Why does a pigment stripe appear during pregnancy. Why does a pigment stripe appear on the abdomen in pregnant women? Large fetus or overweight

Pregnancy is always new sensations, unexpected manifestations, changes in the body, emotional restructuring, and moreover, expectations of the restructuring of all life. After all, with the advent of a baby in the family, the restructuring of the general mode of life will affect not only mom, but also dad, and everyone who lives next to them.

Pregnancy needs to hurry to enjoy. This period is very special. But, it’s true, it happens that pregnancy is overshadowed by some changes, such as skin pigmentation or permanent, and so on.

At some point, every expectant mother will definitely notice a vertical pigmented strip on her stomach that visually divides her stomach into two parts. And here it is absolutely not worth rushing to get upset and sad, worry and worry. All this will be in vain and unreasonable. It is worth noting right away that these phenomena (the appearance of a strip on the abdomen) are temporary.

Where does the pigment stripe on the abdomen in pregnant women come from and what does it mean?

In medicine, this strip is called: the white line of the abdomen. And indeed, in a normal state, that is, outside of pregnancy, everyone has this strip and it has a white color. This is due to the composition - this line is formed by the collagen fibers of the tendons. The white line of the abdomen runs from the pubis to the xiphoid process of the sternum. This line is the boundary between the muscles that are located on both sides of the abdomen.

In this area, the transition of muscle tissue to tendon occurs, and thus a white line of the abdomen appears.

When pregnancy occurs, the white line becomes darker. This is due to the fact that the stomach grows, the muscles, stretching in different directions, force the white line to stretch, and it becomes more visible. With a more intense work of the adrenal glands, more melanin is produced, so the white line becomes brownish.

The presence or absence of a strip on the abdomen in no way affects the course of pregnancy and the intrauterine development of the child.

At what time does the dark line appear during pregnancy and when does it pass?

Sometimes, a pigmented stripe on the abdomen appears in the early stages of pregnancy, along with other signs of this condition of the female body. True, in the first trimester this strip has a light shade, and as the pregnancy progresses, the hormonal concentration increases, and the strip darkens.

Most often, the manifestation of a strip on the abdomen is noticed in late pregnancy, along with on the face.

Many women are wondering: will this stripe remain on their body forever or will it disappear? And when will she disappear? It is impossible to predict exactly its time of disappearance, but, as a rule, the strip on the abdomen disappears a couple of months after the delivery of a woman. In some cases, it takes twelve to fourteen months for it to disappear, and very rarely the strip acquires a light shade, but does not visually disappear.

Is it possible to prevent the appearance of a strip on the abdomen or get rid of it?

There are no methods to prevent the appearance of a strip on the abdomen during pregnancy. But, you can simply reduce the level of intensity of its pigment manifestation, that is, reduce its brightness.

The first thing to do is to protect the skin of the abdomen from UV rays.

If this is not possible, then during exposure to the sun it is necessary to apply sunscreen with a high level of protection filter on the skin of the abdomen. At the same time, cosmetics should be based on zinc or titanium oxide - these are the drugs that will be absolutely harmless to the expectant mother.

And here is how the baby moves in the tummy:

How the baby moves in the stomach with a strip

Did you have a stripe on your belly during pregnancy?

Very often, women during pregnancy notice a dark strip on their stomach that runs vertically from the navel downwards and, as it were, divides the stomach into two equal hemispheres. Future mothers understand that this phenomenon is directly related to their “interesting” position and the processes taking place at that time in the body. However, the strip on the abdomen during pregnancy sometimes becomes a cause for concern. But should you be worried about her? Or would it be more correct to perceive this phenomenon as due and physiologically justified?

Dark stripe on the tummy - what is it?

The vertical dark strip that appears during pregnancy on the stomach of expectant mothers is nothing more than a manifestation of increased pigmentation against the background of an increase in the amount of hormones produced by the mother's body. It starts at the base of the navel and ends before reaching the pubic area. Although it is possible that this band may begin much higher (near the ribs). But it always passes from top to bottom and clearly cuts the stomach into two parts.

In scientific circles, this dark strip is called a little differently - the white line of the abdomen. She received such a name because she really has a white color, and darkens only during pregnancy.

