Postpartum Exercises for a Better Recovery | Birth Doula

Postpartum Exercises for a Better Recovery | Birth Doula



Safe and effective exercise is very powerful for the recovering postpartum body. After 9 months of pulling, straining, and stretching it's important to retrain your core muscles to function well. In this video we cover simple and effective core exercises, how to avoid or help mend diastis recti, and how to strengthen your pelvic floor.

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All content and information in this video is for informational and educational purposes only, does not constitute medical, psychological or health advice of any kind and I do not warrant that the information presented herein is free of any errors or omissions. I am not providing medical, health care, nutrition therapy or coaching services to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any kind of physical ailment, mental or medical condition.

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I am a Lamaze certified Childbirth Educator and a DONA certified Birth Doula in the San Francisco Bay Area! For more information and resources, come find me at builttobirth.com

hey mama is we are on part 4 of our four-part video series talking all about postpartum recovery in this video we are talking all about fitness if this is your first time to my channel don't forget to hit that subscribe button in the bell next to it so you don't miss any of my other videos I am Bridget and I'm a doula and I love helping moms love their birth so if you're anything like me you might have some questions about what kind of exercises you should be doing during this healing recovery postpartum period that are going to help with the healing process but aren't going to put too much strain on your recovery and body so in this video I'm going to be talking about simple exercises that you can be doing to start your fitness journey postpartum so one of the best things that you can start off doing for your physical health is just start walking it's not only good for your physical health but also for your mental and emotional health just to be able to get out of your house enjoy nature enjoy people watching enjoy walking to your favorite coffee shop or just enjoying that fresh air so getting out and moving your body is going to be super important during those first few weeks in terms of just overall health but more on the physical side walking is super good for your body because it's going to help prevent your body creating any blood clots so what walking does this really helps blood circulation reach all your limbs which is super important especially for a woman who's had a cesarean birth and just helping blood flow go to all of her body so walking should be your go-to exercise as you start this little fitness journey during that postpartum recovery period so the next big thing is core strengthening and it's super important to focus on this after we've had a baby because for nine long months our core has been kind of taking a beating because you know our abdominal muscles have been stretching as our belly has been stretching and we've had a lot of weight centered in our core and so it's really important that we are taking good care of our core after birth during that postpartum recovery period so the big muscles that are carrying all the weight of baby and supporting you know the weight of baby the amniotic fluid the placenta the uterus all of that are the transverse abdominus and they're horizontal abdominal muscles that go from hip to hip and just stretch all the way around the torso so since all throughout birth you're transverse abdominus have been stretching and they've been you know using all of their strength to support your growing baby it's really important that we focus on strengthening those muscles after birth during that postpartum recovery period and the reason why I'm talking so much about the transverse abdominis is because the normal crunch that we do or the setup that we do isn't engaging those muscles as well as those muscles it should not really be used during this very first postpartum recovery period just because it does put a lot of strain on those abdominal muscles that have been taking a beating for the last nine months and so we want to kind of avoid those traditional sit-ups or crunches that we think of when we talk about core strengthening so let's talk about some core strengthening exercises that you can be doing these exercises are really focused exercises they should not make you feel you know like you're working out insanely hard remember these are exercises you can be doing during your recovery process as always before you start doing any kind of exercise you need to make sure that you are cleared by your doctor and that usually happens within the four to six week range so again make sure you check in with your doctor to make sure that these exercises are safe for you so the first exercise that I want to share with you is the transverse abdominis bracing and basically what that is is really activating your core through breathing so I'm going to show you guys how to do this so this bracing that I am showing you it really looks like deep diaphragmatic breathing and what that's going to do is really engage and help strengthen your core you're going to want to lay down on a flat surface and you're going to want to take a deep but relaxed breath as you are expanding your uterus as you've expanded your uterus as you exhale you're going to want to flex your pelvis inward so that your lower back is completely on the ground and there isn't a gap in your lower back and you're going to want to exhale and hold at the end of your exhale for four to six seconds and then release into that deep relaxed inhale throughout your diaphragm and your uterus once you have exhaled and you are holding your breath for those four to five seconds make sure that you are keeping that core and you're in that pelvic region nice and tight almost like you're doing a Kegel through that exercise the next one is the transverse abdominis side-lying bracing and what you're going to do is do the same technique as the lying down but instead you're going to do it on one of your sides and what that's going to help you do is that's going to help you engage and strengthen one side more and then once you flip over it's going to help you engage that other side so it's just a little bit more of a workout for those different sides the next exercise that you can do with this core strengthening is the bent knee side drop what you're going to do for this exercise you're going to lay on your back and you're going to bend your knees so your knees are looking up at the ceiling again we want to really engage that core because that's what we are focusing on strengthening and so you're going to tilt your pelvis inward and draw your belly button almost like there's a string attached to your spine so you're drawing your belly button down to the ground down towards your spine to really activate that core as well as that pelvic floor make sure that there is not a gap in your lower back and the ground if you can stick your arm through that area then you are not activating your core well enough you need to make sure that your back is flat on the ground once your core is activated you can draw one of your knees to the ground slowly and then bring it back up while the other knee remains stationary once the other knee has made it back up to the top you can switch legs let that one drop while the other stays stationary and slowly bring it back up and repeat that several times the last exercise that I have for you in core strengthening is a bent knee single drop toe touch what you're going to do for this exercise is to once again get on your back and