Taking control of your post-natal recovery
Vicki Causer from Strong Mamma talks to Marlow Mums about post-natal health and understanding your body after childbirth.
Vicki started Strong Mamma a few years ago after the birth of her second child. She experienced pelvic floor weakness and felt that there must be a better way to help mums than the advice she was given at the time. Having been on that journey she started Strong Mamma to share what learnt and help others take back control of their bodies after the massive changes that occur through pregnancy and childbirth.
I get asked all the time, “when is it safe to get back to exercise after having a baby”, or “I feel fine so I’m going to go running to lose the baby weight” or ‘I’ve had my 6 week check, am I okay to get going?”
There are also the mums that have googled post natal exercise, been bombarded with conflicting advice, and so have never been sure what to do, and now their babies are 5 and 9 years old!
The honest answer is that there is no right time! There is no set of magic exercises that make it ‘safe’ and everyone’s experience is diffferent. One thing I can say for sure is that the ‘6 week check’ is not the magic ticket to get cracking! Understanding the huge anatomical, physiological and psychological changes your body has been through in the last 9 months and since your baby was born and how it impacts on how you feel about getting back to moving your body is HUGE!
A great place to start is understanding what your ‘core’ is and what role your pelvic floor plays in that…If you think of your ‘core’ being a canister made up by 4 best friends (in simple terms) – back muscles, diaphragm, tummy muscles, pelvic floor- and all four have to play nicely together to have good function….
So imagine the stress that has been placed on all parts during pregnancy and then depending on your labour and birth- one part of your canister may have had major surgery (think c section) or you birthed vaginally and any trauma that occurred (think labour, pushing, tears, cut etc) …it’s
going to have a huge impact on your core and pelvic floor function.
Everything you do impacts on your ‘core’- going from sit to stand, picking up those awkward heavy car seats, bending forward to change nappies/pick up clingy toddlers…everything!
Don’t underestimate the time it takes for recovery from pregnancy and birth and please allow yourself the time to build slow and strong foundations. A favourite saying is “you cannot fire a cannon from a canoe”….ie, don’t go straight back to running/boot camp/lift heavy stuff when you’ve just had your core totally compromised; your posture is causing you pain; you’re recovering from tears or cuts or csections; you’re getting a grand total of about 4 hours broken sleep and you’re doing your best to keep at least one small human alive! You get me? Getting reconnected with your body and building up from there is the best thing you could do for yourself and your body, which lets face it, needs to see you through at least another 50 odd years?!
If you’d like to know more about Vicki and her story head over to www.strongmamma.co.uk
E: info@strongmamma.co.uk T: 07901 756173
Vicki welcomes everyone to go along for a free consultation to talk to her about their specific needs.
A bit more about Vicki
My passion at StrongMamma is to work with those real-world women who invest much of their time and energy in others, have given birth (ever), are symptomatic, and disconnected from their bodies. They may feel unsupported, unsure, and just want to feel better in themselves. I
give them time and support to understand that they can reconnect with themselves, and empower them with the confidence that comes from having knowledge of their body so that they have a game plan to look after themselves better than ever and the capacity to do whatever
they want.
From pregnancy fitness through to post natal recovery and pelvic-floor-friendly strength training, to nutrition that will help you heal and balance your hormones all the way through to the returning athlete and the peri to post menopause years.