Reasons for the appearance

A dark stripe on the belly of a future mother can appear at any time, it depends on the individual characteristics of the woman's body. Someone begins to notice it in the first trimester, and someone just before childbirth. In most cases, the strip is visible as early as the fourth month of pregnancy, but this is not considered a determining factor.

The white line of the abdomen is formed by tendons, the fibers of which include collagen - in fact, everyone has them. This line is the border for the abdominal muscles - they are to the right and left of it. In the region of the white line, muscle tissue is replaced by tendon.

The reason is that during pregnancy, the white line begins to change its color - at this time, the stomach begins to grow, its muscles stretch, stretch, and therefore it becomes more noticeable. The endocrine glands in a pregnant woman work more intensively, this also applies to the adrenal glands, which produce more melanin, so the white line becomes brown.

Usually this phenomenon is associated exclusively with changes in the hormonal background and the intensive production of hormones such as melanotropin, somatotropin, estrogen and progesterone. When a dark strip appears on the abdomen during pregnancy, there is no cause for concern - the level of hormones is normal.

A dark line on the belly of a pregnant woman indicates that the level of hormones is normal.

Somatotropin

As a rule, a dark strip appears in the center of the abdomen, that is, it coincides with the vertical of the body. Growth hormone is a hormone that affects the growth of muscle mass, that is, it is he who accelerates the growth of the walls of the abdomen during pregnancy.

In the place where the white line of the abdomen passes, there is no muscle tissue. Here, only connective tissue is present, which performs the function of separating the two parts of the body. Somatotropin during pregnancy ensures the growth of the abdominal muscles to the sides, in connection with this, the white line of the abdomen is stretched. This stretching of the connective tissue leads to the fact that it becomes thinner and lighter. It is due to the hormone somatotropin that the formation of the basis for the formation of such a phenomenon as a dark stripe on the abdomen occurs. But it has no effect on its color.

Melanotropin

The color of the dark strip on the abdomen, as well as its intensity, directly depend on the production of another hormone - melanotropin. It also affects the stress resistance of a woman's body during pregnancy, and its production is regulated by the activity of the endocrine glands of the unborn baby. Immediately after they start working, a dark stripe appears on the mother's tummy.

It is worth noting that this hormone accelerates the production of melatonocytes, which produce pigment. But not only melanotropin affects the formation of this unusual phenomenon, estrogen and progesterone are also involved here.

Women almost always notice that closer to childbirth, the color of the strip becomes darker. This directly indicates the production of a large number of hormones. With each subsequent pregnancy, the strip becomes more saturated in color and appears at an earlier date.

The strip for each expectant mother has its own individual parameters of shape, shade and size. For some, it is pronounced, while for others it is not visible at all.

Do all expectant mothers have it?

A dark stripe on a pregnant tummy does not always occur and not in all expectant mothers. Every tenth woman does not notice its occurrence at all. Until now, there is no exact scientific justification for this phenomenon. However, purely hypothetically, scientists believe that owners of dark skin tones, as well as dark hair and eyes, are most susceptible to the appearance of a dark stripe. In white-skinned and fair-haired women, the strip does not appear so often, and if it does, it is not so pronounced.

But do not think that everything depends only on the color of the skin, hair, eyes. The geographical area of residence is also of no small importance, since the amount of vitamin D entering the body directly depends on it.

It is almost impossible to avoid the appearance of a stripe, but you can significantly reduce the saturation of its color. To do this, stop visiting the solarium and take sunbathing to a minimum.

Remember that the presence of a dark strip or its absence does not indicate any diseases, and even more so does not affect the course of their development.

When will the strip disappear?

Surely many expectant mothers are interested in whether the dark strip from the abdomen will disappear and when it will happen. Do not be afraid: the strip will disappear immediately after your hormonal levels return to normal after childbirth.

In most cases, dark pigmentation of the white line of the abdomen disappears within six months after the birth of the baby. Although there are cases when a strip on the abdomen remains in a woman for several years.

If you are breastfeeding your baby, be prepared for the fact that during this period the strip will not disappear. But this is not a reason to stop breastfeeding. What does some pigmentation mean compared to the health and well-being of your beloved baby? Moreover, even if later, but the strip will still return to its previous state, that is, it will become light.

Removal Methods

Any woman will not like the appearance of a dark strip on her stomach, but you need to understand that in some way it is almost impossible to influence this process. However, you can influence the saturation of its color. For this purpose, contact with UV radiation must be kept to a minimum.

