When Can I Return to Exercise After Having A Baby?
A question from postpartum moms we hear in the clinic commonly is “When can I return to exercise after having a baby?” Giving birth is a big event. There are many remarkable changes your body must go through during pregnancy, birth, and after pregnancy. Honoring these changes is important when considering a return to exercise.
After having a baby, you are given instructions by your doctor or midwife to heal and care for your baby. This time is usually six weeks for a vaginal delivery (both with or without episiotomy) and eight weeks for a c-section. Once you are cleared to initiate exercise, here are some self-checks to help aid your decision. You should be free of the following before resuming/continuing postpartum exercise.
What you may experience when you aren’t ready to return quite yet
- You are actively bleeding more during or following exercise. Some light bleeding after your have been cleared by your doctor may still occur, but you should not have increased bleeding once you introduce exercise.
- You have pelvic or abdominal pain. Soreness in the vaginal or abdominal area is expected (especially with vaginal tearing, episiotomy, or c-section), but you should not be experiencing pain in those areas that worsen or persist with exercise.
- You notice a doming or bulging around your belly button when you sit up from laying down, pick up heavier items (baby, grocery bags, laundry), or with forceful activities (cough, sneeze).
- You have neck, mid-back, or low back pain. Again, stiffness or soreness can be expected as you resume exercise, but you want to be wary of any new-onset pain in the spine (pain you didn’t have before pregnancy), or worsening pain either with exercise or any activity.
Additional warning signs your body may not be ready to return to exercise
5. You leak urine when you jump, run, cough, sneeze, laugh. Leaking urine should never be considered normal and something you have to live with now that you have given birth. Your pelvic floor and abdominal muscles may need some help to regain strength after the accommodations they made during pregnancy and birth.
6. You are unable to control a squat down into a chair. You should be able to control your descent into a seat without plopping down and hoping for the best!
7. When you go downstairs, you are unable to keep your hips and pelvis level. It shouldn’t be difficult to stand on one leg and lower yourself to the stair below while keeping your pelvis level.
8. You feel worse and not better after exercise.
Really, thanks for this quick read. I just gave birth to my first, and I’m still recuperating. I’ve talked to my doctor about what to do and not to do during my recovery, and you list is actually on point. The warning signs are really important to observe when you should stop doing what you’re doing and have a rest. I hope that you make more articles about this and educate a lot of women who are contemplating if it’s time to do some exercises or not.
For me, I didn’t experience those warning signs, so I continued on with the regimen given to me by my physician. It worked great, I feel lively, and the recovery is going well. Eager to get back to my old self and be that happy and active mother to my son. Kudos for this article, and more power to you and your family!