Welcome to my Bellefit corset review. Bellefit stock a range of postpartum girdles and corsets. Today I share my Bellefit before and after story, following the birth of my second daughter. You can watch the video or read the transcript below it. You’ll find out all about my experience and results from wearing a Bellefit girdle every day for about 6 weeks!
(This post includes affiliate links for which I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you should you make a purchase)
Bellefit corset reviews – Elly McGuinness, Age 38, Health and Fitness Professional
38 Weeks Pregnant – Unboxing my Bellefit girdle
I thought that we would start with a little bit of unboxing to kick off this bellefit corset review. My Bellefit postpartum girdle has arrived so I am going to open it up. Let’s see what’s inside. Ahhh! So, here it is. Medical grade, childbirth recovery. Very sexy! I’ll enjoy taking a couple of pictures in that, I’m sure!
There’s another little package which has some fixtures in it, like extra clasps. I guess those will be used if I need to extend it and change the shape of the girdle.
I have the standard bellefit corset, which is a bestseller. You can also get a bellefit dual closure girdle, girdle with side zipper, or girdle pull-up. My bellefit before and after review will be focused on the standard bellefit corset as I haven’t tried the other ones.
[Click on the image below to visit the Bellefit website and see their full range of postpartum corsets].
I’m currently about 38 weeks pregnant. I’ll give you a quick belly shot. There it is. It could be any day now. This is my second baby. I had my daughter five years ago and I did wear a postpartum girdle for some of that, but I found it quite uncomfortable, especially when I was sitting down. However, it did make me feel a little bit better while I was out and about.
Why wear a postpartum girdle? And what was my experience of wearing one after my first pregnancy?
So the reason that I agreed to try the Bellefit postnatal girdle is that I see it as part of an overall recovery process from birth. I know that I have very separated abdominals. I also did after the birth of my daughter five years ago. The gap closed somewhat, although it never closed completely.
As a health and fitness professional I don’t necessarily believe that you have to close off the gap completely. I believe that you can have what’s called a “functional diastasis”. It should be able to mostly close up, maybe to around one finger gap or less. This can be achieved by doing diastasis safe exercises, and avoiding other exercises.
Wearing a corset for diastasis recti
I wouldn’t recommend something like a postpartum corset if you’re using it as your only means to try and close your abdominal gap. However, it’s one of a number of things that you can do to help with healing after giving birth. There are many factors at play that are going to determine if, and how easily, your ab gap closes.
After my first (and second) pregnancies I was trying to close my abdominal gap, my diastasis recti. The post natal corset I wore after my first pregnancy was quite uncomfortable. It was just really stiff, especially around the top and bottom seams when I was sitting down. So I didn’t really wear it often enough or for long enough for it to make a noticeable improvement to my diastasis.
However, as you’ll see further down the post, wearing a girdle for diastasis recti was very beneficial for me the second time around. This is because I was really interested to see how well it would work so I actually wore it consistently the second time.
How do you recover from a diastasis recti?
I’ve already mentioned that healing your diastasis recti should involve doing certain safe exercises for diastasis recti, and avoiding exercises that will make it worse. One of the next things I’ll be doing is creating a free video series on how to heal ab separation. So stay tuned for that (maybe sign up for my mailing list if you haven’t already, so that I can let you know about it when it’s here). In the video series I’ll explain how to do a diastasis recti test, how to fix diastasis recti, exercises to avoid for diastasis recti, and the best rectus diastasis exercises.
In the meantime, you’ve got this bellefit corset review to refer to. Some of my articles that also serve as a useful introduction to this area include:
- Postpartum incontinence and how to fix it
- Fitness after giving birth with the best post natal workout
- Postnatal abdominal exercises
- The benefits of post natal yoga
Bellefit corset – will this brand be different to the others?
At first glance, the Bellefit girdle looks more comfortable than the one I tried last time. That will be a big factor as to whether I’m going to be wearing this on a daily basis or not. I will let you know how I get on with that once I start wearing it, after the birth. I’m interested to see whether my stomach measurements decrease faster this time around, as compared to my first postpartum journey. We will see!
[Click on the image below to visit the Bellefit website and see their full range of postpartum corsets].
One thing that I definitely already know is different about the Bellefit postpartum girdle, as opposed to the generic type of girdle that I got last time, is that they offer more of a custom fit. To determine the correct Bellefit sizing they asked me all sorts of measurements like what my pre-pregnancy weight was, what my current weight is, whereabouts in my pregnancy now I am, and what my weight was when I gave birth the first time.
Basically, both pregnancies, I have put on almost 20 kilos. They decided to give me a size medium based on my measurements. They also asked me my hip measurements. Yes, it’s more of a custom fit to what I had last time.
Corset vs Girdle – What’s the difference?
Apparently, the main difference between a corset and a girdle is that corsets traditionally have boning but girdles do not.
