know that what you're going through is completely normal.

I went through the same thing from about 3 to 6 months after having my baby. Everyone I've ever talked to had this, and my doctor said it's completely normal. Your hormones are just getting back to normal. It will ease up.

I think its completely normal...I do hair and EVERYONE freaks out when this happens. And I have seen its been different for everyone. Everyone looses it at different times and the amounts vary!! Totally normal, just like most pregnancys are different!! I've seen all different cases!! It will grow back, my little one is 13 months and the hair around my face is about 3 inches long from it falling out months ago!!! Be Patient!!

K.,

I'm so glad i found your request! I'm new to this group. I also was really worried about that after i had had my son. Actually i freaked out about it....lol But since reading your message i realize(because i just haven't thought about it) that mine did get back to normal. However if my memory serve me right mine had done this for about 4 to 5 months. But i soooooooo know that feeling when your in the shower and while your shampooing and your fingers get tangled with hair. Yep I wasn't a fan of that.

I am pregnant with my second and I read that hair loss is due to the fact that while you are pregnant your hair does not shed like it normally would because of the progesterone surging through your body, so after you have the baby that progesterone drops off and your hair begins shedding and has some catching up to do in a sense. It should slow down though to normal after a few months.

Hi, I know what you are going through. With all 3 of my boys, I lost a lot of my hair, but it grew back for me, so hopefully it will for you, too. My OB/GYN was about as unhelpful as yours is being. He said he didn't know what was causing it. However, I read in a parenting magazine that it is because of hormonal changes. During your pregnancy, which ever hormone causes the natural shedding and replacement of hair takes a break to do other things in your body, so when it's time for the process to begin again when you're no longer preggers, your hair all falls out pretty much at the same time. Then, much more slowly for me, it grows back. My hairline had receded to the point it looked almost like I had male-pattern baldness beginning. Disturbing image, huh? As my hair grew back in, I called it my baby hair, at least until it started sticking up at odd angles, then it was a curse. :0) After my first pregnancy was actually the worst for amount of hair falling out, but now that I've had my 3rd child, it's growing back curly!?! What's up with that? My hair has always been straight as spaghetti, and now I have curls that start sticking up in the middle of the day, as my mousse looses it's control. Humid days are rough, too. Thank goodness we've already decided not have anymore children. Who knows what my hair would decide to do next? :0) Seriously, though, I've taken all this in stride, and it probably will be different for you. Good luck with this, I think the only thing to do is wait it out, and maybe wear hats, lots of hats!

Best wishes,
D.

Mine set in at about 3 1/2 montsh and it didn't semi-subside until 8 months. I don't know how I have any hair left. It was also very dull and lifeless. You're normal! : )
R.

I know what you are going through, I've had hair loss after both of my boys a lot more with my youngest. He is now 16 1/2 months and I STILL have hair loss when I take a shower, brush my hair, on my pillow, on my clothes, it's all over the floors, carpet. I STILL have NOT found any resolution.

Good Luck, I know STRESS is a factor as well.
Please let me know if you find anything that helps.
Thanks

I also read that your hormones stop making your hair fall out during pregnancy and they're are essentially "catching up" after you have the baby. I've always had really blond hair and mine is growing back in darker...some of it is like BLACK at the roots...CRAZY stuff. I don't think it's anything to worry about, just annoying. ;)

I had hair loss after giving birth, too. Have they checked your thyroid levels?

I've also suffered post-partum hair loss with both of my sons. It started at three months with the first and lasted about four months. This time, it started at five months and lasted about four-five months. My doctor stated that there is a name for the changes that happen to a woman between 3-5 months post partum, but I can't remember what it is. Everyone goes through it. Some women lose their hair during that process and some do not. The good news is that it will grow back. :-) Hang in there.

Lol its very normal to lose a few strands of hair lol it happens to everyone even me after 2 kids its apart of life.

I don't know if this really works or not but my old hair stylist told me to keep taking my prenatal vitamin even after I gave birth because it would help the hair to not fall out. I kept taking the vitamins for a year anyway because I was nursing & didn't experience any hair loss but I won't say it was because of that. Good luck...it will grow back!

C.

Don't worry, it's just all the hair falling out that the growth hormones stopped from falling out while you were pregnant. I lost so much that my hairline was noticeably different (looked like male pattern baldness) in the pictures we had taken at five months. It was bad! But it started growing back in almost immediately and it's fine now except for all the flyaway wisps I have where some hairs are so much shorter than the rest. And my hair took on a lot more curl when I was pregnant too, which is kinda fun, actually.

You're fine, don't worry!

It's totally normal. All the hair that you didn't lose while you were pregnant (you know how it was so thick and luscious and shiny most of the 9 months?) will fall out when your hormone levels are adjusting down to regular levels. It happened around 3 or 4 months with both of my kids.

If it's still happening when the kid is a year old, then you might worry about your thyroid, but for now it seems like perfectly normal post-pregnancy out-of-whack hormones.

It's happened to everyone I know who's had a baby.

I actually had the same thing hapen to me. My hairdresser told me that when you are not pregnant you lose a certain amount of hair everyday. When you become pregnant you do not lose as much and that why hair may become thicker. So, after you have the baby your hair makes up for 9 months and will fall out. Obviously this did not come from a Dr., but it seemed to make sense to me (if thats true!).

I definitely had hair loss after about 3-4 months post-baby. I lost it in gobs though after each pregnancy with this last one being the worst. My baby is almost a year old and, of course, I am not still losing it, however, I have regrowth all over especially in the bang area from it. It was really aggravating because I had inch-long hair sticking up all over my head that wouldn't lay down. I assure you this is very normal and sometimes more noticeable than other times. Your hair during pregnancy does not shed normally so the loss is what you would have lost if not pregnant over this period of time, from what I understand.

Kin,
My name is L. Amerson, DT, IIT, doctor of Trichology. My specialty is alopecia and scalp disorder conditions. At my
Hair and Scalp Clinic in Arlington, Tx, I address many causes of alopecia with women after childbirth, also known as post-pardum alopecia, however, you may also have some scalp disorders occuring, that is not visible with the naked eye. I suggest for you to consider a microscopic analysis with me to confirm this. You may contact me at ###-###-####.