Pelvic floor exercises

[Skyla01]

I'm 15 weeks pregnant with number two. I've been trying hard to go my pelvic floor exercises over the last few weeks- couldn't face them in the first trimester due to sickness etc. I have an app that reminds me to do them twice a day and I've been sticking to it.

But I just don't feel like I'm doing them properly. The short squeezes are ok but struggle to hold for longer than 2 or 3 seconds. Anyone have any advice? Otherwise I'll just keep going and hope they get easier over time!

In general I don't have a lot of pelvic floor symptoms, very occasional urine leaks when I exercise but not much else. I plan to see a pelvic physio after this pregnancy to get my pelvic floor back in to a better state, but want to do what I can before birth.

I had pelvic floor physio after having DS (I was automatically referred due to 3rd degree tear during labour/birth). I'd never had issues beforehand and in hind sight I probably should have done some exercises when I was pregnant but didn't.

When I saw the physio she told me the following to help build the muscles back up;

1. You should always feel the 'let down' of your muscles when you let go of a squeeze. Which is kind of hard to explain, but if you're squeezing and trying to hold it, when you let go of the squeeze and you don't notice your muscles relaxing, it means you're squeezing for too long and your muscles have slowly given up while you were trying to squeeze.
2. If you don't feel a 'let down', shorten the time you're trying to squeeze for until you feel a let down every time you squeeze. Then gradually increase the time you squeeze for and feel a let down every time.
3. The position you're sat / laid in can affect the effectiveness. She told me to start doing them laid down, like when I'm in bed for example, and once that felt easy, to sit upright, then once that felt easy, stand but lean my weight onto a wall or chair so it takes some of my weight and then once that felt easy, try them fully standing up. The idea behind this is that each time you're adding a bit more weight onto your pelvic floor muscles and making them stronger gradually.

Hope this helps! I find it's a very odd thing and I would have had zero clue prior to having those physio sessions if I was doing them right or not x

Build up to it, try doing them 4 times a day -that’s what women’s physio advised me to do. She said there would be improvement within a month, and she was right.
Also be aware that you don’t just squeeze vaginally, it’s important to clench your anus too (as if preventing a fart escaping) as the PFM is like a figure of 8, so it’s important to strengthen it all.
Google Gusset grippers, she is a PFP who has instructions how to do them effectively.

@JustDoItNowForChristSake @Lottie917 thanks for the advice! I think I need to stick to shorter bursts then build up. Will keep trying.

My physio explained it like holding in a fart rather than stopping your wee, that seemed to give me a cue for a better squeeze