The one I’ve got is more like a postpartum girdle. Bellefit appear to use the terms “corset” and “girdle” interchangeably when it comes to their postnatal shapewear.
Mine certainly feels soft and comfortable, so more like a girdle if we go with the definition above.
Bellefit review – What I’ll share with you
I know that some people are looking for comparisons between different brands of postpartum corsets, for example, Bellefit versus belly bandit. In this Bellefit corset review I’ll do my best to compare my recovery and results from that of my first pregnancy, with those from my second. It’s not a comparison of girdle brands (I only review things that I have personally used or had experience with), but more like a comparison of wearing a postpartum girdle versus not wearing one.
I will share a bit of my journey with you over the coming months. I’ll try and do a really fair comparison to my recovery from the birth of my daughter five years ago. However, it’s important to realize there are a lot of factors to take into consideration. I’m now five years older. I’ve now got a child to look after already who is in my care full time because we home-school (actually “un-school” our daughter). I may have a little bit less time for exercises compared to what I did the first time around.
[Click on the image below to visit the Bellefit website and see their full range of postpartum corsets].
It’s also important to mention that this is a study of one person. It wasn’t done across a population of people. We’re all unique and the benefits that I receive from wearing a post natal girdle may be different from what others experience.
I’m using this Bellefit girdle as a little bit of added assistance to return to my pre-pregnancy size. I want to return to a really well-functioning abdominal area. I want to eliminate any related lower back and hip pain, which has been an ongoing challenge for me. So I’ll keep you posted on how I go with my Bellefit girdle over the coming months.
Bellefit corset review – Why I’m not wearing my bellefit at 7 days postpartum
I’m checking in because I have had the baby now. We had a beautiful baby girl and she is now seven days old. I’m not wearing my Bellefit postnatal girdle just yet, but I wanted to show you what I have been wearing.
I’ve just got a few old boob tubes and I’ve been wearing those instead of my Bellefit girdle to start off with, for this first week and I’ll likely probably wear them a little bit longer. I’ll just show you what I’m wearing at the moment. It’s literally an old boob tube, okay?
It’s nice and soft. I’m sure that the Bellefit girdle is quite soft as well but the reason that I’ve chosen not to wear mine just yet is because there’s a lot of healing that goes on, especially in that first week after birth. If you have a natural vaginal delivery everything’s a little bit tender and swollen, and you’re bleeding as well. Some women can bleed up to six weeks.
[Click on the image below to visit the Bellefit website and see their full range of postpartum corsets].
Mine has slowed down a little bit, but I did have a second degree tear. I’ve got about 10 stitches down there and I just didn’t feel like wearing the girdle just yet because it ties up underneath your crutch. So all I have been wearing are the most comfy and soft nanna knickers that I can find and soft pads as well. That’s why I’ve chosen to wear these boob tubes, just for the first week or two because they’re really, really soft. They don’t do up underneath the crutch.
After birth corset: When to start wearing postpartum
As I’ve mentioned already, we are all different. I chose not to wear my postnatal corset immediately after the birth.
Some women feel comfortable doing so and I’ve seen that a number of mamas to be pack their Bellefit corset into their hospital (or home birthing!) bag to wear straight after the birth.
Bellefit reviews – Measurement comparisons between my first and second post natal journey
What I haven’t talked about and I should probably mention is my measurements at this stage. Throughout my first pregnancy with my daughter five years ago, I blogged and v-logged all my measurements and my entire pre and postnatal fitness journey. I haven’t done that this time and I’m not intending to. I’m doing a few other things this time, but I do have my measurements from last time to compare with.
With the second birth, I did grow a little bit bigger so my waist measurement ended up as 113 centimeters. With my first daughter, it was 109 centimeters. Both sets of measurements were taken right at 40 weeks, just before I gave birth pretty much. My first daughter was eight pound four and my second is eight pound thirteen. I grew really similarly in both pregnancies.
Obviously there are lots of other variables that are different as well, but I’m starting at, 97.5cm, as opposed to 98cm last time and it’s one week after the birth. So pretty much exactly the same! I’ll check in with you again soon.
Belle fit corset review – 5 weeks post natal
I’m now at five weeks postnatal and I have been wearing my Bellefit girdle for the past three weeks. In fact, I have worn my Bellefit girdle every day for the past three weeks. And in case you’re wondering, yes, it has been washed! It’s the middle of summer and things dry quickly. If you’re purchasing a bellefit girdle for the winter months and you don’t have a dryer, perhaps consider buying two!
I’ll give you a little look at the girdle. There it is. Five weeks postnatal. You’ll see that it does up down the front and I have got it on the wider part. As my waist gets smaller, I’ll be able to move over to the other side there and just tighten it up a wee bit.
[Click on the image below to visit the Bellefit website and see their full range of postpartum corsets].
Let’s talk about my stomach measurements at this point in time, if I compare those to my first postnatal journey. They’re pretty much exactly the same. If I’m being totally honest, at the one-month postnatal mark, my stomach is one centimeter smaller than last time. I don’t necessarily count that as being significant because it could easily change that much over the day. It also depends on when I’m measuring it and what I’ve just eaten and a few other things.
