when to start walking after cesarean?

[Lilly0011]

mum, after how many days after C section birth can you go out for example to the park for a walk and for how long? Thank you

Hi there, I’m nearly 4 weeks post section and apart from shuffling around the house, I went out for a tiny walk to the bottom of the road around day 5. Everyone is different though and it does depend on your recovery…. As long as you’re getting out of bed, moving around the house and trying to stay a little active, you’re doing great! Just take care of yourself and your body will tell you if you’re doing too much so just take baby steps and you’ll be great in no time! Take care!

Everyone is different. Keep up with pain relief and don't overdo it. It is major abdominal surgery after all and the last thing you want is complications!

I had to walk from one end of the hospital to the other as dd was in nicu so I did that from day 1. I'd just had a hysterectomy and had conflicting advice from professionals. Physio told me not to but the staff on the ward told me I had to.

I did buy took it slow.

ive got 3 dc and I've had 2 c sections (planned - emergency have longer recovery times)

1st i was up and about same day, slow moving but with toddler on the lose not much choice.

2nd was couple day, mainly because i had extended stay in hospital due to stressed bladder! but by day 3 it was walking around slow, with 2 other kids and baby there's no rest

but it's defo each to own, i know someone who was barley moving after 10 days and someone else who refused to lift anything other than the baby for 6 weeks!

First walk to the toilet after having catheter out day after C section. Very slow walk to car park to go home after two days. Personally I didn't feel up to a short walk to the shops until about two weeks post C section. After four/five weeks I would very slowly walk about a kilometre to the shops.

It's very sensible not to lift anything heavy or stretch your core for many weeks after a C section as those things can do serious damage.

I did a number of fairly long walks when my DD was between 1-2 weeks old. I then ended up back in hospital with a second haemorrhage when she was 2 weeks old (had a very large PPH following the c-section) . I'm not having any more children but if I did I wouldn't have pushed myself so much.

I also had to walk to SCBU from day one after surgery, went home on day three and then had to return to visit every day until DD was discharged on day nine so was I probably a bit more mobile than some initially but in general I would say:
Manage your pain with regular pain relief, listen to your body (if it hurts stop), build up gradually and remember however far you walk out, you need to walk back so don’t push too far on the way out.

I'm at 3.5 weeks, walked to the shop Fri, it's probably a 10 min round trip, I felt ok but my lochia that had stopped, started again yesterday, midwife said it's a sign of overdoing it. Equally a friend was out and about shopping after 2.5 weeks

It depends how you feel. I was fine to move around the next day. Two days after, I walked to the supermarket nearby and did a shop. But I had a very easy recovery with little pain beyond the first few hours and healed extremely well.

My first trip to nicu was about 10 hours after the op and I went I. A wheelchair but the next trip a few hours later I walked/shuffled (and it was a fair way across a large hospital). I was discharged after that and had to walk the length of the hospital. It was sloooooow.

I was walking the day after in the hospital with no pain/discomfort but properly out and about on day 3 - not overly far just about 10mins or so.

A proper Walk in the park or similar- about 4 weeks. But short walks from the car to a cafe (say), about 1 week. Walking around the house and up and down the stairs (we have a very vertical house), as soon as I got home.

I’ve posted this before and got my arse handed to me as it’s apparently totally over the top…

My midwives told me off for trying to go for a walk at 7 days or so and said 2 weeks complete rest.
they said if I want to walk to go up and down the garden if I had to get fresh air so I went for my first shuffle up the road (litre top of the road and back) at 2-3 weeks pp.

i can’t complain as my C-section healed perfectly.

Everyone is so different, there is no linear road to recovery.

I had an emergency c-section under GA and was in surgery for several hours after my DC was taken out to DH. I wasn’t especially fit or sporty, but had run throughout my pregnancy. I forced myself to walk around hospital as soon as I had my catheter out which massively helped my recovery. I was in three nights and on the way home stopped for a 3km walk for an event my other DC was doing. It was fine, took about 30 minutes. Six weeks afterwards I was running Parkrun.

It actually took me far longer to recover from giving birth to my first DC.

I’ve known others still struggling 12 weeks post c-section. I do think keep moving as much as you can though soon afterwards as it helps.

I went for a walk day we got out - about 48 hours after birth. I had twins.

Next day, to local farm shop with double buggy, 2yr old and newbie

ELCS at 11am Wednesday, was shuffling to the loo around 7pm, got myself down to the car the next day around 7pm, Sunday I did a stroll to the local cafe and corner shop. Probably took about 2 weeks before I could walk without wincing and it was around a month later we went for an actual walk. But I had a 1yo toddler as well so was very keen not to overdo it as I needed to look after her.

FWIW my first vaginal birth had a much longer recovery time so it’s all much of a muchness.

Interesting other mums had to walk to the NICU! They put me in a wheelchair for day 1. Still had catheter in as well. Then I was up walking on day 2. I stayed in for 5 days so took things reallyyyyy slowly. I remember crying whilst pooping for the first time postop. The pain was unreal. If I were to have a third I’d do everything to avoid a section!

DD born emergency section 2am Monday. I'd walked to the shower by midday then shuffling about. Discharged Wednesday due to her jaundice. I think the Friday I walked to the chemist at the top of the road, we were parking and shuffling to a coffee shop the following week but it took until the week after that to walk to the park (usually 15 mins but must have taken 30!)

Day 1 post surgery: walked half a mile from the maternity unit to the car.

Next significant exercise was day 10 post surgery, in the supermarket: lasted about 30 minutes before I started to feel tired and lightheaded and had to sit down.

Then three weeks post surgery, when DH went back to work and I was back to the nursery run: walked half a mile each way after lifting the double buggy and both kids. Felt a bit wiped out but was okay. Made my lochia restart, but was otherwise fine.

ELCS at 7am. Up to go to the loo and to sort baby for feeds, changes etc by lunchtime. Doing laps of the room by that evening (I whipped those awful surgical stockings off both times as soon as I found my legs again so the midwife recommended that instead), through the hospital to the taxi on day 3, walked uphill and over the road pushing the pram to the midwife clinic on day 4 or 5 (can’t remember!) and was back on the half a mile school nursery run with a 3YO on the buggy board on day 6. Everyone’s recovery is different so comparisons aren’t always useful but so long as you feel up to it gentle exercise eg walking is really good for recovery.

Well, as soon as they remove the catheter, you can walk around the hospital, and most people in the UK are sent home within 24-48hrs. You can walk around the park etc as soon as you feel like it. Moving around helps you heal quicker than sitting down all the time or lying in bed, and also helps stop your stomach muscles seizing up, which is very painful.

I was walking as soon as my catheter was out. My premature twins were in NICU on a different floor (and then different hospital) during lockdown so I had to get myself there to see them