Pregnancy Health

My Belly And It’s Linea Negra

Now that the baby has arrived, all I am left with is some extra skin and my ‘Linea negra’ (a dark line down the middle of my belly).

Arriving usually in the second trimester, the linea negra is more commonly found in women who already have darker skin pigmentation and is caused by an increased production of the pigment melanin during pregnancy.

This unwanted line can last for several months after your baby is born. For some women the line will never completely go away. Some believe that there may be a connection between a woman’s insulin level and her getting linea negra, or even not getting enough folic acid.

It is an oldwives’ tale that if the linea negra stops at the belly button, the woman is having a girl, and if it goes all the way to the bottom of the rib cage then the woman is having a boy.

During my pregnancy I had read all about this line, but didn’t get one until I was 36 weeks along. The insulin explanation makes sense because my OB found that my sugar levels were high closer to the end of my pregnancy around the time this line appeared. It also goes all the way down my tummy, which confirms the wives tale about having a boy.

Obviously, I want to know how to get rid of it and from what I have read – only times fades this line.

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About the author

Lisa Arneill

Founder of Growing Your Baby and World Traveled Family. Canadian mom of 2 boys, photo addict, lover of bulldogs, and museumgoer. Always looking for our next vacation spot!

6 Comments

  • actually it’s intriguing the linea negra .
    i’m a 22 year old black girl that has never been expecting,but i have a linea negra since i can remember.Both me and my twin brother do.I thought it was because of skin tone and because our mom also has it,but them my gyno told me that i supposedly sholdn’t have it…
    it’s fairly odd,i say

  • Me too… I’m 24years old, black female and I have also had the line for as long as I can remember. Mine goes from the bottom of my belly all the way to the middle of my stomach. And I was never pregnant.

  • well its good to know.im a 23yr old black female me and my two sisters have it also its just always been there.i always just assumed everyone had it.coz none of us has ever been pregnant.

  • Here’s another twist for the last 3 comments. I also have that line from my belly button going down. I am a 23 yr old, white female and have never been pregnant yet either. From what they are saying about the darker skin pigmentation, and not being pregnant (and lighter skin), that’s where I get a bit confused? Anyways, I remember having it for a long time now and when I was younger I thought maybe I had a ‘secret surgery’ as a baby b/c my mom didn’t know why I had it… lol, I was a child..the things that run through our heads 🙂 I do have slight olive undertone in my skin, so could that do it for the pigments I suppose? IDK?

  • My wife who is Asian with dark olive skin has always had one. My 3 year old son, whose skin tone is closer to hers (I’m white), has a very faint one. Hers got much darker when pregnant and then faded back to normal after. I think its common for people with darker skin to have a slight line there and then it gets much darker when pregnant.

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