Be gentle on yourself! Getting your-body-back may take longer than you expected. Sometimes 6 months after giving birth some women experience difficulty in losing weight, emotional changeability and fatigue. Do not expect miracles in the first 6 weeks!
Be gentle. Your attitude towards your body should be one of patience and nurturing. Let yourself recover gradually so you can focus on enjoying motherhood instead of obsessing about things that may be out of your control at this time.
Try to begin your Kegal exercises a few days after giving birth. This encourages healing of any episiotomy incision or tear by increasing blood flow to the area.
Even a few minutes of exercise a day can give an emotional lift during this trying period.
Joint laxity can last up to four months after giving birth, so be aware that your body may be more unstable than pre-pregnancy.
Getting abdominal muscles back in to shape is important to protect the back during endless lifting and carrying in the future. Even just sucking tummy muscles in slightly, during first 5 days can start to rehab your abs immediately.
*You can start doing real crunches once your diastasis is largely gone. You can check this by:
Lying on your back with your feet hip width apart.
Place the fingers of your right hand on your belly just above belly button vertically along midline of body.
Slowly raise your head and shoulders. As you do so you should feel a band of muscles on either side of your fingers. These are your recti muscles. Almost all postpartum women will have a gap between the recti. If the gap is more than two fingers width apart then you’ll need to practise the ‘ modified version’ of crunches.
CESAREAN
Do remember this is major abdominal surgery. Give yourself a longer recuperation time.
Use static gentle abdominal contractions whilst lying on your back. This increases blood flow to the area and promotes healing.
Always check with Doctor before undertaking exercise, even gentle stretches and walks.
Listen to your body! Stop exercise if you feel nausea, dizziness or pulling from C-section.
| | 
 |