you're going to want to raise your legs up in an inverted tabletop position so again for this exercise we want to make sure we are really engaging our core and so that means making sure that our pelvis is tilted inward our belly button is going to our spine like there's a string attached to it going closer to the ground and we want to make sure that that gap between our lower back and the floor does not exist that our back is nice and flat against the floor once your core is engaged and your legs are up in an inverted tabletop position which are going to do is just slowly and gently bring one leg down while the other one stays stationary at the top and tap your toe lightly against the ground and then slowly bring it back up once that leg has reached the top then you can drop the other leg down slowly and gently to tap your toe against the floor and bring it back up during this exercise it is a good idea to put your hands on your tummy and as you are dropping your leg one at a time if you feel like your tummy is coning or if there is almost like a little loaf of bread in your abdominal area that means that you are not engaging your core it probably means that there's a gap between the floor and your lower back so you need to correct that so that your core is nice and strong and engaged before you continue doing your leg drops so because our abdominal muscles have been through so much during our pregnancy having core strengthening exercises during this postpartum recovery period is super important a lot of moms during pregnancy develop die that's recti which is just abdominal separation and you can tell because there's usually like a line to her belly button where it shows a separation of her abs and these exercises that I've shared with you can help repair that but you have to make sure that you are doing them correctly because if you're not it's only going to make this condition worse but apart from these exercises you're definitely going to want to seek out professional help if you think that you have diastasis recti and how to help yourself heal and repair from it so along with your abdominal muscles the big muscle that's taken a lot of the hits is your pelvic floor and that's something you've heard probably since the beginning of your pregnancy and your pet your pelvic floor is like a hammock shaped muscle that just sits in your pelvis and it keeps your bladder it keeps your bowels it keeps your uterus all where it's supposed to be so it's really holding up a lot of your insides and so it's really important that you have a strong pelvic floor when you have a weak pelvic floor and you're going to experience peeing when you don't want to right a lot of moms express that they have this incontinence right where they pee where they when they laugh or when they Kaufer sneeze and so that is common in a lot of moms during postpartum recovery and even after but it doesn't mean that it should be happening because that usually only happens when you have a weak pelvic floor so exercises that I'm about to share with you are going to help strengthen that pelvic floor so the number one exercise that comes to mind for most women when I talk about pelvic floor are kegels and so the kegels are a good way to help strengthen your pelvic floor if you're not sure how to do them or what that even is if you are sitting on the toilet going pee just use the muscle to make you stop going pee to stop the flow of urine and that is basically doing a Kegel and so imagine doing that and then you can do that sitting down you don't have to be on the toilet you don't have to be peeing but imagine doing that and using that muscle and basically you just flex it for about 10 seconds more if you can then release then tighten them again and that's basically doing a Kegel the next one in helping strengthen your pelvic floor is doing your activated breathing or the bracing like I showed you for those abdominal exercises so that diaphragmatic that deep breathing that bracing exercise that I showed you just really engages your core and remember how I talked about how you tilt your pelvis inward that's also activating your pelvic floor and so that's really going to help strengthen that pelvic floor that maybe has gotten a little bit weak during your pregnancy the third exercise that's really going to help strengthen your pelvic floor is one that I always did in middle school in high school in gym class and I never thought I would need it but wall sits is a great exercise to really engage your pelvic floor and to help strengthen it after you've given birth after you've been pregnant and you are in that postpartum recovery period so I'm just you know sit against the wall like you are sitting in a chair an invisible chair you want to flex your pelvis again so that you have your back flat against the wall and that's really going to help engage that pelvic floor and strengthen it so the last one that I want to share with you is good posture and I know it's not one that we think about usually when we're talking about fitness and exercise and all that but it's something we should really be aware of all the time because it's something we are doing all of the time whether we are sitting standing cooking watching TV walking around whatever it is we should be aware of our posture you know I was talking about how during pregnancy our ABS have been stretched and strained and now we have to retrain them how to come back together and tighten together in a big way to do that is just you're having good posture so sitting up straight having your your core engaged as you are sitting having your shoulders back but relaxed and having that good posture is really going to help retrain your your transverse abdominis that I was talking about before to tighten and connect better with the fascia that is in your abdominal area so having good posture is a really big one that we often overlook but it's definitely important so those were all exercises to do during your postpartum recovery but here are some ones that you're going to want to avoid the first ones are crunches or sit-ups or you know getting from that lying down position to that sitting up position on your own and those are ones that we're going to want to avoid other ones are running jumping at first lifting heavy weights things that are really going to overexert you start slow mama you have just you know completed a marathon really getting a baby from your womb into this world and onto your chest and in your arms and into your home and hearts so all that to say take it slow there is no need to you know bounce back right away you have evolved into a different self and an improved self you know there is no reason that you need to go back to your old old self with that being said a lot of changes come around that six to twelve month mark after baby is born so if you aren't seeing results right away just keep putting away at those exercises because they are going to help your body heal and they are going to help your body mend and recover and as you keep doing it and as you are able to increase what you are able to do physically in that fitness area you will start seeing results so really be focusing on your physical health with eating with exercising but also on that bond with your baby and your growing family and your mental and emotional health those are what are more important right now than maybe losing weight and getting back to what you were so all that to say mama you are beautiful the way that you are but I hope that these tips really helped you kind of kickstart that recovery process and your fitness journey that concludes our four-part series thanks for watching and I will see you next time

#Postpartum #Exercises #Recovery #Birth #Doula

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