healthy moms
Early Postpartum Exercise By Aliah Thomas, RNC-OB
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ren’t our bodies amazing? We can make, birth, and feed a whole new person! And as such, it’s important to honor ourselves by investing in a full recovery and healing after birth so we can live our best lives with our growing families. This means taking time to strengthen the pelvic floor and abdominal muscles (core) that have worked hard to support your growing baby. And the earlier you start, the better. While it’s important to wait until about 6 weeks before resuming any intense exercise regimen, here are a few exercises you can resume immediately after giving birth— after you’ve celebrated with lots of snuggles and a good meal, of course!
Strengthening Pelvic Floor Muscles Your pelvic floor muscles form the base of your “core.” Stretching from your pubic bone in the front to your tailbone in the back, and to the sit bones on your right and left sides, these muscles work with your deep abdominal muscles and your back to support your spine and control pressure in your abdomen. Over the course of your pregnancy, your pelvic floor muscles support the ever-increasing weight of your growing baby. Then during birth, these same muscles stretch to birth your baby. After all this work, if we don’t strengthen them again during postpartum, we’re at increased risk for many common pelvic floor
problems, including loss of bladder or bowel control (incontinence) and either painful or less pleasurable sex.
Abdominal Muscle Exercises Your abdominal muscles (abs) form a corset that stabilizes your pelvis and supports your back; they’re essential to maintaining proper posture. In the same way that pregnancy stretches your pelvic floor muscles, your uterus, growing in size with your growing baby, pushes outward on the vertical abdominal muscles running down the middle of your stomach, making them longer and weaker. Oftentimes, they will separate and pouch out. This condition is called diastasis recti and affects about
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