Got this e-mail today:
I think your site is great and it’s relieving to know that we moms are not alone with our post-partum marks. I’d be interested to see pictures of moms’ hair loss after pregnancy, because I always tend to have large bald spots on my head after I give birth. I figure the head is just another part of the mom’s body that can also exhibit evidence of having a baby, although hair falling out doesn’t happen to every mom after giving birth. Any of your member-moms have any pictures/experiences like that?
Some women do see temporarily increased hair loss right after pregnancy because of changing hormone levels. But hair loss can also be a symptom of hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid). You may want to ask your doctor to check you for hypothyroidism. (I say this a both a medical copyeditor and a woman who has hypothyroidism.)
I don’t have photos, but I was alarmed when my hair fell out by the handful at 3 months postpartum. You’re not alone, mama!
wow i never knew having a baby would result in hairloss.
I haven’t experienced bald spots, but my friend has. When she is pregnant her hair looks so soft and wavy, within days of her having a baby( she has 6) she has serious hair loss issues that don’t improve untill her bub is around a year.
My hair get very thick and unruly when I am pregnnt and goes back to normal when my bub is around 6-7 months old. my youngest is 4 and I am back to having linp hair.
I lost a lot of hair after my sons birth. It was actually quite devastating because i normally have very very thick full hair and after he was born it fell out everywhere! It was like a shedding dog! It was very noticable around my forehead on the sides. I have pictures somewhere but no idea how to post them. It was hard enough for me to deal with the changes to my body, losing my hair suprised me. I was not informed about the possibility! it seemed to take forever to fill back out too because my hair was so long.
I was a shedding dog as well. It definately has something to do with the hormone thing. Although I never had chunks missing, there were quite a few times I thought I would go bald before my husband.
Just wanted to second the possibility of a thyroid condition. I lost some hair because of mine, and it did follow a pregnancy.
Same thing happened to me after both of my pregnancies — no pictures of it, though. I had two bald spots on either side of my forehead and the bathroom was just carpeted in my hair anytime I brushed it or used the blow dryer. It all grows back, so no worries.
It actually has to do with the increased estrogen during pregnancy, which prevents the small amount of hair that usually sheds to come out. Once hormones drop after birth, your hair makes up for lost time. There is a name for it, I googled it and found it.
Amy
My hair started falling out in clumps after I had my second, but in my case it turned out to be a consequence of anaemia. I suggest getting it checked out by your doctor if you have any other symptoms of anaemia or hypothyroidism, as mentioned by another poster, such as prolonged exhaustion (although it can be a bit hard to tell whether that’s a symptom of anything other than having just had a baby *g*).
It can also just fall out naturally post-partum, as hormonal changes during pregnancy mean that your hair stops falling out at its regular rate until after the birth, where it starts shedding again.
I never lost hair after my daughter was born, but when my son was born, it seemed I was going to go bald! I had very longhair then and literally I would fill up a hairbrush before a shower, pull out a bunch more hair during and fill one more brush after the shower. Aside from near my forehead if you looked closely, it was never noticeable. Funny how we can lose so much hair without it showing up, huh? In my case, it was definitely not thyroid or anemia as I had both tested for other reasons, but I did (do?) have low progesterone so maybe that played a role. Anyhow it CAN be very normal.
I never had baldspots, but boy I hated taking showers and brushing my hair… from about twenty weeks into my pregnancy until my daughter was maybe five months old, I was loosing tons of hair! My shower drain would be filled with hair and my hairbrush would need to be cleaned after every brushing!
Yup, mucho hair loss after having babies. Then, the fun of growing it back in curly when my hair is usually very straight. This results in Jan Brady like curls on the side of my head.