Before and after girdle: What’s definitely different during this post natal journey
Through my first postnatal journey I was eating more pristinely and I was exercising more and earlier on. I’ve really only just started getting into some really basic mama fitness. It took me a little bit longer to recover this time. And the juggle has been a little bit different having two kids in tow. So there are different variables.
Girdle before and after: My diastasis is looking awesome and I feel great!
At the five week postpartum mark my diastasis truly has gone closer together. This has happened much faster than the first time round. I’d definitely say that that’s to do with wearing the Bellefit as a diastasis recti corset every day. As I mentioned, my second baby was slightly bigger than the first, so this is definitely noteworthy! I’m down to already only one finger gap with my diastasis and it was a few fingers just a few weeks ago. As I’ve mentioned I’m not expecting it to close completely but it’s closed really nicely.
[Click on the image below to visit the Bellefit website and see their full range of postpartum corsets].
I’m not getting back pain. I don’t have any pelvic pain, and if that has anything to do with the girdle then that’s really awesome. I do like wearing it because it makes me more aware of my posture. It helps me to think about standing up taller. It also makes me feel better as well because when I’m wearing it, it does decrease my waist size by a noticeable amount. This helps me to feel more confident when I’m out and about.
Corset before and after – A few more weeks with the bellefit…
I am going to continue wearing the Bellefit girdle for another month before we head off again on our slow travel journey. We travel very minimalist style, so we only travel with two checked bags. Therefore the Bellefit girdles won’t be coming with me. Plus we travel to very hot countries at the moment so I think it’ll be too stifling to wear the bellefit in the tropics.
But to get my abdominals closer together is the most important thing. This will help ensure I have a functional core where I’m not getting any incontinence issues, and not getting any related back pain or pelvic pain. I feel like I’m well on the road to achieving that, so hopefully, another few weeks of wearing it will be enough. I will wear my bellefit corset for one more month and then I’ll do a final Bellefit corset review check-in with you.
Bellefit corset review – 8 weeks post natal
So I’m now at the eight week postnatal mark, ready for my final check in on my Bellefit review. I have been wearing it for a total of six weeks now. I started wearing it at two weeks postnatal and for the past two weeks I’ve been wearing it on the tighter clasps. The Bellefit has been used for its intended job and if I was going to continue wearing it I’d probably need a smaller size.
[Click on the image below to visit the Bellefit website and see their full range of postpartum corsets].
Like I said, they do come in different sizes. I feel that it has been really beneficial for my diastasis overall. I do feel that my abdominals have moved together much faster than they did during my first postnatal journey when I didn’t wear a girdle regularly. It has also been great for postural awareness and to help me feel more confident when I’m out and about. This is because it does pull my stomach in a little bit, so it gives me a little bit more shape, no matter what I’m wearing.
Before and after corset – Is my stomach decreasing any faster?
Has it helped to decrease my stomach any faster than last time when I didn’t wear the girdle? No, it hasn’t. This doesn’t mean that it might not for other people. I’m just comparing it to my first postnatal journey but as I’ve mentioned earlier, there are a lot of factors involved in that, so it’s a little bit hard to measure.
My stomach is currently measuring 89 centimeters at the two month postnatal mark. The first time around it was 86 centimeters, so it’s not decreasing any faster. The rate of reduction has even slowed down a bit as compared to the first time.
[Click on the image below to visit the Bellefit website and see their full range of postpartum corsets].
That being said, I am not exercising as much as I did the first time. I’m a mom of two now. I’m not eating as perfectly. So, yeah, perhaps if all of those factors had have been the same, then I might’ve seen a faster decrease in my stomach measurements.
As a corset for after pregnancy – Would I recommend the bellefit postpartum girdle?
Overall, I’m really happy with the Bellefit girdle. It has been comfortable and I do think it has been beneficial for as a diastasis recxti girdle. I would totally recommend one as part of an overall plan for:
- Healing a diastasis recti and improving related symptoms
- Increasing postural and abdominal awareness that may have been lost during pregnancy
- Improving confidence since wearing a corset gives the appearance of a smaller waist
Thank you for reading my bellefit corset review. If you purchase a bellefit corset, when you get to the checkout, enter the code, ‘ELLY’, and you will get $20 discount on any purchase over $67.50. I hope you enjoyed my bellefit before and after. I always ensure I share only my real, authentic experiences and I hope that was apparent to you when you read this bellefit corset review.
Have you worn a postpartum corset before? What sort of results did you get? Are you considering purchasing one? If so, do you have any questions? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment box below. I’d love to hear from you!
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase after clicking on one of these recommended service provider links, like an insurance broker, or a travel agent, I may earn a commission – at no extra cost to you. [For my full disclosure, please see my DISCLAIMER page].
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