If you are sunbathing, be sure to apply sunscreen to your skin (preferably with an SPF of at least 25). Give preference to creams containing titanium oxide or zinc oxide - it is cosmetics based on this that are recognized as safe for pregnant women.
But not only the sun affects the color of the strip, the diet of the expectant mother also plays an important role. So that the strip is not dark, you need to exclude meat and fatty dishes from it. Black tea and coffee should also be avoided.
Eat more foods containing vitamin C. Foods containing vitamin B9 will also bring maximum benefit. It has been scientifically proven that it is the lack of these vitamins that leads to increased skin pigmentation.
During pregnancy, you need to eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, replace tea with a rosehip drink.
By agreement with the doctor, you can drink a course of multivitamins.
If even after a long time after the birth of the baby, the strip has not disappeared, consult a beautician. Getting rid of pigmentation is quite easy, thanks to modern hardware methods of cosmetology, even one session will be enough. Peeling, ultrasonic cleaning, etc. are usually used. But remember that these procedures can only be done a few months after childbirth.

In no case do not be shy and do not be ashamed of the dark stripe! It indicates that you will soon become a mother. Isn't that happiness and pride?

Folk omens

If you believe folk signs, you can determine the sex of the unborn child by the dark strip on the belly of a pregnant woman. So, if the strip is not very bright or not quite even, and ends at the base of the navel, then a girl will be born, and if, on the contrary, it is clear, even, saturated, and ends at the ribs, then a boy will be born.

This popular belief has no scientific justification. Doctors are sure that the dark strip that appears on the tummy of the expectant mother is not a means of determining the sex of the baby. It is simply considered a sign that the pregnancy is proceeding normally. But you can check, you will not harm anyone by doing this.

The dark stripe that appears on the abdomen of a pregnant woman appears as a result of hormonal changes. Its presence, or, on the contrary, its absence, should not be a cause for concern, since all this is due to the individual characteristics of the body of each expectant mother, and does not affect the course of pregnancy or the development of the fetus in any way.

A dark stripe on the abdomen during pregnancy occurs in most women, and this cute sign of pregnancy becomes a cause for alarm and even is the basis of popular superstition.

You may notice that you have a streak on your belly early in your pregnancy, but most women find it in the second or third trimesters. Sometimes the tummy stays clean throughout pregnancy.

The color of the strip on the abdomen, its length, depend on the predominant pigments in the woman's skin. For example, the main skin pigment melanin is present in humans in two main fractions, eumelanin and pheomelanin. If you accumulate more eumelanin, you will have a very dark, almost black, line on your belly. This is more typical for women with naturally dark skin, which is prone to the production of this particular melanin. Pheomelanin is a lighter, reddish-brown pigment, and if a pregnant woman has more of it, then the strip will be light brown, not bright.

A striped belly during pregnancy does not pose any threat to the child and his mother, it is just a symptom of pregnancy, not dangerous and not terrible. The strip on the abdomen after childbirth remains for 3-4 months, and passes by the time of the resumption of menstruation. If it does not pass, you can not wait until everything returns to normal and help nature.

Why does a stripe appear on the stomach?

The answer to the question of why a strip appears on the abdomen in pregnant women lies in a serious restructuring of the hormonal background of a pregnant woman.

Since everyone associates increased hairiness - spotting with male sex hormones, there is a popular belief that a pigment strip on the abdomen, as well as a strip of hair, appear if a woman is expecting a boy, because he has male sex hormones. But this skin change is not associated with sex hormones, but with hormones of the adrenal cortex, so the pigment strip on the abdomen, like other skin pigmentation, is in no way connected with the sex of the child.

And even more so, the sex of the child is not associated with the shape of the strip on the stomach, if it is curved, this does not mean the birth of a girl, no matter how much you would like it.

How to prevent the appearance of a strip and deal with it if it does not go away for a long time?

The brown strip on the stomach looks, of course, cute, but it can be not only in the lower abdomen, but also go to the navel, and then it turns brown, and even rise above the navel, dividing the tummy into 2 halves. And after the birth of the baby, this stripe, which adorned your watermelon before, becomes a cosmetic problem, you want to get rid of it.

But let's first go back a little, but is it possible to prevent its occurrence at all? Yes, you can!

