Postpartum Shedding – What To Expect For Baby And Mom

My son Jonross is almost 11 months old. It’s crazy how fast time flies because for me it was just yesterday I felt him trying break my rib cage and now he has his dad and I running all over the house removing small objects from his little fists.

In case you are wondering, postpartum shedding is the sudden shedding of hair that new moms experience shortly after the birth of their child.

I experienced postpartum shedding but it didn’t happen in the way I expected or even when I expected.

I thought I would have the baby and then my hair would just start falling out immediately; but really what happened was that I lost a lot of hair around my hair line when he was six or 7 months old.

When I started to notice how specific the hair loss was and that I actually had bald spots I decided to do a little research on what I really should or should not be worried about.

You would be surprised how a little knowledge can ease your worry and help you though what will undoubtedly be a a stressful time.

If you have experienced postpartum shedding and know little to nothing about it, keep reading, after all sharing is caring.

What Happens To Your Hair During Pregnancy

To understand postpartum shedding it is important to know the background and some of the changes your body goes through as you take care of your little bundle for nine months.

Normally we have on average around 95% of our hair growing at any given time, the rest of our hair is enjoying a resting period and after the rest is over, the hair falls out.

We all have heard that we tend to lose about 100 hairs per day, most of that is from manipulation and normal shedding after the resting phase is over. The hair that is released is then replaced with a new hair that sprouts from the same follicle and the cycle continues.

During pregnancy things move away from normal and our hair growth cycle changes. One of the most significant changes is the increased levels of the hormone estrogen in our system which not only contributes to the sudden cravings for pickles on top of a huge bowl of ice-cream but the hormone also prolongs the growing phase of our hair.

Have you ever wondered how long your hair would be if your were an elephant? End crazy thought here. During your pregnancy you will notice that your hair is thicker from all the extra hair you are holding on to and also shinier contributing to that gorgeous pregnancy glow we all tend to experience.