I Would Not Look Good Bald

Hi M.! My baby is almost 8 months old and my hair just stopped falling out about a month ago. I seriously thought I was going to go bald too. All I can say is that it happened to me and it did stop! Good luck!

It will eventually stop. My hair fell out with my second for a year. He'll be 2 in a couple weeks and it's finally stopped. Only thing is, it grows back thicker. That's the last thing I needed, but it's better than being bald!

I was losing hair after my twins boys. And very tired contributed to having the boys. I have a thyroid issue that I still take medicine for every day. My boys are 4-1/2 years old now. I would have you go to the doctor and have a blood test done so you can rule out the thyroid issue.

Good Luck!
D.

I went through the same thing after the birth of my 5th child. It had never happened before. I wish I had known about this site back then. At least you know it has happened to others. I was pretty freaked out. I did go to the Dr. for all the blood tests. Everything came back normal. I was taking my prenatal vits and extra B's. With my scalp, it itched and it was crusty. Every time I showered, I'd find a handful of hair in the drain. I started using Paul Mitchell's shampoo with tea tree oil. It was the only thing that helped. After about a month my hair was growing back. Maybe, it would have anyway, but it did help with the crusty and itchiness. My heart goes out to you. I would not look good bald either. It is something to try besides vitamins. Hope your hair grows back soon.

How's your stress level? Beyond expected, 8-month old baby, work, marriage, etc. I used to shed enough to make a wig a week when I'd get REALLY stressed out - like the constant worry kind of stressed. On the other hand, hair and nails tend to become almost luxurious for some women when they're pregant, so maybe you're going back to normal?

And when you say besides vitamins - is that because you're already taking vitamins or can't afford or don't want to try special hair vitamins? Because vitamins did make a world of difference for me. My hair definitely did NOT become luxurious during pregnancy and it wasn't until I started taking vitamins that I got back the curl I'd practically lost and the length, health, etc. But I just took regular multiple vitamins and extra C and B on the side.

I had an epidural and had no effects from it. Have you checked with your doctor about it possibly being something else. I have had thick hair all my life and still do. In fact, I have never heard of that effect before. My daughter has had several children and has never had the problem of loosing her hair. I do know a couple women who have lost some of their hair, but it runs in their family. Wish I could help you more.

hello, hopefully i can help you. I am a hairstylist and a mother of a 9 week old baby boy. Have you ever tried Nioxin? Its a product line theat help distressed hair. They have a kit the helps with baldness and regrowing hair by stimulating the follicles. Its only sold in salons so check around your area. Hope it helps you!

I would just make sure you are getting enough calcium too as well as vitamins. I didn't read all the other responses but have you ever tried horse shampoo? I think it is called Mane n Tail. I think I have seen it for sale at either CVS or Walgreens. I used to use it a few years ago and it is supposed to make your hair stronger and grow faster. I know it sounds weird but it might work. Hope this helps!
I don't know if the epideral has anything to do with hair loss but I know that being pregnant does. I didn't use drugs for either of my births and lost hair after birth. I read that it is normal to loss hair.

Hi M.!i have an 8yr. Daughter and a 1yr. Son. After having both of them i had the same problem. I did not have an epidural with either child. It was worse with my son for some reason. On both sides of my head, starting at my hairline, i had a bald spot on each side.it looked like i had a reseading hairline. Now i have baby hairs right there that stick up a little bit. It wasnt that hard for me to hide because i have natural curly hair. I even went to the doctor for it and he said its probably just hormones adjusting. It will get better, dont worry!

you may want to have your thyroid checked. a lot of times it becomes hyperactive after giving birth, causing that to happen.

I didn't have an epidural and I too lost a BUNCH of hair around 4 months after my son was born. I had an all-natural birth but still lost hair. It was coming out like crazy for a few months. I found piles of hair everywhere. My son in now 10 months and the hair falling out has tapered. It's gotten much better. Hopefully yours will soon get better too!

So I don't think it has anything to do with the epidural... I think it just happens. But I could be wrong...

Good luck!

My hair stylist told me that you don't loose hair (or very much)when you are pregnant and usually around 4-5 mos after delivery you will start to loose it. My daughter is 14 mos old and I am still dealing with my hair growing in. Most of my hair fell out around my face (temple area) it has happened with all 3 of my children so to me it sounds perfectly normal. Now if you are having bald spots show up around your scalp I would be concerned, but if you are pulling "handfuls" of hair after washing or noticing a lot of hair in your brush I would say sounds normal to me!!!!