The vertical stripe on the abdomen will be less bright and pronounced if you protect your skin from ultraviolet radiation. Since we cannot widely use all kinds of different cosmetics, let's discuss the problem in a little more detail, which will be especially useful to you on the eve of summer or a trip to the sea on vacation.

Regularly use cosmetic masks and creams with a UV protection factor of at least 25-30 if you are in the sun. When buying creams, please note that all sunscreens must contain filters based on zinc oxide or titanium dioxide. These substances do not irritate the skin at all and are safe for pregnant women.

Remember, any whitening cream is contraindicated for you if it contains mercury, hydroquinone or AHA acids.

You can influence the formation of the strip through ... your diet. Lack of vitamin C and folic acid provokes pigmentation and is dangerous for the fetus. Enrich your food with fresh vegetables and fruits, brew rose hips and pamper yourself with lemon, eat green vegetables. Take a prenatal multivitamin.

Fatty and meat foods also affect the tendency to form a dark strip, so sour-milk products and herbs, vegetables, fruits are much more beneficial for the skin of pregnant women.

The strip on the living is darker in those women who abuse coffee and strong tea, during pregnancy they should be excluded from the diet.

So your baby was born, and now you really want to quickly return to normal shape. Your tummy, most likely, you will not like it for a long time, the muscles are weakened, the skin is stretched, and this strip is also ... It will pass by itself in about 3-4 months, but some women have to live with this reminder of an experienced pregnancy for several years.

In such cases, you should contact a cosmetologist, today there are quite effective methods of hardware correction of age spots, and you will be relieved of the strip in 1 visit. But tightening the tummy itself is, of course, more difficult, and much depends on you.

The dark streak that appears during pregnancy makes half of the expectant mothers pretty nervous, who begin to think that something is wrong with the baby.

In fact, the vertical line on the abdomen should not cause concern, as it is a physiological feature of the female body, which becomes pronounced and noticeable during the period of bearing a child.

The strip on the abdomen in pregnant women can have different sizes. In most cases, it stretches from the pubis to the navel, but can also reach the line of the ribs, passing through the entire abdomen. The color can also vary from light beige to deep brown. It is the latter option that most often scares pregnant women.

Hormonal changes during pregnancy

Increased production of sex hormones (primarily estrogen) leads to significant changes in the female body. Under the influence of estrogen, a woman's psyche changes: tearfulness appears, mood often changes, in the evenings it becomes difficult to fall asleep due to constant disturbing thoughts.

Sometimes changes can affect the timbre of the voice - it becomes rougher and lower. Hair follicles are activated under the influence of estrogen: it is for this reason that pregnant women grow hair quickly, and even those who previously could not boast of a long mop of curls note a significant increase in hair growth.

If the level of estrogen and progesterone in the body of a pregnant woman becomes very high, melanotropin synthesis is stimulated.

This is a hormone responsible for the formation of a coloring pigment in skin cells. When its concentration reaches a peak, a woman has a characteristic stripe on her stomach. Under the influence of melanotropin, the number of freckles and moles can significantly increase. All these phenomena are usually temporary, so you should not worry when they appear.

Large fetus or overweight

There is no direct connection between the appearance of a strip on the abdomen. However, some gynecologists argue that extra pounds gained during pregnancy can increase the risk of developing a vertical stripe. This is because the skin in the middle of the abdomen is very thin. With excessive stretching, it can become thinner, as a result of which the pigmentation of the area at the junction of the stretch changes.

Too large belly size can be explained by the following reasons:

overweight or obesity;
(more than 3500 g);
fetal malformations.

With the probability of the appearance of a dark strip on the abdomen increases several times.

When do pregnant women get a stripe on their stomach?

Most often, a dark vertical line in the center of the abdomen appears in the third trimester. By this time, the height of the uterine fundus is approaching its maximum values, respectively, the size of the "pregnant" tummy becomes quite impressive.

In most women, a barely noticeable light line appears at first, which darkens as the gestational age increases. In some cases, the line may immediately have a dark color - this is also one of the variants of the norm, so you should not be afraid of this phenomenon.

Not always the line on the abdomen becomes noticeable in the second half of pregnancy. About 10% of women note its appearance immediately after the end of the first trimester, that is, from 12-14 weeks.

