My Story of the Belly Bandit
In any case, over the next few months of my second pregnancy I kept going back to the Belly Bandit web-site. Several Belly Bandit reviews talked about women being able to shrink their bellies to pre-pregnancy size in weeks rather than months. I wanted to have the Belly Bandit! All the reviews were really good. But it was not cheap, the original $45 and the Bamboo (softer and more breathable) $65. That’s not all — as usual, I was sort of between sizes. It seemed likely that I would need size medium right after having the baby, but after a few weeks that one might be too big and then I would need a small. And if I didn’t like it, the Belly Bandit was not returnable — I was hesitant to order it before seeing one but at the time of my second pregnancy, no local store was carrying the Belly Bandit. I decided to talk to Stephanie from Becoming Mothers in Boulder and, coincidently, she was considering the product for their store, but also wasn’t sure about it. Stephanie talked to the manufacturers of the Belly Bandit and I became the tester for the store. I was excited! A week before my due date, a medium-sized black bamboo Belly Bandit arrived for me and I immediately put it in my hospital bag.
After the birth of my second baby I decided not to waste time. Henry was born at 3 a.m., and after some rest, I put on the Belly Bandit for the first time. It barely wrapped around my big belly and I was very glad that I had size medium and not the small. It was surprisingly comfortable; however, in comparison to giving birth shortly beforehand, almost anything would seem comfortable!
I continued wearing the Belly Bandit 24 hours a day — OK, perhaps 23.5 hours a day, as I took it off to shower — but that’s it. I slept in it and it was surprisingly OK — not a problem. Normally, I don’t even like sleeping in tight pajamas, but the Belly Bandit didn’t bother me. With a new baby, sleep is such a luxury that having the Belly Bandit on really couldn’t stop even the most finicky sleeper from sleeping. During the day, I loved having the Belly Bandit on — it was so nice not to have the jelly belly hanging out all the time. With the Belly Bandit, everything was tucked into the wrap and it felt good. It provided support for the back, and I really felt good walking around, using the Sleepy Wrap to carry the baby, etc. Every time I took the Belly Bandit off I noticed that my belly had gotten smaller. So not only was the Belly Bandit keeping everything in, it was actually shrinking the belly very fast. A few days after the baby was born I did not look too much like I had a baby. And here is the best part; when we took Henry for his 2-week check-up, I wore a pair of my pre-pregnancy shorts! They were not my skinny-shorts — they were the shorts that sit low on the waist and were always a little loose— but still, 2 weeks after having a baby I was fitting in some of my pre-pregnancy clothes! I was stoked! I felt and looked great! I had a 2-week-old baby, and I looked fantastic! Trust me, there are very few moms who can say that! And I could tell the difference from my first pregnancy. Everything inside my belly was just going back in so much faster— “so much faster” being the key!
The Belly Bandit manufacturer recommends wearing the Belly Bandit for 6 to 8 weeks. As I was testing the product for Stephanie, I did wear it for about 7 weeks. Sometime between weeks 4 and 6 the medium-size Belly Bandit got too big, and I continued with the small. I didn’t like that one as much, and I think it’s because by the time I got it, I got so much of my shape back that I actually had a curve around my waistline (instead of being straight up and down) and the Belly Bandit would bend around my waist-to-hip curve and start showing under some of my clothes. Still, this was not a really big problem — new moms are hardly ever in a fashion show and attention is always on the baby— so a showing abdominal compression device is far from something to worry about.
For those of you who are still skeptical, I’ll tell you what is priceless— not feeling pregnant anymore! After 9 months, most women have had enough of that feeling for a while. But then after the baby is born, day after day you look in the mirror and there is that belly making you look and feel still pregnant. Having all of that tucked in and having your belly literally disappearing in front of your eyes— looking in the mirror, and not seeing a pooch — priceless! Ask any mom!
There was one thing I didn’t like about the Belly Bandit. It was really only an issue during the first week or two after the baby was born. When I wanted to have skin-to-skin contact with the baby I would have to take off the Belly Bandit. In the first days of the baby’s life, it’s nice to have the total skin-to-skin contact and you can’t do that with the Belly Bandit. You can nurse the baby with it of course, but you can’t have total skin-to-skin contact. This was a little frustrating as in the first days of baby’s life I always had to make the choice whether to take care of my body or give the best to the baby. We both ended up compromising a little. When Henry was about 2 weeks old, he was more or less integrated to life with a toddler, and then this issue was not really a big one.
Stephanie now carries the Belly Bandit in the Boulder Becoming Mothers store and it’s one of their top sellers.
