Am I being paranoid about sucking in stomach?

[Lottie22]

Probably a stupid question but I'm 14 weeks pregnant and I've been sucking my stomach in to try to keep muscles toned. I think sometimes I do it subconsciously too, as I did when I wasn't pregnant, to look a bit thinner! Started worrying this could be bad for the baby - could it?

No - it's almost certainly a good thing. Wish I'd done it more myself, ratherv than letting it all hang out so that my muscles went to pot.

Definitely will not hurt the baby.

not as far as I knwow

but you knwo you cant do sit ups or anything like that, dont you?

Obviously, attempting energetic stomach crunches or marathons at 8 months pregnant is not such a good idea...and probably doomed to ignominious failure.

Oh yes, I don't do anything as energetic as sit ups!

well you'll be fine then

BTw there are NO stupid questions on MN. everyone has been a first timers once and they shouldnt forget it. its totally normal to worry about EVERYTHING

Thanks KristinaM! I thought I would be totally relaxed about the whole thing, but I seem to be latching onto anything I can find to worry about...

the stronger you can keep your abs... without the crunches, obviously... the less likely you are to end up with a knackered back. Mine has started being pulled out by the bump, putting work in with pilates to try and counter it, but my back really hurts

so keep on suckin' it all in!!

I did this at first but you do get to a point where the bump is too big and you can't really suck it in anymore! Pilates is quite good for keeping your core muscles strong without doing crunches.

oh yes, pliates is great. i did it right until the end of the last two pg ( the bitter end, thats week 42). coudlnt do teh lying on teh back stuff tho

lottie - you really want to join a MN ante natal group. one of the "due in Dec" etc. they are great for obsessing about things that seem totally trivial to everyone except those who are also pg . it will save you driving your friends and DH/DP crazy

you get to obsess about teh colour of various parts of your body, twinges, spots, bodily fluids, sex or lack of it etc etc

I think oblique curl-ups are supposed to be fine? You hear such different things from different people. Muscle tone is generally a good thing, though, as it will help when it comes time to push, and recover from pregnancy. I also recently read that it helps the baby know which way to go, so if you have good stomach muscle tone they're more likely to settle into a nice head-down position... but I can't remember where I read that.

The main thing is to exercise some, maintain good posture as much as you can, and not throw your back out or over-extend your already-stressed ligaments. I think there was something else I was going to say, which I'm forgetting, but it was something like: Relax, don't worry!

Thanks all - you have really helped, and made me smile too! Nothing can prepare you for all the obsessing you do! Am getting used to it though now!