I wanted to submit photos of my hair GAIN though. My last pregnancy resulted in me growing an ever so charming “treasure trail” from my pubic hair up to my belly button. If I wax it or nair it, it just comes back ingrown. I shave it and then I have five o clock tummy shadow…
My baby is 4 months old. I have also noticed after 3 months I am experiencing hair loss. It is horrible because I find hair on my pillow, bath, on baby, everywhere. i am waiting to see on the 6th month this condition should improve
I to an experiencing hair loss at the moment. My baby is now four months old and the hair loss began about a month ago.I have had four children and this has happened everytime when my baby has got to about 3-4mths so i kinda expected it, lol. However this time time round it seems to be worse!! I dread taking a shower and brushing my hair. Funny how both the mother and baby begin ‘loosing’ hair at the same time. My daughter has started to loose her hair aswell.
I came to this site for moral support. I have been losing my hair for about 3 weeks. My baby is 3 and 1/2 months now. My husband is pretty old-fashioned with the long hair thing, but I told him that it’s too thin to keep it to my waist. About every 5 showers, I’ve been trimming it shorter and shorter. I’m trying to get him accustomed to it slowly. Plus, I’m not ready to whack it completely. I just hope it slows down after this month. Although it’s going to continue falling out, will it slow down before the year is up?
I started losing my hair when my baby was about 5 months old. EVeryone said it was normal to shed some hair post partum so i did nothing about it. However, afer 3 months and it was still falling out, I decided to seek medical attention. I was literally pulling out probably 6-7 handfulls of hair per day. It would be on my pillow in the morning, all over the bathroom floor, in the bath tub, and i would fill up the hair brush in no time. I was quite distraught. I was developing bald patches on my head to the point where i had to always tie my hair back to hide it. Once i went to the doctor and had some blood test, it was determined that I was anemic and had a thyroid condition. I then had to be on the medication for another 5 months before i noticed that it was not falling out anymore. My the end of it, i was about a year with my hair falling out. please seek medical attention if you have this problem, it could be something you need meds for
I HAVE A 2 YEAR OLD SON AND A 1 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER, MY SISTER SAID SHE EXPERIENCED ALOT OF HAIR LOSS AND BALD SPOTS AS I AM NOW, I NOTICED IT ABOUT 3 MONTHS AGO AND THE SPOT IS GETTING BIGGER. I’M VERY SCARED IT MITE BE SOMTHING ELSE. I HOPE IT IS BECAUSE OF MY PREGNANCY
Hi Everyone,
It makes me feel so much better reading all the hair loss stories. I started to experience hair loss about 2 weeks ago. My sides are very thin and above my forhead is also very thin. Im really scared that it wont stop. I also feel very concious about it. I had blood tests and they are all normal. Im hoping for the best.
I have a 4 month old little girl,I have noticed my hair falling out,it seems to be the two sides of my head. I already have very fine hair and i am started to get worried it wont stop and i will end up completely bald.Is there any vits you can take to help the hair loss??
I had a baby in July who lived for 5 days then passed away. My white blood count was very high after I had my daughter. About 6 months after I had my daughter, my hair started falling out and hasn’t stopped. I also just found out my thyroid is off – hypothyroid and just started meds. I guess with everything combined there is a reason for this hair loss but it still scares me. I so want to be okay but I feel like I can’t start to heal because of constant reminders about losing my daughter … hair loss just being the latest reminder. Has anyone started losing hair as late as 6 months post partum?
I was a classic textbook case. The hairloss began at around 3 months postpartum and continued to 6 months. Yes, i had the balding temples and thinning crown. with time (probably a year, i was back to normal). The same has occured with my second daughter. However, it has occured twice. First at 3 months postpartum and then started again at 10 months, lasting another couple of months. the baby fine hairs have covered my bald spots, it is still thin in the front. just hope some of what i lost comes back. hang in there!
