POSTNATAL FITNESS: 

 

When is it safe to start regaining your fitness after having a baby? 

 

It is safe to exercise from 6 weeks postnatal after your GP check. Although these initial stages are just extensions of everyday movements so shouldn’t cause any problems with your body, however if you do feel anything you are unsure about then you should go and get it checked by your GP or better still a physiotherapist.  

 

Why is it important to regain fitness after having a baby? 

 

Once you’ve had a baby exercise even further from your thoughts, however time does pass and once it’s safe to do so gentle exercise can really help you recover from the birth of your baby. You can improve your posture, stretch out tight areas, improve the function of your pelvic floor and regain a little fitness to make you feel like taking on the world again. 

 

Which areas should we be more careful with after having a baby? 

 

After having a baby it is important you take care of your pelvic area especially. There has been some trauma here and it needs to recover so do not do any jumping or high impact initially, you must build up your strength before you do this. 

 

What happens to the pelvic floor muscles after the baby is born? 

 

The pelvic floor muscles are put under pressure when you are pregnant and during labour. Even if you have had a cesarean section you must also continue with pelvic floor exercises after birth as your muscles have still been stretched and strained in pregnancy. You should sit comfortably and start with 5x5 slow squeezes twice per day. 

 

What happens to your joints after the baby is born?

 

Once your baby is born the hormone relaxin can still effect you especially if you are breastfeeding so you must continue to stick to this advice even once you’ve had your baby. 

 

When can you start exercise and how much should you do? 

 

You can start to do a little more than the usual activities of daily living at 6 week’s after your Baby is born. You will have had your 6 week check which means you should be safe to start gentle exercise. This could just be choosing to take the stairs rather than a lift, walking a little further each day and doing a few gentle exercises at home to get stronger. 

Everyone is different but you should increase your exercise gradually back to the level you were at before. You should not experience and pain or discomfort when doing so and you should avoid any strong exercises for the abdominal muscles until your muscles are strong enough. A physiotherapist will be able to guide you through this. 

 

How to get motivated

 

When your baby is born it is difficult to find the time and energy to fit in exercise. By building it into your everyday life it will help you feel like yourself again, you will connect back with your body, feel stronger, fitter and more confident. 

 

Exercise after cesarean session. 

 

It is important you stick to the advice you were given leaving hospital and despite feeling a bit better 4-5 week’s after your c-section your body is still healing especially on the inside. 

Because the abdominal muscles have been cut through they will have gone to sleep so we first need to wake them up. 

Because you haven’t moved normally for a while you will be stiff in your muscles and joints and especially around your scar. 

It is important to move and stretch the scar a little to help it heal mobile. 

 

For further advice and some exercises to follow check out my YouTube Channel: Kim Saha I have a very popular Postnatal Exercise Playlist. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqEm6Y4KmW38MdC449EoI-TfuIhO3MeW0