Your REAL post-baby body goals

OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST SARAH HAUSLER SHARES HER TOP FOUR POST-BABY BODY GOALS THAT ARE WAY MORE IMPORTANT THAN “LOSING THE BABY WEIGHT”

Post. Baby. Body. Three little words. But a whole lot of angst. When I talk about “post-baby bodies”, I’m talking about restoring “function” to our bodies after the rigours of pregnancy and childbirth. But by and large, the post-baby body discussions in the media and society are about our body’s “form”. What it looks like, whether it’s firm and perky or soft and droopy.

It’s an unfortunate truth that women face immense pressure to get “beach body ready”, almost as soon as we’ve popped out our little munchkin. There is such a strong message in the media around the importance of getting back into your bikini as soon as possible after childbirth. But why? I’ve never worn a bikini in my life, and I’m not desperate to get into one now, so perhaps I’m a bit biased. But it’s something that gets on my last post-natal wellbeing nerve.

The post-baby body message is pervasive, so in an effort to shift the conversation, and to tip the balance in the favour of “function” over “form”, here's my list of top four post-baby body goals that are way more important than “losing the baby weight”.

1. RESTORING YOUR POSTURE & BODY ALIGNMENT Nine months of hefting around a growing uterus does terrible things for our posture! As our baby bump grows, it naturally changes our centre of gravity, meaning that our body will frequently shift into abnormal positions to counterbalance that bump. This can lead to a completely unbalanced postnatal body – some muscles are overstretched, other muscles are too tight. We call these “upper and lower crossed syndromes”.

But it doesn’t end there! Once that little bundle of joy is out of our belly, we face the additional physical demands of lifting, carrying, feeding, handling and caring for an infant (not to mention the added manual handing of lugging around heavy strollers, capsules and nappy bags). It’s also worth noting that much of this manual handling is done in an asymmetrical fashion – such as always carrying our nappy bag on the same shoulder, or carrying our baby on the same hip. So our unbalanced, out-of-alignment bodies continue to be unbalanced and out of alignment – and they rarely get the chance to re-calibrate to a natural posture post-baby.

They often need support and we need to consciously retrain ourselves back to a proper posture and alignment.

2: RESTORING YOUR CORE STRENGTH AND RECOVERING FROM ABDOMINAL SEPARATION When our bellies start entering rooms before we do, it places our poor little abdominal muscles under great strain. For many women, this leads to a condition called “diastasis recti”, commonly known as abdominal separation.

This occurs when all of the abdominal muscles are stretched to such an extent, that the two bellies of the Rectus Abdominis muscle (the 6-pack muscle) pull apart from each other. The ligament that holds these two parts of the muscle together (the linea alba), can stretch a great distance, and in extreme cases, can even tear or rupture. Once the baby is born, it can take some time for this separation to return to (or close to) its original alignment. Until it does, our abdominal strength and function can be compromised.

But core strength isn’t just about our abs. Postnatal women also need to consider the impact of pregnancy and childbirth on all of their abdominal muscles (not just the Rectus Abdominis), their back muscles, as well as their diaphragm, breathing technique, and of course the pelvic floor. Because all of these structures have a role in maintaining our core strength and integrity, and they all need to work together, in perfect harmony, to encourage great core strength.

3. RESTORING YOUR PELVIC FLOOR Actually, this really should be number one. If you don’t want to be stocking up on the Tena Lady products by the time you hit your 40s, you’re going to need to focus on pelvic floor recovery asap! Most post-natal women understand the importance of this, but understanding doesn’t necessarily lead to action. And when you consider the statistics that 45 per cent of women still experience incontinence issues seven years post-birth, it’s clear that many women aren’t doing all they should!

And for the record, good pelvic floor rehab is about more than just doing your Kegel exercises. It’s also about restoring your posture and alignment, restoring your core strength, improving your breathing technique and learning how to functionally engage your pelvic floor during all kinds of activities. Yes, there’s more to it than “just do your pelvic floor exercise”.

4: LEARNING HOW TO ACCEPT YOUR POST-BABY BODY – WHATEVER IT LOOKS LIKE!