My son is 11 months old now and I began losing my hair a couple of months ago. It wasnt until probably three weeks ago though that I really started to notice just how much hair I was losing. Very thin around forehead. I have very long hair and before I could put it in a bun with a rubber band only wrapping it twice and now I wrap it three to four times.never noticed this with birth of my daughter. Please let me know if anyone experienced or still experiencing this at 11 months postpardum. When will it stop? please write back to jaelbgood@msn.com thanks I just stumbled across this post on accident and dont know if I can find it again to check posts
My daughter is now almost 6 weeks old and a few hours after my delivery I saw a nickel sized bald spot on the top left of my head, so I thought it was alopecia areata. At that time no hairs came out even with strong pulling. But 2 weeks postpartum I had severe hair shedding that by the end of the first week I could see the top and back of my scalp. My nickel sized bald spot grew and I also lost hair in the middle of my forehead. My hair just fell even when I didn’t touch it. Now, about 4 weeks later the shedding has decreased but my hair is now very very thin and since my scalp on top shows, I bought a human hair wig. Has anyone experienced this type of hair loss when it’s less than 3 months postpartum? Labwork was normal and no major stress or surgery other than childbirth. My dermatologist and OB diagnosed postpartum telogen effluvium. Any advice or comments?
Hello.
I am 25 next month, and had my son last January. I’ve always had super thick hair, and now my hair is fine and thin. No matter how I part my hair, you can see much of my scalp up to an inch on either side of the part. It’s hurt my self esteem greatly, and I’ve complained about it so much everyone tells me I’m thinking too much, that it doesn’t look thin.
I had massive shedding at the 3 month postpartum mark. Expected. My hair was horribly thin.
By November I remember seeing the tiny new hairs, and I felt great and relieved. I thought nothing more about it.
I should note that I exclusively breastfed my son for 1 year, before cutting feedings (setting a 4 nursing schedule around solid feedings. He didn’t notice the change, so I knew he was ready to begin weaning) and beginning the journey to wean down to only morning and night nursing until he is 18 months to 24 months, it depends when we both feel it’s time..
Also, around the end of June, beginning of July last year, 5-6 months postpartum, I got Paragard iud inserted.
I didn’t have my first normal period until the end of December.
then in January, near the end, I experienced more shedding around my period.i thought nothing of it. I had begun weaning Thor down to a scheduled nursing.
By the middle of February, a month ago, I noticed my hair seemed and looked thin and lifeless. The little hairs I once saw were gone. I found more shedding of short hairs than long ones. I tried not to freak out.
Now it is the end of March, and I just finished another normal period, and noticed more shedding. It doesn’t seem as much as before, but it does worry me. I can’t look at myself in the mirror most the time.
I just cut out the noontime nursing session with my 14 month old and now we are beginning only morning and night routine for the next few months.
I’m not sure if this is normal because of going from exclusively breastfeeding to scheduled and almost complete weaning within a month and a half, or if it’s because of Paragard, which I have had inserted for about 8 months now.
The internet can’t get me answers so I am hoping someone else is experiencing the same and may have more information…
Thank you.
My baby is almost 11 mo. and my hair which is normally so thick it takes me hours to wash and dry, now is so thin I am embarrassed and do not like to pull back anymore due to bald patches where my scalp peeks through and bald patches at temples and over ears. I had severe iron anemia and low hemoglobin discovered 6.5 mos pp. I received iron infusions and it seemed to get better now it is worse again but I quit nursing about 6 weeks ago. Maybe that is causing it to get worse again? I am so humiliated….I go back in 2 weeks for iron recheck at my hemotologist but I might try to get in next week bcuz it is sooo bad and I am freaking. The more it falls the more I stress which I am sure does not help. Is it postpartum, is my anemia back, is it due to quitting nursing? I am not going to be able to leave my house if this keeps up. I pray everday for it to stop. I am taking bso shi supplements and biotin. Help!!!!
I had my 4th baby 5 months ago. My hair has thin so drastically that I cut it just below my ears. It’s thin all over, not just at the temples, but EVERYWHERE. My temples have gotten he worst of it as they have receded over an inch. It is depressing for a woman to lose hair. It’s also extremely dry and brittle. It gets tangled extremely easily. I am hoping it stops by a year. I may be wearing a wig by then.
I have it quite bad started when my daughters born I think and it seems to be getting worse. I am going to book an appointment to see my doctor to see what they say.