Congratulations, you had a baby! Welcoming a baby into your family is a wonderful, exciting, and also tiring time. The last thing you are thinking about is probably exercise! Especially when the general recommendation is no exercise for six weeks. However, there are mindfulness activities and gentle exercises which can be performed in those first six weeks to set you up for success when you return to your exercise routine.
Be gentle to your body
Your body just delivered a baby! The first six weeks should be gentle, letting your body heal from delivery. Before pregnancy your uterus is about the size of a lemon, and by 40 weeks it can be compared to the size of a basketball! Also, the wound from your placenta is about the size of a small dinner plate (about 8”). On top of that, each delivery is different and you may have some tearing, an episiotomy, or other wounds you are healing from. Being gentle, having lots of rest, drinking water, and eating healthy are all important parts of those first few weeks of recovery.
Connecting to your core and pelvic floor
There are some mindfulness activities and gentle exercises that can be beneficial for your recovery, preparing you for returning to your previous activities. Here are some examples:
- Diaphragmatic Breathing: During pregnancy, your ribs become very wide to accommodate for your organs and the baby. It can be beneficial for relaxation and connecting your brain to your core by doing deep breathing.
- With one hand resting on your belly and the other hand on your rib cage, take a deep breath in through your nose and think about lifting your hands with your breath.
- When you exhale, allow your hands to feel like weight to help you exhale and bring your ribs in gently.
- Do this for about 1 minute, and then switch hands to work on the opposite side
- Transverse Abdominis: The Transverse Abdominis is one of your deep core muscles that is involved in stabilization of your spine and pelvis. Late in pregnancy when your lumbar lordosis increases and your belly grows, your transverse abdominis stretches to accommodate for the baby.
- Lay on your back with your knees bent and feet flat. Find your hip bones with your fingers, and then move in towards the middle and sink into the tissue.
- Take a breath in and then blow out with a “shhhhh”. You want to think about drawing your belly button in towards your spine, almost like zipping up your tightest skinny jeans.
- You should feel gentle tension under your fingers. Hold for a few seconds as you continue the exhale.
- Do this for one minute
- Kegels: Activating the muscles of your pelvic floor gently can be helpful in improving bladder control and reducing pelvic organ prolapse postpartum.
- While laying down, take a few quiet breaths to relax your body
- In order to contract your pelvic floor muscles, think about stopping gas and the flow of urine at the same time. Gently lift and squeeze your muscles deep inside, while avoiding squeezing your inner thighs or glutes. Note, do not practice this while you are urinating
- When you exhale, perform that pelvic floor contraction. Try to hold the contraction for 3 seconds. When you inhale, allow your pelvic floor muscles to relax fully before doing another contraction.
- Do this 10 times. You can do this a few times a day. Work slowly on increasing the hold to 5 seconds and then 10 seconds.
- Child’s Pose: This stretch is great for trunk and hip flexibility as well as lengthening of the pelvic floor muscles.
- Start on hands and knees, bring your feet closer with your knees staying wide
- Bring your hips down towards your feet and then fold forward bringing your trunk between your knees and your arms straight overhead resting on the floor.
- You can do this with your arms straight up, reaching right, and reaching left to stretch both sides of your trunk.
- Hold each position for 30 seconds. Slowly increase to 1 minute in each position as you are comfortable.
- Low intensity, short duration walking: Walking is very important for trunk and lower extremity strengthening and stretching, as well as lymphatic drainage. While healing and rest is important, low intensity walking can be very healthy. Some things to keep in mind:
- Start slow, 5 minutes of slow walking to start off is great! Increase your time/distance as you can tolerate it.
- Make sure you are hydrating! Drinking enough water is so important for healing after delivery, for milk production, and for supporting normal bowel and bladder function.
- Sunshine is medicine! Spending some time outside in the fresh air and sunshine is healthy for hormone production, sleep, and mental health and clarity. Going for a walk is perfect for that.
In those first few weeks postpartum, you are going to be so focused on taking care of your baby that you may forget about yourself. Try your best to set aside a few minutes to perform these exercises and set yourself up for success in your recovery.
Once you are cleared by your doctor for exercise, give us a call! At The Pelvic Health Center, we are here for you to improve your strength, flexibility, pelvic floor muscle function, and pain to get you back to feeling good!
Reach out to us at Pelvic Health Center in Madison, NJ to set up an evaluation and treatment! Feel free to call us at 908-443-9880 or email us at [email protected].