In some cases, the early formation of pigmentation may indicate hormonal disruptions, so you should pay the attention of the gynecologist to this fact.

If the woman’s tests are normal, her health remains good, and there are no signs of serious hormonal disorders, most likely, everything is in order with the woman’s health. Do not forget that a certain hormonal imbalance is normal during pregnancy. An experienced doctor will always notice signs indicating severe disorders in the body of the expectant mother.

About 2-3% of women notice the appearance of a dark strip on the abdomen in the first three days after childbirth (sometimes this period can stretch up to seven days).

The reason for this phenomenon is an increased level of estrogen, so after 1-2 months (the average end of postpartum discharge), you should undergo a thorough examination by a gynecologist and endocrinologist.

There are women who are not affected by hyperpigmentation at all. They do not have a strip on the abdomen either in the first or subsequent pregnancies.

When does it pass?

No doctor can answer this question for sure. As a rule, pigmentation disappears in the first weeks after childbirth, but it can also happen that the strip becomes invisible only after 2-6 months. The duration of this phenomenon depends on:

woman's health status;
the level of sex hormones in the blood;
the length of the recovery period after childbirth;
woman's individual characteristics.

Medicine knows cases when a vertical brown strip that appeared on the stomach during the period of bearing a child did not go away at all. Even experienced obstetricians cannot say what this is connected with. Such situations are quite rare - as statistics show, only 1 woman out of 10,000 finds a dark pigmented stripe in herself, which remains for many years even after childbirth.

Is it possible to get rid of the vertical stripe on the stomach?

Unfortunately, it is impossible to completely get rid of the vertical pigment line.

When walking in the summer, it is necessary to cover the abdomen. Short t-shirts and tops are not allowed.
Staying on the beach is possible only during the hours of low solar activity (until 12 noon and after 17-18 pm).
Hiking in the solarium (even after childbirth) is strictly prohibited!
The use of high UV protection sunscreen (SPF over 50) is a must for all pregnant women going outside during the summer.
In hot weather, stay in the shade more often.

Folk omens

In the old days in Rus', a strip on the stomach even determined the sex of the unborn baby. It was believed that if a woman had a dark and long strip, then a boy would be born. But a short and light line foreshadowed the birth of a girl. If the strip did not appear at all, this was also interpreted as the birth of an heiress.

If the pigment line passed beyond the navel line and grew upwards, reaching the intercostal zone, the appearance of twins or triplets was expected. The broken line indicated that the twins would be of different sexes.

Women should not be upset if they notice a strip beginning to darken on their stomach. This is a physiological phenomenon that will not harm either the mother or the baby. In most cases, the strip passes on its own after childbirth, so you need to discard all fears and worries and enjoy the period of pregnancy, because it will come to an end very soon.

There is no doubt that pregnancy changes a woman and often for the better. From the side, a rounded belly, some prettiness of the expectant mother and inexplicable charm are clearly visible.

1. Why does a strip appear on the abdomen during pregnancy?

2. When and for how long does the band appear?

3. Pigmentation and signs

4. Conclusion

But the woman herself sees much more changes, because day after day for 40 weeks she notices how her body is being transformed, new features appear, often not always clear to herself. A striking example is a strip on the abdomen during pregnancy. The phenomenon is very common, but in many hypochondriac pregnant women it causes confusion, and in very suspicious ones it causes anxiety and anxiety. Should I be worried about this and what does this phenomenon mean? Let's talk.

Why does a stripe appear on the abdomen during pregnancy?

The question is very good, and the answer is surprisingly simple and can be described in one word: “pigment”. Didn't guess? Then listen.

I really like to talk about the wonderful substances called hormones, and this time I can’t do without them either. So, if you know, some of these hormones are responsible for preparing a woman's body for bearing a baby. In particular, after conception, multiple processes in the body are activated, including the production of a number of hormones, including ACTH, adrenal hormones, female sex hormones, somatotropin, etc.

These substances stimulate the production of another substance - melanotropin, which, in turn, activates the activity of special cells - melanocytes. And already these cells produce the familiar melanin, which makes our skin darken in the sun. In simple terms, the plant (melanocytes) starts the production of the product (melanin) only after this very plant receives “permission from the authorities” in the form of melanotropin. Something like this.

