While having a baby is a joyous time for families, nine months of pregnancy followed by the sleepless nights, the challenges of breast feeding and hormonal changes have their own effect on new mums.
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We’ve helped prepare a shopping list of must-have products that have been tried and tested by from other A-list mothers including Jessica Alba, Kim Kardashian, Kate Hudson and Gwyneth Paltrow.
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KIM KARDASHIAN'S STRETCH MARK SOLUTION
They're the silvery streaks caused when skin is suddenly stretched either during a growth spurt or weight gain and are the bane of many pregnant women's lives.
Kim Kardashian has long been a fan of Bio-Oil, £8.95, a mixture of calendula, lavender, rosemary oils and vitamins A and E, that claims to soften skin to prevent the marks and also reduce the appearance of stretch marks after pregnancy.
She said: 'It [Bio-Oil] prevents wrinkles around my eyes and stretch marks over my body.'
For best results the makers of Bio-Oil, recommend that it's applied twice daily for at least three months.
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KATE HUDSON'S HAIR SUPPLEMENT
Post-natal hair loss is an issue for many new mothers.
This is because pregnancy hormones stop womens’ usual daily hair-shedding, giving the appearance of extra-thick hair.
But once the hormones return to normal about three to six months after birth, the extra hair finally falls out.
Although many mums fear they're going bald, in fact their hair is returning to normal in a process that can take up to a year.
Kate Hudson noticed her hair was thinning after having both her children Ryder, aged 11, and Bingham, now three.
She told Redbook magazine in 2012: ‘When I had [first son] Ryder, I was 24 and didn’t really experience any changes to my hair or skin. But with my second child, I got acne, all my hair fell out after he was born, and I definitely had to work out to drop the weight. No pregnancy is easy to bounce back from.’
But her stylist David Badaii credits the supplement Viviscal for restoring her tousled locks to their full thickness.
Viviscal, £49.95 one month supply, contains an amino acid called AminoMar C, discovered by a Scandinavian dermatologist who was studying the Inuit population of Greenland and noticed their thick, healthy hair, which he linked to the protein now used in the capsules to boost hair growth.
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JESSICA ALBA'S MUM-TUM GIRDLE
While 'waist training' by wearing a structured corset for several hours a day to cinch in your waist has recently become a celebrity craze, Jessica Alba swore by a similar practice after giving birth to her two daughters Honor, seven, and Haven, four.
It's thought that compression from the girdle helps the uterus to return to normal size.
Also, during pregnancy the muscle that runs down the centre of the stomach separates and it's thought that the corsets can help push them back together again more quickly.
The Fantastic Four star said: 'I wore a double corset day and night for three months. It was brutal; it’s not for everyone. It was sweaty, but worth it.'
Jessica has said that after having both of her children, she started wearing her corset immediately, until the 'loosely-goosey' feeling had disappeared.
Credit: Daily Mail
Credit: Daily Mail
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