Hi New (or experienced :p) Mommies and Daddies!
Have you ever wondered what happens to a new mother’s body? There is much talk about the changes to a mother’s body during pregnancy. What about after?
After the baby is delivered, all time and energy is spent on caring for baby. Do take time to recover well from the pregnancy and delivery too.
Here, I just want to highlight some things to note about our postpartum body.
- Loose joints
During pregnancy, a hormone, Relaxin, is released from the placenta. To prepare for childbirth, it relaxes the ligaments in the pelvis and softens and widens the cervix. Unfortunately, Relaxin does not only target the pelvis and cervix, it affects all the joints in our body! Thus, all our joints will still be loose from 5 months up to a year post pregnancy,
Personally, I fell down many times when I returned to my first hockey training after baby #1. It could be due to the loose joints as well as deconditioned muscles. I also fell down in the bathroom while holding baby #2 in my arms. Thankfully, baby was not injured but I had a bruised knee.
Do take note not to overstretch when doing exercises!
- Poor posture and back pain
There could be several reasons that lead to the above.
- Overstretched and weak abdominal walls from pregnancy, strains the back.
- Poor biomechanics while carrying a newborn
- Increased weight in breasts due to breastfeeding
- “Baby pooch” aka Diastasis Recti
When the separation between the left and right halves of the rectus abdominus is more than 2.7cm or about two finger widths. It may or may not results in abdominal protrusion. But it definitely indicates reduced abdominal strength.
Before your jump in on weight loss, it might be a better idea to focus on building up your core strength and improving your posture.
Oooosh!
Fitmamaying
