I first became aware of postpartum belly bands in the last months of pregnancy, usually from other pregnant women who were all asking the same question: are they worth it? Do they really work?

Both were the wrong questions to be asking. Whether they “work” or not depends on what you think a belly band should do. Sadly, I imagine all of us at the time were silently thinking: “will they turn me back into the not-pregnant me?”

Then, once baby is actually born, your body is SO out of the norm (y’all know that you go home from the hospital looking about 4 or 5 months pregnant, yes? But, a droopy hollow squishy 4 or 5 months pregnant.) that your calculus immediately changes. It’s not that I wanted to be not-pregnant me. I just wanted to feel not-pregnant.

The belly band worked wonders on that front.

Thanks to my Belly Bandit, I fit back into regular (stretched out) jeans within a week, without having a weird belly bulge. My stomach didn’t feel odd or billowy; under the belly band, I felt normal. Friends recovering from C-sections reported even greater benefits, helping protect their scar from chafing. One friend said it helped her feel like she wouldn’t just split right back open if she laughed too hard.

I’m happy to see that there are even more varieties of belly band on the market now. My Belly Bandit quickly became too big for me as my uterus/stomach shrunk, and I had to buy a second one a size down, and I ended up re-sewing that one to make it even smaller. But, as my waist re-emerged, the Belly Bandit dug into my sides — it’s shaped like a cylinder, not hourglass. And the massive velcro panel — excellent for getting an incredibly tight and secure fit — bulged oddly when I sat down. I think the Shrinkx Postpartum Belly Band might solve those problems.

(I also used the Shrinkx Postpartum Compression Belt, and loved it too. I bought it after a friend told me about taking baby on a walk postpartum, only to stop in the middle of a block and call her husband to come pick her up. Her hips felt like they were about to snap out from under her, Barbie-style. I found this belt too obvious to wear under clothing, so it was purely an at-home tool. But, I liked it and never had that wobbly hip feeling that I’ve heard about.)

Did you use a belly band? What did you think? Would you use one again?