Hope this helps you a little
A.

M.,

Don't worry about it too much, your hair has three states that it goes through - growing, a sort of paused state, and falling out. When you are pregnant you hair doesn't fall out, that's why every one says things like, "your hair is so nice" while you are pregnant. But once you give birth to you wonderful bundle of joy, your hair makes up for lost time. It feels like you are going to lose all of it.

If it bothers you too much, I'd recommend getting it cut short, you don't notice it as much when your hair is short as you do when your hair is long. Of course if you are noticing thinning or balding patches I'd say go to your doctor and see what the issue is, otherwise, your hair loss will begin to slow down and go back to normal.

Remember it takes 9 months to have a baby and 9 months to recover from having a baby.

Well I hope that this helped.
God Bless,
Mel

Yep, I had the same thing. I couldn't even where my hair back due to male pattern baldness. It does stop, but for me, didn't get better. I started to regrow all of this lost hair, I now refer to it as "monkey hair". My baby is 13 months old now. I have these short hairs growing all around the perimeter of my scalp. My hair is otherwise long and I wear a tail most of the time, so this monkey hair sticks out all over!! My hair is really thick again,(could be because I'm pregnant again!!) I dread having to going through this again in the next year. Oh, and the new hair has a bit of curl to it too. Good luck!!

Have faith that it will quit falling out. It will. It may take 6 to 12 months but it will. I experienced this after the births of both of my children. I have thick, coarse, a little below the shoulder hair so I did have a little to spare but definitely noticed the thinning. Mine also started at about 4 or 5 months after baby. I turned to my cousin who is also my hairstylist. She promised me it would eventually stop and it did...she says that she sees it all the time in her salon with post partum women. I would always give my hair a good brushing before bed and before showering, that way maybe I didn't notice so much on my hands in the shower. I never looked into vitamins but rode it out and it finally stopped. Good Luck.

M.,
My hair fell out until my girls turned 1. It was almost (but probably not) exactly when they turned 1 that it stopped. I did have an epidural, but I'm not sure if the two are related. I think it is just our bodies trying to get back to normal.

Hi M.. This happened to me too with both of my kids. You are not abnormal. I don't think it has anything to do with an epidural. I had one with my daughter and not my son and I lost my hair both times. With my daughter I thought I was dying or something was horribly wrong. There is definitely no mention of this in any of the pregnancy books that I read nor had any of my girlfriends told me about it either. I knew to expect it with my son, he is now 6 months and my hair is starting to grow again. It is frustrating, but it will pass. I don't think there is anything to do for it except wait for the hormones in your body to try to get back to some sense of normalcy. Good luck.

OK, first of all, I'm totally anti-epidural except in extreme cases, so if anyone was going to be biased, it would be me. That said, after a lot of research, I have never seen a link between an epi and hair loss. It sounds like one of those rumors people tell, like you can't get an epi if you h ave a tattoo in the small of your back.
What does cause hair loss is the end of a pregnancy. All women stop losing hair during pregnancy and all women subsequently lose the extra hair after pregnancy. I lost more than I gained and it didn't stop until I got pregnant again. I had about half as much hair 9 months postpartum than I did pre-pregnancy.

It's hormones and there's not much you can do about it. Take a multivitamin or keep taking your prenatal. Extra folic acid can help a lot.

The same thing happened to me, and I know it was not caused by the epidural because I had my 3rd baby natural and it still happened, so I think it's just hormones. It started to get better around 8 or 9 months, and then it seemed to stop falling out at about the 1 year mark (which is also when I stopped breastfeeding - I don't know if that has anything to do with it, though). Vitamins did nothing, I just had to wait, but it did eventually stop. Now my youngest is almost 2 and my hair is almost as full as it used to be (which isn't that full)

it's not the epidural, it was the pregnancy. so you can put your mind at easeabout that. any parenting website can go into depth with you on how & why it happens. so all the thick & beautiful & shiny hair you had during pregnacy unfortunately ends up down the drain or on your hairbrush anywhere from 1 week to 6months after you give birth. you'll swear you're going bald, but don't worry you won't. you'll have new growth where the other hair is falling out, but it won't be as thick. hope it helps.

