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During my pregnancy, nearly all of my experienced mom friends recommended that I select a postpartum belly wrap to use immediately after delivery.
My sister-in-law had loved her experience with the Belly Bandit, so I reached out to the company a few weeks before my due date to learn more about their product, and they were kind enough to send me their Bamboo Belly Bandit to try out.
I’ll admit, I was hesitant to use any postpartum wrap immediately after birth– mostly because shrinking my stomach or hips was the last thing on my mind when our new baby arrived! However, these wraps do more than just shrink your waistline. My doctors and nurses encouraged me to use massage and pressure to help my uterus shrink back to its pre-pregnancy size, but the pressure from the Belly Bandit naturally did that for me! It was nice to have one less thing to worry about during that sleep-deprived period of time.
Because my baby arrived so unexpectedly early, the last photo I have of my pregnant belly is at 35 weeks– just two weeks before he made his debut! The photo on the right is of me wearing the Belly Bandit at four weeks postpartum. It’s amazing to see how my stomach shrunk so quickly, as I could barely get the wrap to close at all when I came home from the hospital. Just a few weeks later I was able to wrap it much tighter, and I loved the back support it provided, especially while nursing around the clock!
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Now that our baby is three months old, I no longer use the Belly Bandit daily, but I still love using it when I’ve had an especially long day of bouncing and squatting (our baby’s favorite way to be calmed). It’s great for core support, and improves your posture at the same time!
A few notes about the Belly Bandit:
- I tried the Bamboo version of the Belly Bandit because I’ve heard it’s much more comfortable than the original version. I don’t have anything to compare it to, but I did find it very comfortable, despite the tight fit.
- If you’re between sizes, go with the smaller size. The folks at Belly Bandit were very helpful with helping me select the perfect size, so don’t hesitate to contact them! They convinced me to go with the smaller size, and they were exactly right. Even though it was pretty tight the first couple of days, I’m glad I didn’t have to buy a new size as my stomach shrunk.
Overall, I’m very happy with my Belly Bandit experience, and hope it helps any other new or future mamas out there!
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Reader Feedback: Have you used or considered using a postpartum wrap? I’d love to hear about your experience, too!
*Disclaimer: The folks at Belly Bandit sent me a complimentary wrap, but as always, I am under no obligation to post a positive review.
I am 11 days post and just bought the belly bandit based on your review. So far it has been great! I feel so supported in the front and back. However, It folds in the back and I was wondering if you experienced the same thing. Thanks 🙂
Thank you SO much for the review. I have a very good Chinese acupuncture doctor that recommended a belly band after birth, so I did some research. I was kind of skeptical since most of what I found was 50-50 for using or not using. I bought one anyway, but from Carriwell in organic cotton and went for the s/m also thinking it might stretch. 9 weeks left, so can’t comment on how well it’s working, but your review gave me more incentive to use it. So did you start wearing yours right after the birth or maybe a few weeks in between?
Also some tips from my Chinese doc, for the first month:
-try not to take a full shower: your meridians are open and sensitive and water helps to carry toxins from the body, so stick with a washcloth and rinsing your feminine areas.
– Same thing goes for washing your hair, don’t
– Keep away from cold drafts, if you open a window for fresh air, do it in another room you are not in. If you go out in cold weather, try to keep your head and neck covered often
-Eat soft foods, your teeth and gums are sensitive
-And of course, the belly binder
He told me that often most women don’t take too much care during the first month since they are so tired and focused on the baby and that ailments come years later from not protecting your body during that first month. It’s traditional medicine, but you never know. I’m giving birth in February and going to try to follow the advice as much as I can. Good luck everyone, and THANK YOU Detoxinista.
I used the Belly Bandit for both my pregnancies and found it super helpful especially with back support and when getting back into excersicing. And quite comfortable I would forget I was wearing it. I experienced mild to moderate diastasis (separation of the abdominal walls) with my pregnancies and found the belly bandit helpful in bringing my abs back together. I also wore the Belly Bandit support for pregnancy specific. It has a built in pouch to hold a heat pack/cold pack which was fabulous to ease any low back pain and worn forward for soothing contractions. As for sizing, I got the smaller size as well in bamboo and thought it would never fit but sure enough, it didn’t take long! I am smaller in the waist then pre-pregnancy! No complaints!
My son is almost a year old and I still wear my belly bandit for excersicing and walking, although, now I really need the smaller size for it to be optimally effective for support in activities.
Wow–you are a TINY preggo woman!! So cute 🙂
Haven’t ever tried anything like this…but I can definitely understand the posture help it would offer when nursing!!
I’ve never used a product like this, but was wondering if it would help heal a diastatis recti. Anyone know? I’ve heard of people using something like this, but I don’t know if there’s something special about the product designed specifically for diastasis recti. Thx!
Thank you SO much for this info, along with everything else you’ve posted about pregnancy and post-birth. I’m planning on getting pregnant possibly next year, but it’s so hard because both of our families are not and will not be around and my girlfriends are much too ambitious to have kids at the moment, so there’s no one to share this kind of info with. I mean, I never even knew that this belly wrap thing ever existed!
I hope you post more info about your post-pregnancy experience. It’s so helpful to women like me who don’t have people around to learn from.
:):):)
While I did not use this brand. I did use a similar product after the c-section with my twins. It was a huge help with breastfeeding, and helping my posture while everything was getting back to normal. It always helps a mom to hear “wow, no way you look great” so soon after having a little one.
WOW!! You look so awesome!! This seems like something that is a must the next time around!!! 🙂
I used something similar postpartum and it worked wonders for me. I agree with the back support and the pressure it applied was comforting to me. I made the mistake of not buying the smaller size so after a couple of months I had to buy another smaller one.
Hi! I’m about to give birth in a couple of weeks and came across this post of yours so it’s very interesting – I actually wasn’t even considering a belly band, but now you made me rethink it! Do you think it’s really the belly band that helps shrink your stomach, or is it the natural way of getting back to your routine, and nursing that helps the shrinking?… I would love to hear from others who have used it and who haven’t what the results are if you just go back to your normal routine after…
Carolina,
I wish I could compare both, but I only have without experience.
I have four children, gained between no more than 30lbs with each, two hospital births, two unassisted home births, only immediate massage, not weeks and was able to fit into my regular clothes about two weeks later, may have taken 3 with my forth. I lost all but 5lbs of pregnancy weight. I believe it has so much to do with genetics too; I have a niece and it takes her a year even though she’s nurses and physically fit.
With that said, I do find this product interesting, but surprised by the position of it in the photo. My extra weight was lower abdomen as well as back pain. Plus, the location of one’s uterus and the muscles many used for pregnancy support.
Sorry for the typos! between should have been deleted; fourth not forth! Ack!
Carolina– I have a feeling my stomach would have shrunk back eventually, regardless of wearing the band, but it may have sped up the process. I can’t be sure, since this is my only postpartum experience. Either way, it felt nice to wear those first few weeks when everything in your body feels a bit different.
Maria– I actually wore the band lower those first couple of weeks, when I was trying to get my uterus to return to its normal size. By the time that picture was taken, I was pretty much using it only as a reminder to keep a better posture and not hunch over my baby all day long!