Pre-Mommy Makeover Checklist

Becoming a mother is a gift, creating a lifelong bond of love and passing your genes on to a new generation. Unfortunately, not every effect of pregnancy and childbirth is as welcome as a healthy newborn. Having one or more children can leave you with drooping breasts, excess midsection weight, and loose skin.

A mommy makeover is an umbrella term for a customized combination of procedures that can restore your pre-pregnancy figure by simultaneously addressing multiple concerns. A skilled plastic surgeon like Dr. Nathan Brought can give you perkier breasts, tighten your tummy, and remove stubborn post-pregnancy fat.

There’s nothing more beautiful than the glow of confidence radiating from within. Surgical enhancements after childbearing can boost your self-esteem and restore your zest for life. If you are considering a mommy makeover, this checklist will help you prepare. 

What Is a Mommy Makeover?

Mommy makeovers tackle several post-pregnancy issues by combining solutions like breast augmentation, breast lift, tummy tuck, labiaplasty, and liposuction. A mommy makeover is highly customizable, allowing you to get what you need to feel like your best self. If you like, you can even add non-surgical spa treatments like scar camouflage to your mommy makeover plan.

Many women between the ages of 30 and 50 choose mommy makeovers for benefits such as:

• Saving money by undergoing multiple surgeries at once
• Renewed self-confidence
• Tighter, smoother skin
• Reduced or eradicated stretch marks
• Perkier breasts and enhanced cleavage
• A new wardrobe and better-fitting clothes

These procedures reverse many effects of pregnancy, breastfeeding, and aging. You may lose some weight as a result, but the best mommy makeover candidates are already at or near their target body weight and have maintained it for several months with a consistent fitness and nutrition plan.

How to Prepare for a Mommy Makeover

The steps you take to get physically and mentally ready for plastic surgery are as critical as the operation itself. Follow this mommy makeover checklist for the best chance of success.

1. Finish Bearing Children

While this surgery will not prevent you from getting pregnant or carrying a healthy baby to full term, pregnancy and childbirth will reverse many of the results of a mommy makeover. If you feel you might want more children, it’s best to wait until you are no longer planning to add to your family. Rejuvenating your body is an investment — you want to enjoy the enhancements for many years.  

2. Maintain a Stable Weight

While procedures like liposuction and abdominoplasty contour and redefine your body, they are not weight loss solutions. Try to lose your baby weight and stay within a few pounds of your goal before undergoing surgery. Significant weight fluctuations after a mommy makeover will adversely affect your results.

3. Reduce Alcohol Consumption

Alcohol thins your blood and increases your risk of heavier bleeding during and after surgery. Avoid alcoholic beverages for at least two weeks before your mommy makeover. 

4. Quit Nicotine

The health risks associated with cigarettes, vapes, patches, and other nicotine products are well-documented. After surgery, nicotine use can cause complications like infections, poor wound healing, and blood clots. If you smoke, vape, or use nicotine in any other way, quit at least four to six weeks before and after surgery. 

5. Avoid Specific Medications

Some medications and supplements can cause complications or interfere with anesthesia. Discuss all prescription medications and supplements you take with Dr. Brought during your consultation. He may ask you to discontinue things like these in the run-up to your procedure:

• Blood thinners
• Aspirin
• NSAIDs
• Ginkgo biloba
• Vitamin E supplements
• Anti-inflammatories
• Weight loss drugs
• Fat burners
• Muscle builders

6. Stock up on Your Prescriptions

While you recover from surgery, rest should be your priority — not running errands. Dr. Brought will prescribe the pre- and post-procedure medications you will need. Get these filled beforehand so you can focus on listening to your body.

7. Get Plenty of Sleep

Surgery is emotionally and physically taxing. It’s natural to feel nervousness in the days leading up to your mommy makeover. Getting enough sleep and practicing relaxation exercises helps your body and mind prepare for what’s to come.  

