Hair Loss After Child Birth

How Many New Mothers Experience Hair Loss After Child Birth?

Post-partum effluvium can affect as many as 40% of women following childbirth. Hair can be shed at an alarming rate causing great distress and emotional upset. Even for women who are aware of post-partum effluvium, its arrival is often unexpected and there is the fear of when will it stop.

What happens during pregnancy that causes this effect?

From approximately the second trimester the mother’s hair is usually at its absolute best. It is fuller, shinier, and more manageable. The improvement in the hair is largely due to the effect of the increased levels of oestrogen. Normally 85% of the hair is in the growing phase (anagen) at any one time. Oestrogen prolongs anagen and increases the ratio of hairs in anagen. The number of hairs shed each day is also greatly reduced, thus giving the effect of thicker, fuller hair.

Approximately 4 months post-partum (longer if you are breast feeding) the oestrogen levels fall back to pre-pregnancy levels. This causes a large shift in the number of hairs entering the telogen phase, and basically the hair that would have normally been shed during pregnancy is shed over a 2-7 month period.There is much variation in this and some women notice no increase in shedding. Breast feeding can delay this process or slow it down as oestrogen levels fall at a slower rate.

In most cases hair will be replaced. Often women forget what their pre-pregnancy hair was like and they complain that their hair has never regained its former density. There are other factors that can also affect hair loss and regrowth following childbirth, these include iron deficiency anaemia, post-natal depression, a traumatic labour, blood loss, and dietary deficiencies.

Women are often anxious to get back to their pre-pregnancy weight and in particular if they are breast feeding they are failing to take sufficient nutrients to maintain healthy hair growth.

It’s perfectly normal to lose hair after child birth and this can occur with one pregnancy and not another but if you become concerned or feel that your hair loss may be due to another cause, please call for a consult or further advice.