4 1/2 months postpartum and losing my hair!!!

[JillyHemp316]

Please help!! My son is 4 1/2 months old and I just started losing my hair. I used to have really thnk, shiny, soft, awesome hair (it was my best feature) and now it's brittle and dry and getting thinner and thinner. I don't know what to do. I mean at first I just thought it was normal shedding but then it got heavier and heavier. It's insane. I don't want to lose my hair. I can see my scalp at my forehead it's so thin there. It's like I have a receding hair line!! Ugh, I can't believe this is happening. Does anyone have any idea why this may be happening? I heard sometimes that women lose a little hair after they have a baby but this seems nuts. Has this happened to anyone else?

[Rozy321]

I'll echo the above posters and say the same things happened to me postpartum!  Your head hangs on to all the hair you would normally shed while you're pregnant, then sometime after giving birth you start shedding not only your normal hair, but all that pregnancy hair too.  My hair was SO thin after it starting coming out in clumps... I remember thinking I needed smaller hair bands cause I had to twist mine so many times!  Like diamond said, some women DO have thyroid weirdness postpartum though, so it's worth a call to your doc if you think it is just too much hair loss to be normal; but just be aware that it IS normal to lose more hair than you're used to postpartum.  

[diamondintherough79]

I apologize in advance if I have repeated anyone. I didnt read the above posts.
I would say get your thyroid levels checked. After having a baby its quite common for your levels to go out of whack.

[JillyHemp316]

I stopped taking my prenatals a while back cuz I was thinking about quiting pumping, but now that I've decided to try and stick it out longer I've started taking them again. And I think our water has something to do with it be crummy and brittle. We live in a really old house and the pipes are really really old so I assume that they depost crap in the water. I didn't drink our water at all while I was pregnant or for a long time while pumping, and now I'm staying away from it again. I think it's a big part of the icky hair problem. I think calcium will help, I've started taking calcium supplements, those chewy chocolate flavored ones. Thank you everyone for being so supportive, glad to know I'm not alone in all this. I don't know what I would do without all of you guys and without medhelp.

[vacuumprincess]

when I  was pregnant with my daughter my hair got really thick.  a few months after I had her it got thin.  Sorry.  I think this is normal.  Hormonal changes.  last year when I had my miscarriage, I lost a lot of hair.

Keep taking prenatals.  all those vitimins are good for hair, skin & nails.  Fish oil pills will help with it being brittle.  You can also get vitamins that are for hair.  Eating cottage cheese & yogurt is supposed to be good too.

[Ladybugbc]

This happened to me when my son was around 3months. I've always had a problem with hair loss and pregnancy did wonders and stopped my hair loss. I was so sad when I noticed it was back.
Now my son is 6months and my hair loss seemed to have slowed down. I am breast feeding so I am still on a Pre-natal/post partum vitamin and recently increased my calorie intake as i was losing quite a bit of weight along with my hair too.
I think that helped with mine..
DH jokes that the carpets have more of my hair than on my head..!!

Good luck with your baby!!

[blueeyedtabbycat]

my DD is 14 months old and I am STILL losing hair:~( Mine is very thick still so I guess im not missing it too much but its a pain cause everytime I brush my hair I am shedding all over!!

[Ashelen]

It scared the CRAP out of me post-partum with my daughter because I thought I had thyroid cancer or something..I would pull out thick patches...I never had a bald spot but OMG it was intense....it's happening this time too...so sorry Jilly I wish I had known this was happening I would've told you it's normal...awful awful but normal.

[JillyHemp316]

Oh Thank Lord! This had me sooo scared. I'm so glad I'm not the only one going through this. And thank God that the hair will grow back I was afraid I'd be bald! Well one of my best friends is pregnant and I am soo telling her about this cuz it seriously had me really scared. Thank you ladies sooo much, I feel much better now.

[ammanda]

Omg I thought about asking this question myself.  my hair falls out like crazy i dont even have to do anything. i get so grossed out!  like all i do is grab it at the roots and pull down and it a whole handfull comes out. its all over my clothes all the time, i hate it!!!  Im about 6 months PP.. so I really hope it stops soon, i even got my hair cut to see if that would help, which it didnt.. darn it.. now I wish I didnt cut it,

[30something13]

I feel for you! My little guy is the same age and mine started at 3 months. It is normal and horrible and ther is nothing you can do about it. I had thick hair that would not fit in ponytail holders and now they wrap around 4x!!! I have litterally filled a small trash can just about every day with hair:(

It is becasue your hair goes dormat and does not shed the normal, around 100 hairs a day, when you are pregnant. That is why lots of people say their hair is thicker. then around 3 months post partum it starts shedding all the hair that did not shed during pregnancy and will usually stop around 6 months post partum. You will know when it is close to stopping when you see little tiny new hairs growing around the hair line. Mine is just now slowing down which I am greatful for cuz I think I would be bald in another two weeks if it would of kept up. I only lost a small hand full today. I started washing it every other day just becasue I was looseing so much then. I saw an article about it somewhere on pregnancy something online but forget were.

So don't worry this is my 5th prengancy and believe me it does stop and it will grow back! I lost more this time due to taking progesterone shots during pregnancy, the extra hormones made a bigger drop for my body.


The dreaded dark secret no one ever talks about till it already has happened! We will scare all the first time mamas!LOL

No really not everyone has it as bad as us! I swear

[roke]

I lost a pile of hair about 3-4 months after delivery.  Your body is attempting to get back to normal - your hormones are starting to change back.  It is perfectly normal.  I used to grab my hair and come out with an entire handful, it was awful.  It does slowly get better.  

[Majikat]

Ya I have crazy thick hair and after having a baby it fell out like crazy... It lasted like a year for me.... It wasn't fun but impretty sure it's normal