8. Prepare for Recovery

Recovery is the most essential mommy makeover preparation factor to consider. You’ll need between four and six weeks to recuperate after your operation. You can plan for this downtime by:

• Clearing your schedule: Take the appropriate time off work to heal. Avoid planning any social or physical activities. Instead, do as little as possible and follow Dr. Brought’s instructions to ensure optimal recovery.
• Arranging child care: If you have younger children, you will need support from your partner, a family member, or a sitter while you focus on healing. As a mother, you want to be there for your kids. This time, you can be a little selfish and put your recovery first.
• Pre-preparing meals: Prepping healthy meals in advance will help alleviate stress. Stock the freezer and fridge with ready-made meals.
• Setting up a recovery area: Make your bed or couch a healing haven. The goal is to be as comfortable as possible while limiting movement. Surround yourself with entertainment options like books, magazines, the TV, or your laptop. You must destress and stay relaxed and comfortable to help your body heal quicker.
• Stock up on essentials: Before your surgery, get all the items you think you might need during recovery. Essentials include post-surgical compression garments, loose-fitting clothing, pain medication, scar care, and hygiene products. 

What Not to Do Before Your Surgery

We’ve covered what to do before a mommy makeover — now, here’s what not to do. Ahead of your procedure, avoid:

• Taking blood-thinning medications.
• Smoking or drinking alcohol.
• Eating or drinking after midnight on the day of surgery.
• Gaining or losing weight.
• Ignoring your pre- or post-operative instructions.

If you have any questions or concerns, address them with Dr. Brought beforehand to ease your mind and ensure the best chance of success. 

Restore Your Confidence With Southern Plastic & Reconstructive Surgical Institute

You want to be confident you’re in safe hands before surgically improving your appearance, and the best way to do that is to find a skilled doctor with impeccable qualifications and experience. Dr. Brought is a board-certified Middle Tennessee plastic surgeon who routinely customizes mommy makeovers. He and his team provide holistic, attentive patient care with unparalleled results, ensuring you feel cared for from your initial consultation to recovery. 

As a mother, you’re always looking after others. Isn’t it time to put yourself first? Your body brought life into the world. Show it the love it deserves and rediscover your confidence. 

At SPRSI’s practice in Franklin, we take pride in offering the highest level of care. Dr. Brought specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries. Make your happiness a priority. Call us at 615-724-9818 or contact us online to schedule your mommy makeover consultation.

When Should You Get a Mommy Makeover?

Pregnancy transforms a woman’s body in many ways, affecting her appearance. While these transformations are something to celebrate, they can also leave a new mom yearning for her pre-baby body. For moms who want to look and feel more like themselves again, a mommy makeover offers an attractive solution.

A mommy makeover includes a combination of surgical procedures to address the ways pregnancy changed your body. Patients commonly focus on improving breast and abdomen appearance post-pregnancy, with procedures such as breast augmentation and a tummy tuck. But a mommy makeover is customized to suit you and consists of any cosmetic procedure you want to have done.

For example, your makeover might also include liposuction, buttocks augmentation, and labiaplasty, depending on your wants and needs. Overall, a mommy makeover is all about how you want to look and feel, and a surgeon will recommend procedures to help you reach your goals.

If you’re healthy and ready to feel confident again in your favorite clothes, you might be excited to contact a surgeon. Before you book a consultation, you’ll need to consider timing first. In this guide, we’ll show you everything you need to think about when choosing the right time for your mommy makeover.

Is There an Age Limit for a Mommy Makeover?

As long as you’re in good health, you’re never too old for a mommy makeover. Many adults decide to improve their appearance and give themselves a confidence boost through cosmetic surgery. According to the 2020 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report, Americans aged 30 to 39 years old underwent 2.1 million cosmetic procedures, including surgical and minimally invasive procedures. Individuals aged 40 to 54 make up 45% of cosmetic procedures with 6.1 million. Your doctor will evaluate your health before determining if it’s a good time for a mommy makeover.

If you’re a young mother, you can also benefit from a mommy makeover. Overall, the right age for plastic surgery is the age you are when you decide you want it. But you’ll need to give your body some time after pregnancy before getting surgery.

How Soon Can You Get a Mommy Makeover?

