TRYING TO pull in her floppy stomach is the last thing a new mother thinks of in the days after giving birth. But even if it seems impossible, this is precisely what she should be doing.
In fact, women who want to get fit after having a baby can even start low-key exercises in those first few hours recovering in bed.
It is worth persisting. Research suggests that, apart from helping you to regain shape, being fit makes you better able to cope with young children both physically and psychologically (you are less prone to postnatal depression). There is also some indication that fitter women tend to have faster, easier births.
However, formal exercise should not start until after your six-week check-up by a GP — up to ten weeks following a Caesarean. Then you need to ease your body in gradually, says Judy DiFiore, a postnatal fitness expert and course director on the subject for the YWCA. And keep the intensity low to moderate: “Very high-intensity exercise produces lactic acid in the body, which can, if you are breastfeeding, make the milk taste sour, which the baby will not take,” she says.
Other caveats for breastfeeding mothers include staying well-hydrated, being aware that a large bosom will make exercises done lying on the front uncomfortable, and not being too preoccupied with shedding extra fat, which the body will retain naturally until breastfeeding stops. Otherwise, aim for exercise that causes slight breathlessness and perspiration for 20 minutes two to four times a week. According to Sam Jenkins, a personal trainer who works with postnatal women, it is important to do pelvic-floor and abdominal work first. “You can’t run or jump around in an aerobics class without leaking if you have not strengthened the pelvic-floor muscles first,” he says.
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Until six months after pregnancy your body will have high levels of the hormone relaxin (which makes the body more supple). As a result joints are more vulnerable to injury, so it’s sensible to avoid the cross-trainer or rowing machine to begin with; the former causes the fragile pelvis to rock too much, while the latter involves hunching the shoulders.
Posture suffers in pregnancy: stomach exercises will help you to recover from the “reverse banana” position that you have adopted. And stomach exercises are even more important for those who have had a Caesarean, says Jennie Tarsnane, a personal trainer. The nerve endings have been cut and exercise will help to give them the stimulation they need to start regenerating.
“Legs, bums and tums” classes are popular with post-natal women, but sit-ups should be avoided. In about two thirds of women who have recently given birth the two bands of the rectus abdominis (the top stomach muscle) are separated. Sit-ups will strengthen them in this stretched position and prevent the bands from returning to normal.
Instead, gently pull in the stomach as often and in as many positions as possible (although for the first six weeks, not on all fours — recent research suggests that there is a risk in this position of air entering the vagina, passing through the uterus and into the raw placental site that can then cause a dangerous air embolism, similar to a blood clot).
All women, whether or not they have exercised before childbirth, recover at different rates and should exercise according to how they feel. The good news is that you should be able to regain your full fitness within nine to 12 months. You will then be in great shape for the next baby.
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Jennai Cox is Fitness Editor of The Times
The Complete Guide to Postnatal Fitness by Judy DiFiore will be published by A & C Black (£14.99) in October.
www.fitpregnancy.com
THE RULES OF POST-PREGNANCY FITNESS