LOL..don't worry about it. I still have all my hair and I still lose it. I have 3 girls the oldest just recently turned 12 and my youngest is 2. My hair is thick and shoulder length and I have a head of hair still...you can continue with the vitamins that is good for you. Good Luck & enjoy your child and being a mother.

I would check with your ob-gyn. It's quite common to have hypothyroidism after giving birth. Just give them a heads up and they'll send you for one small blood drawl. I'd seriously consider calling them because you really don't want to lose all your hair.ps i worked for an ob-gyn for 5 years, and we see this all the time. but the good news is that it is treatable:)

I am a hairdresser, and most likely it is hormonal. I've seen it hundreds of times. Did you just finish nursing? I've had many clients who have had more than one child, and anywhere between 3mo after up to a year, the hair starts falling out. And it has always come back! If you are truly concerned and think it is more than just that, talk to your doctor, and also have your thyroid checked. For some reason thyroid issues really have an affect on hair loss.

M.,
The same thing happened to me, I thought I would be completely bald. But, it does stop and your hair will grow back. Mine started when my son was 6 months old and lasted a couple months it seemed like. But, I have a full head of hair now, but pictures of me back then still make me cringe because of the thinning hair and excessive forehead. Hang in there, your hair will return!!!!

I would call the doc and let them know and ask for a thyroid test. I had this issue about 6 months after my first, and we discovered a major thyroid issue. Just check to be on the safe side!

Have your thyroid checked. Hypothyroid or Hashimoto's Disease usually doesn't rear its ugly head until after child birth. It happened to me. Best of luck.

I'm pretty sure it wasn't the epidural. It's probably normal hormonal adjustments causing your hair loss, like everyone said. There's a possibility I haven't seen mentioned, though. I was losing hair and figured it was perimenopause. Turns out it might have been the shave gel I was using. I was using a hair minimizing shave gel for about a year, and it worked very well for my legs. When I stopped using it, I also stopped "shedding" so much hair from my head. Maybe just coincidence, but I'll not be switching back.

Mellissa...you're not alone!
Both of my births were 100% natural, no epidural, and I lost hair (LOTS) after both pregnancies. Oh yes, and I was, and am, on some of the best nutrition avaialable, and very healthy.
Just thougth I'd share so that you'd know that other women have had to have their shower drains snaked and have had to sweep the bathroom floor on an hourly basis, too ;0)
After the first pregnancy, about 6 months post partum, a short hair cut did me well. The second, I've just kept it long and dealt with it.
Wish you the best (and a bottle of draino LOL)

check into the shampoo that you are using my friend just had a baby almost a year ago and she became really concerned when hair begain to come out in clumps and asked me if it was something I experienced when I had my children. I had told her no but was experienceing the problem at the same time as her. We two other wise healthy moms - came down to the shampoo. We were both using Fruitus (sp) green bottle sleek and shine shampoo and conditioner. We both stopping useing this brand and switched to something different and now everything is back to normal.

Changing hormones can cause some hair loss, it is normal. Certain medications can cause some hair loss, it is normal.
There may be other underlaying factors. It may be time to seek some medical help to see what the basic problem is and what to do, if anything, to help you.
P. R

There is probably no need to worry! My hair was falling out so bad you could see my scalp!

Many new moms are surprised to find themselves shedding more hair than usual in the first few months after giving birth, but it's perfectly normal. And there's no need to panic: You won't go bald. In fact, your hair should be back to normal by your baby's first birthday.

Here's what's going on. Normally, about 85 to 95 percent of the hair on your head is growing and the other 5 to 15 percent is in a resting stage. After the resting period, this hair falls out — often while you're brushing or shampooing it — and is replaced by new growth. An average woman sheds about 100 hairs a day.

During pregnancy, increased levels of estrogen prolong the growing stage. There are fewer hairs in the resting stage and fewer falling out each day, so you have thicker, more luxuriant tresses.

After you give birth, your estrogen levels take a tumble and a lot more hair follicles enter the resting stage. Soon you'll have more hair coming out in the shower or on the brush. This unusual shedding will taper off and your hair will be back to its pre-pregnancy thickness about six to 12 months after you give birth.

By the way, not all women notice dramatic changes in their hair during pregnancy or the postpartum period. Among those who do, it tends to be more obvious among women with longer hair.