The best time to get a mommy makeover is at least six months after giving birth. You may need to wait a year or longer before you’re ready and based on what procedures you’re considering. In general, it’s ideal to meet the following criteria before getting surgery:

1. Your Body Has Fully Healed From Childbirth

Whether you had a vaginal delivery or a cesarean section, giving birth is traumatic for your body. As with any physical trauma, your body needs to heal. This healing phase, known as the postpartum period, allows your body to adjust to its new post-birth state.

During this period, you may experience abdominal pain until your uterus returns to its normal size. If your doctor had to cut or add stitches to your perineum during childbirth, this area will also be sore and need to recover. Even if you had an easy delivery, you’d need to rest your body as much as possible during this time.

For some women, recovering from childbirth takes about six to eight weeks, while others might need months to fully feel like themselves again. In either case, it’s essential to delay a mommy makeover until you are fully healed. Getting surgery too soon after giving birth would not be safe, and any reputable surgeon would advise you to wait.

2. You’re Done Breastfeeding

Since pregnancy can lead to sagging, flatter breasts, many women opt to have breast surgery as part of their mommy makeover. This choice may include a breast augmentation, which can be used to restore the size, symmetry, and shape of your breasts, or a breast lift to give your breasts a more youthful look. If your breasts are large and causing discomfort, you may wish to get a breast reduction during your mommy makeover.

Regardless, it’s recommended to wait three to six months after you’ve stopped breastfeeding to have surgery. Your breasts need to no longer produce milk and return to their regular size and shape before you get surgery for the best results.

If you want your makeover to include an injectable treatment, like Botox, it’s also recommended to wait until you’re done breastfeeding. If you chose not to breastfeed, you should wait three to six months after delivery for breast enhancement or reduction surgery.

3. You Aren’t Planning to Have More Children

Before you get a mommy makeover, you need to consider if you want to have more children. If you get pregnant after your makeover, your abdomen and breast skin will stretch again and may reverse some or all of the results from the procedures you had done. Many women wait to have cosmetic surgery until they decide they no longer want children. According to the American Academy of Cosmetic Surgery, the average age of cosmetic surgery patients is 41.

If you do get pregnant after a mommy makeover, you can have cosmetic surgery procedures done again to restore your body. Because additional procedures come with another recovery period, most patients prefer to preserve their first makeover results by avoiding pregnancy and major weight fluctuations.

4. You’re Ready to Lose Stubborn Fat

Many women develop stubborn fat deposits in their abdomen, hips, and thighs during pregnancy. If you have fat deposits you’re unable to lose with diet and exercise, you might consider getting liposuction with your mommy makeover.

During liposuction, your surgeon will use a tube called a cannula to suction out unwanted fat cells. Liposuction can remove fat from a patient’s belly, thighs, hips, upper arms, buttocks, face, and other body regions. Depending on your goals, liposuction may be part of a tummy tuck procedure.

Know that liposuction removes pockets of fat but does not address significantly loose skin or stretched abdominal muscles, often resulting from pregnancy. A tummy tuck will remove excess skin and tighten abdominal muscles for a toned figure. That’s why a tummy tuck with liposuction can produce exceptional results.

Also know that liposuction is not a weight-loss procedure. Doctors recommend being within 30% of your ideal weight before getting liposuction.

5. You Have Enough Time to Recover

You may need weeks to months to fully recover from your mommy makeover. While this doesn’t mean you’ll need to spend the entire recovery period in bed, you will have to avoid some activities and likely need help around the house.

How much time you need depends on the procedures you have done. For example, a tummy tuck has a longer recovery time than other procedures because it involves the abdominal muscles. You can expect to feel sore for the first week or two after a tummy tuck and will need to rest at home.

Breast augmentation typically involves a much shorter recovery time than a tummy tuck. With this procedure, you can expect to feel better in about a week and have a complete recovery in around two to six months. Your doctor will give you precise instructions to help you recover from any procedure.

If you have a desk job, you might be able to return to work in about two weeks after your surgery. If your job is physically demanding, you should wait a month or more before getting back to work.

If your children are still young, you’ll require full-time help with child care as you recover from a tummy tuck. You’ll also need assistance with shopping, cooking, caring for pets, and any other activities that require lifting, bending, standing, or straining, at least for the first few weeks after surgery.

