Pelvic floors - do they ever really recover?

[LivingLaVidaLurker2]

Mine certainly hasn't. I have two dcs, aged 3 and 1 and I'm still - ahem - a little lax. I do my exercises every day... I'm doing them now! I do them every time anyone mentions them too. Please, give me some hope.

How often do you do them ? Are you very good at remembering ?

I knew I had been 'remiss' but having recently been on a trampoline with my DS1 didn't realise how 'soft' they still were..... still can't seem to kick myself into action to remember to do them though.

Bit like the soft stomach muscles I have too....

I think it must depend from person to person. I have had 3 kids and my pelvics are still rock solid.

I don't know whether this will give you hope but here's something I learnt shortly after my son's birth.

I visited a friend of mine in Belgium, who is a physio and was going through specialist training in post-birth care.

When I described the way pelvic floor exercises are recommended in Britain she was HORRIFIED.

Apparently, doing many fast repetitions actually relaxes the muscles in the long term.

Instead, you are meant to do very few, very slowly, and stop for at least 10 seconds after each.

So - sorry, this is actually quite difficult to describe in writing - the idea is: contract gradually and hold for about 15 to 20 seconds (it's very long) and then relax gradually. Stop for 10 seconds and repeat.

Better to do 5 well than 10 or 20 in a rush.

In France and Belgium all my post-baby friends have been prescribed (on the equivalent of the NHS of course, argh!) ten sessions of what they call 'gymnastique hypopresssive' after birth and it's totally amazing. Pilates (by a decent teacher) is the closest you'll find in the UK.

But in short, GO SLOW to build muscle strength, rather than relaxation.

Hope it makes sense!

I do them at least 10 times a day, but this is clearly not judging by recent embarrassing experiences. Oh, maidamess, I am truly jealous - though I feel I am worthy of your nickname. Oh, the shame.

Thank you so much for this choucroutegarnie - I have been very much doing the quick ones, interspersed with the slow. That is very interesting and definitely gives me some hope!

mine are like iron even after 4 babies, I've done PF's since i was 12 though -my mum was adamant that I did them -thanks mum!!
I must be lucky that my mum taught me the going up in a lift method ,and how to tell if you are isolating each set properly , so many people just jerk the whole lot up, then let go, you should do them slowly, in 3 or 4 stages and hold the pull for 10 seconds each 'level' working from front to back, then relax and go on to the next set

they do recover, ne fret pas. Persevere with the exercises - current midwife thinking seems to be doing slow and fast (to exercise both types of muscle fibres) and to try and make sure that you don't clench your butt or thighs when you're tensing your pelvic floor (to really isolate the muscles).

makes me cross (was going to say drives me potty but that seemed like a v. bad pun) that there's not better advice on doing pelvic floor exercises RELIGIOUSLY regardless of age, whether you've had a baby or not, whether you have a c-section - all women should do them. Daily. Boring yes, but better than fuelling the Tena Lady empire.

oh and and plenty of orgasms is supposed to help too!

I wish there was more advice too. Was very slack (in every sense) after dd, but have been trying harder since ds was born.

Everybody... 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10.

My running fanatic fitness guru sister says that working on all your core muscles helps. Also I think walking alot helps. I do my exercises whilst walking and in bed. I have had two big babies and could stop mid flow within two days of both!!

definitely agree on the core muscles thing - it makes a massive difference. All the abs muscles work together, the pelvic floor is the deepest one....but not crunches!!

yes I've had post natal physio here in Belgium. It really helps get things back to normal, and also encourage you to do abdominal and back exercises.

Considering the number of women who suffer from incontinence in later life, it's a really good thing.

It does get better, but if you've got a slight prolapse, however strong you get your pelvic floor muscles it will never quite feel the same again - the muscles can help support the vagina better, stopping the prolapse worsening, but they can't cure it. Even with a mild prolapse, though, strong pelvic floor muscles should help prevent stress incontinence - just won't tighten everything up as much as you might have hoped!

It took a couple of years after the birth of my second child to feel like I was getting back to normal, by the way - so it can be quite a long process!

Don't know if this will help- but a gynae told me to do them for 20 minutes(on the bed) twice a day for 6 months to get the best results you can.

That means around 50 contractions at least. You need to rest for a few seconds between them to allow the muscle to relax then tighten again and it is important to make sure you are contracting your anus as well, not just your "front bottom"!

Other people say in groups of 5, 10 times a day.

A physio told me that we have slow twitch and fast twitch muscles- she said the slow twitch are the ones that hold it all in place and the fast twitch are what respond to keep the bladder closed. She recommended alternating 10 slow with 10 fast.

I had a prolapse repair and no matter how much I did my pf exercises things were just too stretched. However, I was told to keep doing htem after the op to prevent it coming back or getting worse again.

every time I see this thread in my 'threads I'm on list' I remember to do the exercises!

Sorry for my ignorance, but how do you know if you are slack or not? What are the symptoms? I don't pee myself when I cough or laugh (have seen other women my age cross their legs when laughing etc). I have had 3 children, two close together in early 30's and then another at 41... (yep). Am I missing something here? I do have a bit of a blubbery baby belly but even when I was skinnier I still had that (like a smile above bikini line) no hang ups about that.. just wondered about the inner thing, what should I look for?

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I am one of those ladies you see crossing her legs!