Hope this helps!

Mine started falling out in clumps like that about 5 months afer my twins were born. It turned out I had/have a thyroid problem. Now I am on meds and things are back to normal - whatever normal is with 9 month old twin boys : )

It's not the epidural. Lots of people lose hair when they have babies. I personally lost only hair at my temples - which made for a funny-looking ponytail! Don't worry - I'm pretty sure it will stop falling out and will start growing back soon. But in the meantime, keep your diet healthy, and you could maybe check out a hair product called Nioxin, which hairdressers use to help stop hair loss and help hair regrowth (mainly in men :). My friend Jesse has been using it and he's really pleased with the results. It's a bit pricey, though.
Best of luck and God bless,
J. b

What has your doctor said? I lost my hair after the kids but also I found out I was loosing hair because of a thyroid condition. Make sure it is because of the labor. Also are you still taking your prenatal vitamins? Women who nurse continue to take prenatal vitamins. It could be a lot of things so it is good to make sure you dr knows and for your own piece of mind.

Hi M....from another M.. I have a quick suggestion...have your thyroid checked. I am not sure if you have or not but this happened to me. Although my hair is so thick you couldn't tell when I washed my hair it would come out in clumps. It turned out my thyroid was so bad it was almost nonexistant. This all happened after I had my first son. Just an idea.
M. T

M.-

There are other things that could cause this too. I would make an appt with you Doctor and have them do bloood work. The same thing happened to me when my first daughter was about 4 months I thought I could make a doll with all the hair I was loosing and then I developed severe pain behind my eye. It was then I was diagonised with a thyroid problem...totally fixable. There are other things that could be causing it...I would definately talk to your regular Dr.

Bald is generally a look only men can pull off - and even then, not all men.

I don't know about the epidural. I had five (and I thank god every day for them) and I don't remember my hair falling out every time. I have heard that it can be caused by a huge shift in hormones, which certainly happens after a baby. Maybe you could call your ob/gyn and ask them what they recommend. After 3 of my four kids my hormones were bananas for about a year. Some of the side effects were physical (I had a full period every other week for about 5 months after one pregnancy) some were emotional (after 2 I was pretty much a lunatic). So you might see if it could be hormone imbalance.

Hmm. I could be wrong, but I don't think that epidurals can cause this-- I am a childbirth educator and I've heard of lots of effects of epidurals, but not that one! You know, you might want to get your thyroid levels checked...I think that can be a factor. I think some other indicators of thyroid would be tiredness, putting on extra weight, brittle nails, achy joints. It's common after pregnancy to have thyroid problems and it can be hard to diagnose. Good luck, that sounds very frustrating!

My hair started falling out when my baby was about 4 months old. A couple of weeks after I first noticed it I went to get my hair cut and my stylist told me it was the epidural as well. Now 3 months later my hair has started to grow back. Just give it time (I had my stylist cut bangs b/c I was so self concious).

Hello, aside from a thyroid problem, a vitamin A deficency can also cause this. hope this helps!

M.,

The exact same thing happened to me after my daughter was born. I went to the doctor and found out that I had an underactive thyroid. My doctor put me on medicine and my hair stopped falling out. You might want to have your thyroid checked.

I lost tons of hair after my second- huge clumps would come out everytime I brushed by hair after the shower. It started about the same time yours did, but it stopped eventually. I have all these little whispy hairs now from it growing back. I had a spinal tap due to a scheduled c-section, so I'm not sure what caused it, but it did stop.

I have a good friend who had the same problem after her 4th child. It was her hormones. Way out of balance. After some research, she decided to try Arbonne Prolief Natural Hormone Balancing Cream. She is fine now, and has been for 2 years. Basically, since just after starting it!

Pregnancy sometimes causes your thyroid to malfunction which is normal for up tp a year. The thyroid can cause your hair to come out like that. Mine went on the fritz and the doctor thought it was just from the pregnancy and birth but realized later it was more than that. It might be worth checking into. If you do, go to a doctor that specializes in endocrinology because a lot of doctors do not understand the numbers as well as they should.

M.,
You might want to ask your OB/GYN but mine told me it was just the drop in hormones and things would resume to normal,"eventually" and it did. Also see if they can check your thyroid level.
Hope this helps!
R.