Overall, you should plan to take time off work and get assistance with household tasks for about three weeks. A full recovery can take up to a year, depending on how your body handles the surgery.

No matter what your mommy makeover includes, make sure you have family members or friends available to help you through the healing process. If you haven’t been able to enlist helpers, it’s a good idea to postpone your makeover until you have adequate support.

6. You Are Physically and Mentally Healthy Enough for Surgery

Patients need to be physically healthy before undergoing a mommy makeover. If you have health conditions like diabetes or heart or lung disease, you are at increased risk of complications, such as infection or blood clots. Although this doesn’t mean you can’t get cosmetic surgery, your doctor will consider if a chronic health condition is under control and whether it’s worth the risk.

If you plan to get a tummy tuck, you also need to be at least 10 to 15 pounds from your desired weight for six months to a year before you get surgery. Weight fluctuations can undo the benefits of surgery, so you’ll want to be at a stable weight.

It’s also vital that you are mentally healthy before having a mommy makeover. A mommy makeover is a big commitment, and you may not feel like yourself after surgery until you recover. During your recovery, you may experience ups and downs, so it helps to be emotionally stable before committing. If you struggle with depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other mental health problems, consider speaking with a therapist before surgery and giving yourself enough time to feel ready.

7. You Quit Smoking

If you smoke, you’ll need to quit before having surgery. Smoking decreases circulation, which increases the risk of complications and slows the healing process. Your doctor may recommend you quit smoking at least six weeks before your mommy makeover. It’s also important to stay smoke-free during your recovery. Dr. Brought will also advise you to avoid any alternatives that contain nicotine, such as gums, patches, or vaping. The breakdown products of nicotine have a negative impact on wound healing and significantly increase the risk of postoperative complications.

If you need assistance, consider speaking to your doctor about medications to help you quit smoking. You can also check out online resources for helpful tips or join a support group so you don’t have to do it alone.

8. You Have Realistic Expectations

In general, patients feel thrilled with their new physique after a mommy makeover. Still, it’s crucial to have realistic expectations for before, during, and after your surgery. A mommy makeover is not a weight loss solution, for instance, and you’ll need to eat a healthy diet and exercise after surgery and recovery to keep results lasting as long as possible.

To help yourself set realistic expectations, make sure you understand the details of each procedure you plan to have done. Know what the procedure and recovery entail and what the results will likely be. Create a list of questions to ask your plastic surgeon and research on your own. A few questions to ask include:

• What does the procedure do and not do?
• What are the risks and complications related to each procedure?
• How much time will I need to recover?
• Will I experience pain, and how will it be managed?
• What types of activities do I need to avoid during my recovery?
• When will I notice the final results?
• How long do the results last?
• How much does a mommy makeover cost?
• Will I have scars?
• What will the scars look like?

When you know what to expect, you can fully enjoy your new look and make the most of your experience overall.

9. You Have Found a Surgeon You Feel Comfortable With

Getting a mommy makeover is a big decision, and any surgery needs to be taken seriously. Be sure to select a surgeon who has experience performing the surgeries you want, is board-certified, and makes you feel comfortable. When you meet with a surgeon you’re interested in working with, make sure to ask plenty of questions, like:

• What experience do you have performing the procedures I want?
• What are your qualifications?
• How many years have you been board-certified?
• Who else will be involved in my health care?
• What exams do I need before surgery?

You’ll also want to check patients’ reviews and testimonials and look at before and after photos so you know what to expect. Cosmetic surgery is both an art and a science, so choose a surgeon who can offer the look you want.

Schedule Your Mommy Makeover Consultation

A mommy makeover is an exciting transformation that can help your confidence soar and give you your ideal appearance. The first step to this life-changing transformation is to meet with a board-certified surgeon for a consultation. At Southern Plastic & Reconstructive Surgical Institute, Dr. Nathan Brought and his team look forward to answering your questions and guiding you through each step.

Dr. Brought is a Nashville-area board-certified plastic surgeon who specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive procedures. If you’re ready to restore your body and feel like a younger, more confident you, schedule a consultation with Dr. Brought by completing our online form or calling us at 615.724.9818.