The increased production of melanin is precisely the same pigmentation that appears in most pregnant women in the form of this notorious dark strip, darkened nipples, labia vulva (even!) And the appearance of age spots on the face, shoulders and, possibly, back.

Now let's figure out why it is the middle line of the abdomen that darkens. If you have ever seen an anatomical image of the human abdominal muscles, you probably noticed that the press consists of a number of muscles symmetrical about the vertical axis, separated by some kind of white stripes. The largest one in the center even has its own name - the white line of the abdomen (linea alba). We always have it, it consists of collagen fibers and connective tissue, in the normal state it is not noticeable at all. But pregnancy is not an ordinary and familiar condition for a woman, the stomach grows, the skin and muscles of the abdomen stretch, the white stripe becomes more and more noticeable. Over time, due to the accumulation of pigment in this area, the belly line darkens, and the intensity of the color directly depends on the activity of the production of the hormone melanotropin.

When does a stripe appear on the abdomen during pregnancy

As you might guess from the story above, the pigment stripe on the belly of a pregnant woman is a completely normal physiological phenomenon that is not worth worrying about. It appears to some degree of intensity in 9 out of 10 women in position and closer to the third trimester, when the stomach is already decently large. It may also happen that the strip will not be noticeable at all - this is also a variant of the norm that does not require intervention.

By the way, this phenomenon has a Latin name - linea nigra, which literally means - "dark stripe". At the same time, its appearance is influenced not only by a change in the hormonal background of a pregnant woman, but also by her color type. Those who have a lot of skin pigment by nature: brown-eyed brunettes, swarthy and dark-skinned women, will have more pronounced pigmentation. The stripe on the abdomen will be dark, exactly like the nipple halos on the chest. Less noticeable or completely absent pigmentation in fair-haired white-skinned expectant mothers.

The dark line on the pregnant tummy disappears in the same way as it appears, that is, by itself some time after the birth. The hormonal background changes, the production of melanin is no longer so intense, the strip either disappears or becomes much less noticeable.

Many women are worried about this and consider it to be something like a cosmetic defect, something unattractive and spoiling a lovely pregnant belly. It’s a matter of taste and understanding of beauty, as they say, but if you don’t want to provoke its darkening or make the strip stand out even more, then here are a couple of tips:

- since exposure to the sun directly affects not only the production of vitamin D, but also skin pigment, it is logical to exclude or, if possible, reduce sunbathing so that the line on the stomach does not become more noticeable;

- try to protect yourself from the sun's rays with closed clothing or creams with the maximum degree of protection;

- it is impossible to prevent the appearance of a strip, but it has been proven that in northern women such a cosmetic feature is less common and less pronounced than in residents of hot southern regions.

Pigmentation and signs

Now let's talk about the most interesting. In ancient times, when they still did not know what prenatal diagnosis was, the sex of the child was determined by the fact at birth. But of course, many wanted to know this information long before this moment and tried in every possible way to guess the sex during pregnancy, to identify some kind of pattern and a reliable sign. The same pigment line on the abdomen of pregnant women did not go unnoticed. So, I offer you options for "fortune telling on the strip":

- if the strip is dark, even and extends from the pubis to the sternum, then surely a son is growing under the mother's heart;

- if the strip is light, short or not at all, then a girl is likely to be born;

- the intensity of the stripe color can speak about the nature of the unborn child: the brighter it is, the calmer and more balanced the baby will be born.

The last option, by the way, can be quite scientifically substantiated. Melanotropin, the same hormone that is partly responsible for the appearance of linea nigra, is considered a hormone of stress resistance, so you can clearly trace the relationship between the intensity of the color of the strip and the resistance to stress in the fetus.

Some sources consider such a situation that melanotonin can be produced by the fetus itself, and not by the mother's body. In this case, during pregnancy, the strip on the abdomen will be pronounced, and the baby himself will be born fair-haired and with fair skin. It is likely that such a child will later cope with stressful situations better than other children.

Conclusion

Dear future mothers! Let the stripe on your stomach be your biggest problem in this life, and let your pregnancy flow easily and end with the birth of a healthy baby! As we found out, pigmentation on the abdomen during pregnancy is a completely normal and physiological phenomenon that is not worth your concern. The strip appears closer to the third trimester, but it can clearly manifest itself for a short time - in any case, this is normal and will go away on its own after childbirth.