Exercise postpartum

[scotscorner]

Hi! I am 38 weeks pregnant with first baby and looking for others’ experiences with returning to exercise after birth.

I’m 30 and was very active pre-pregnancy - netball, running, swimming, Pilates - and was running up until 33 weeks, still swimming and walking most days now.

Exercise for me is pretty essential for my sanity. But I know I need to manage my expectations as I may not be able to do (or feel up to) much for a while. I’ve read no swimming until bleeding stops (6 weeks-ish?) and no running for 3-6 months.

My questions for others are:

1. how soon were you able to go back to exercise and being active after birth? (Beyond walking)
2. what did you do when you restarted?
3. anything you found particularly helpful, surprising or difficult?

thanks so much in advance :)

I'm a runner. I ran up until I gave birth, but stopped for six months to allow my abs to heal. The best thing I did was get a good physio (look for a mummy mot practitioner and take it from there) and make an appointment for six weeks post partum. We are all so different and it's really important to have tailored advice.
Also look up Sophie Power on Instagram. She's the ultra runner who did ultra tour mount blanc at 3 months post partum and was photographed breastfeeding during it - she made a film about postpartum fitness and recovery.

Thanks @thankyouforthesun ! Great advice - I think I will try a physio.

How did you find the 6 months you weren’t running and building back up afterwards?

My experience, varies slightly with DC (4 DC, vag births), but basically:

No regrets or attributable problems from how I did things.
I still ran & cycled etc. until day before labour started (full term)
I am a slow plodding uncompetitive runner, mind.
I didn't swim lengths in those days, actually, but would have kept going if part of my habits.
I don't know anything about physios or high performance.
Don't forget your Pelvic floor exercises.

I started jogging again about 8 days post-partum.
Not sure when I got on a bike (mostly active travel): soon, anyway. Used a turbo trainer sometimes when DC1 was tiny.

anything you found particularly helpful, surprising or difficult?

Nothing comes to mind.

Exercise while pg was something that needed active management & planning not to overdo it, but post-partum, the main challenge is finding any time. Later you have a 2nd DC & wondered what the hell you did with all your time after the DC1 was born.

Appointment with physio is essential to determine the strength of your pelvic floor. I started too soon (before the four-week mark) and a prolapse, which I hadn’t detected, suddenly appeared. So do make sure the pelvic floor is back to normal more or less.

I never exercised. I was lucky breastfed and the weight dropped off me

@scotscorner I walked and walked. I have a parkrun habit and kept that up either with a buggy or sling, and later on with a running buggy (Facebook group the original buggy runners and run mummy run are good resources if you're not already there).
Like you I love swimming but I needed something that I could do with baby attached to me, and even when I went to the warm pool and tried to swim on my back with baby on my lap, they pointed out that as a non swimmer she wasn't allowed in the deep end. We obviously did baby swimming as well but it's not really exercise😂. If you have childcare then that would be amazing once the bleeding stops though.
For me it was never about weight loss, well it was, of course it was, but I could have done that with diet. The most important thing to get from exercise is mental health and how you feel about yourself, that sense of well-being. So it's knowing what you get from your exercise routine at the moment and how you can replace that until physio clears you and you have time to get back to it in full - for me it's about the fresh air (has to be outdoors, even in winter, I can't get enough benefit inside), and distance covered. It sounds like you also need your team and company - could you stay involved by helping out at matches or something for a while until you're ready to join in again safely? X

Oh sounds like you’ll be fine! My friend ran til her due date 3x and always runs again after about 6 weeks.

Pilates a must and easy to do around a baby (bit trickier when they’re mobile but by then hopefully they’re having good naps)

Carifit is fun!

@thankyouforthesun yes, totally feel the same - it’s not about weight loss but about how I feel. 🙂 I also love parkrun (as does DH - and he is v supportive about facilitating exercise for me).
Sadly we’ve moved area so I can’t be involved with the old netball team but hoping to do impact sports again in due course. I think that being outdoors will be really beneficial, I also much prefer that to zoom classes etc.

@MassiveSalad22 I had never heard of carifit so thanks for enlightening me!! 😀

Hi @scotscorner i did alot of pilates and had an amazing size 8 body before pregnancy.
I had my first bubba by c section 12 weeks ago, being sleep deprived i didn't have the energy to exercise. For about 6 weeks i didn't do any exercise, after that i struggled to do a press up or a squat but it does get easier the more i pushed myself.

@Summer2424 you’re doing great for only 12 weeks post C-section! Hope you’re feeling OK generally.

With my first I was able to get back quite quickly but with my second I developed a prolapse at 2 weeks pp with all the coughing from covid. I would say see a women’s health physio, for a Mummy MOT. I have also had a bad knee since giving birth and we are working on that as well as pelvic floor.

I had 2 vaginal births.

I know I was back to spin class at 8 weeks but very slow.

I went back to yoga at 5 months and left the class in tears because I couldn't do it.

I did do some very long walks though. I hated driving / getting the bus with the pushchair so I'd just walk everywhere. My favourite baby group was a 45 min walk.

It took about 9 months to get even close to my ability before baby.

The hardest thing was finding the time to go to classes. Both babies had witching hours where they cried all evening until about 3 months. I couldn't really go to classes often. That and I was exhausted.

I bought a Keiser during lockdown when gyms shut and started doing the peloton work outs. I did my last spin the day before my induction and re started when my stitches healed (had a bad tear) about 2 weeks PP. Exercise has always been important for my sanity too - I see it as therapy and is really the only time I truly have to myself! I started gradually with 30 min sessions 4 times a week and then worked back up to my usual 45 - 60 min sessions. I wanted my core to heal before re starting weights to reduce the risk of DR. See how your body feels after - it's difficult to plan for! I've seen a lot of post partum work out series on various apps (e.g. sweat).

@scotscorner awww thank you 😊
I couldn't wait to exercise i felt amazing after my first proper workout! 💪