Post-pregnancy body – light at the end of the tunnel
There is light at the end of the tunnel for our bodies!
Written by guest writer Adele Smyth from Purebody by Adele
As a new Mum you will have so many new and exciting experiences and undoubtedly be bombarded with endless amounts of information. There is so much to take in and I completely believe that ‘baby brain’ is an actual thing, so trying to retain all the info is pretty tough!
It’s possible that like so many women, new Mums will have 1 thing at the back of their mind; returning to their pre-pregnancy body and wondering what they can do to regain control of their pelvic floor and core?
Self-care is key 
Many factors can affect how our body ‘heals’ after pregnancy and birth and everybody’s body will react differently.
It’s very important to remember that you need to look after you to be able to look after your baby.
To help heal your body is it advisable to stay well hydrated throughout the day as this gives us more mental clarity and will start to heal your body from the inside out. We all have a layer of fascia covering our muscles and this fascia is very similar to a large piece of chiffon being draped over our muscles and gliding beneath our skin. If we are dehydrated then our fascia will not ‘slide and glide’; it will get stuck between our skin and muscles and start to feel tight and ‘bunched’ up. This, in turn, will affect how we move and ultimately lead to discomfort throughout our body.
Gentle Exercise
We need to be able to functionally move to allow our bodies to be supported through the stresses and strains of daily life, even more so when you have a little one in demand of your time! Far too many of us focus on aestheticism rather than athleticism and finding or regaining our strength in life.
As a post-natal Mum please be careful about returning to intensive exercise too quickly. Find a coach who understands the changes that have gone on and will advise you of the best exercises for you. No running until at least 6 months postnatal, but you can walk at a fast pace; join a Pilates or Barre class and start to add resistance work to your exercises once your core is restored.
What happens inside
Your body has done an amazing thing. It has grown and delivered a little human and this would have taken its toll on you to an extent. Externally you will visibly see changes, but don’t forget about the internal changes that would have taken place too.
Your organs will have been shifted around as would you rib cage, and your pelvic floor will have taken a battering! Your abdominal muscles will have separated and your skin will have stretched and you need to treat all of these with care once your little one is born.
Separated abdominal muscles or diastasis recti is a very common thing. Some women will find that their abdominal wall will close together fairly quickly, whereas others may find that they have a gap of up to 3 fingers wide. All is not lost! It is possible to improve the gap in your abdominals, but we need to focus on your intra-abdominal strength also.
There will be some cases where a woman will always have a slight tummy gap, but as long as they have ‘tension’ along the midline of their stomach, then this will help to offset any load or loading that they will have in their abdominals when lifting, rotating, carrying or exercising. Likewise, to have good abdominal tension will prevent you from increasing pressure into your pelvic floor.
What’s not right
It is also NOT ok to think that you may leak when you sneeze, cough or laugh after having a baby. If your pelvic floor is not seeming as strong as it was before your baby, then there is something that can be done. Women’s health coaches can help you!
The Holistic Core Restore ® EVERYWOMAN programme (www.holisticcorerestore.com) can help with both a tummy gap and pelvic floor concerns. You can once again be the fit, healthy, jumping on trampoline woman that you were pre-pregnancy!
For more information on the classes that I teach and the women’s health programmes that I provide, please visit www.purebodybyadele.co.uk or contact me on 07525 462 825 or email me at adelesmyth@hotmail.co.uk.
Adele Smyth is a guest writer for Savoir Fayre Family Nutrition as part of a series focusing on womens’ health post pregnancy.
The next event will be an online webinar entitled “how to feel more energised as a new mum and avoid burnout”. For more information about this FREE event, read the article here.