Split abdominal muscles?

[NaughtyDolly]

My two DSes are four and one and were both big babies. After DS1 was born, a midwife told me I had split my tummy muscles and she told me some exercises to sort them out.

At the time, I didn't really care as I was very slim and it only gave me a slight tummy and tbh I was expecting much worse after having a baby! Now I have put on a bit of weight and had another baby (I'm now size 12/14 as opposed to 10/12) I feel as though it really notices. In the evenings, after dinner it can sometimes look as though I am pregnant again.

I have been Googling, but all the advice seems to be for post partum. Have I left it too long? Would it have just healed itself by now? I have read that sit-ups and crunches can make it worse so I don't want to do those, but I really want to get rid of my belly.

Has anyone else had this and left it so long?

TIA!

Your midwife should have reffered you to physio therapy, my second baby was quite big and my muscles had a 3 finger wide gap in them, i had physio and the gap is still there but is only half a fingertip wide now.

Ask your GP to refer you to a physio, i think you can still help pull your muscles together

If you look on youtube there is one woman who people swear by, can't remember her name.

It's called diastasis recti. Mine were so severely ripped, I had to have a tummy tuck & the muscles sewn back...

She's Julie Tupler - The Tupler Technique

Don't worry, it's a really common thing after pregnancy.

Once the muscles have parted, they don't zip up together again, so most people will be left with a finger-width gap. that's ok, doesn't affect the strength or function of the muscle.

The muscle that unzips isn't that strong anyway - it's your other core muscles that pull you in like a corset. And, you can strenghten a muscle at any point, there's no time limit on it.

Get a referral to a physio. You need to be taught the right exercises in the right way - jumping straight into doing double crunches etc will do you a right mischief.