How soon is it ok to do abdominal exercise after birth?

[Salihah]

I am not ready yet, my baby just came 6 days ago, but as soon as it is ok I'd like to start working on toning my stomach muscles again, likely just doing some gentle crunches or sit-ups. This was my 4th baby and my muscles get looser every time. I'm thin, but I have a lot of loose feeling muscle around the middle.

[kltroy]

Within the first couple weeks after birth you can start doing some gentle exercises to help correct diastasis (separation of your abdominal muscles), which you probably have some of. The Tupler book "Lose your Mummy Tummy" has some good ones for this. There's also a book I have called "Exercise After Pregnancy" that has some. The one that worked for me has you lay on your side. Put your hand on your lower belly and pretend you're lacing up a corset, from the bottom up. Slowly work on pulling your stomach in towards your spine from the bottom up to your ribcage, using your hand to gather each side in towards the center. It should take you about 10 seconds to go all the way up. Do 5-10 of these each day, some laying on your left and some on your right.

You can also start kegels on your back, with your knees bent. Put your hand on your belly and make sure your abs stay relaxed when you're doing kegels. Also, your pelvic floor muscles will be quite weak because they were so stretched during the birth. They will fatigue very easily, so even if you FEEL like you're still working hard, they may not be contracting. I would start by doing 5 short ones and then taking a 10-20 second rest, and then doing another set of 5. Shoot for doing 4-5 sets of 5 like this 1-2x/day for the first week. Then you can do sets of 10 with a rest the next week, etc. The idea is not to get super strong really fast, but to concentrate on form (you shoud ONLY contract that muscle, not your abs or your butt or anything else) and rebuild some of the neuromuscular connections that can be damaged during birth.

I would stick with just these two types of exercise, plus whatever the Tupler book says is ok for the first 6 weeks. Then you can start adding other core exercises.

Congratulations on your baby!

[Salihah]

This is great info!! Wow!! Thanks so much!!

[jecombs]

After my last birth I asked my MW about this at my 2 week pp check-up. She said nothing until 6 weeks pp. NOTHING. Even though I felt really great. I started doing gentle pelvic tilts a little prior to that timeline, though, and they felt fine.

[MegBoz]

I'm a certified personal trainer, although I admit I don't have tons of info on this particular issue. I read a great book, "Exercising through your pregnancy" & expected great info on this, as well as ab exercise DURING pregnancy! (since I read that ab work can exacerbate existing diastasis recti, but is not problematic if you don't have diastasis). NOPE! The book didn't mention it. (The focus was primarily on cardio exercise.)

In any case, I'd be wary of the guideline to "Do nothing." That is, literally impossible! Your abs work to hold you up while you stand, walk, even sit up in a chair (if you're not slumped back). So your abs are going to get something of a 'workout' as you go about your daily life.

Honestly, I have a suspicion that no one has really researched the question of ab exercise & diastasis!! I say that because the aforementioned "Exercising Through your Pregnancy" book was published in the 1990s & he was the first to tackle researching the subject of exercise in pregnancy!! Before that, in the 1980's, he said that there was just a "don't ask, don't tell" policy between HCPs & exercsing PG mamas! No one really knew any facts on it.

So knowing what I do know, I'd say if you DON"T have diastasis, you're probably fine to go by the always good guideline, "Listen to your body." Take it easy, back off if your bleeding increases & you feel too exhausted, etc. But otherwise, go ahead.

I personally first got to the gym to lift weights at around 4 weeks PP & did tons of walking right away. (I felt great, & being active never increased my bleeding.)

If you DID have diastasis, I guess I'd be a lot more cautious.