One in four babies in the UK is born by caesarean section. So what does this mean for your tummy muscles and how do you go about reducing your belly after pregnancy? TalkMum expert Wendy Powell shares her advice.

I had a C-Section. Weren’t my muscles cut?

Layers of tissue are cut, and then sewn back together, which creates scarring through multiple levels of tissue of your abdominal wall. This scarring affects the muscles’ ability to glide over the top of each other during muscle contraction. The result is weakness and a lack of stabilization. But take note: your muscles have not been cut. The 2 parts of the rectus muscle (vertical, six pack outermost abdominal muscles) was further parted manually to get to your baby.

But whilst muscles have not been cut, ligaments and fascia have been, and this all takes time to heal. The more you can ‘connect with’ and use your deep core muscles, the quicker recovery will be.

Scar tissue and adhesions can cause a tummy overhang, and body fat may appear to be unevenly distributed around your middle. Stress, lack of sleep and a lack of sensation or confidence with your stomach (factors all common to most new mums!) will make this worse.

If you have had one or more Cesarean births, or other abdominal surgery, then there may also be scar tissue or adhesions exacerbating your mummy tummy. Massage (just rub the skin gently between your fingers around the scar) will help to break down scar tissue, encourage oxygen flow in, and toxin flow out of, the area which will aid healing.

Don’t try to get up from lying on your back – always roll to your side first. And don’t – under any circumstances, not now or in the future – do sit ups or crunches!

In the early days, massage, mobilize, and find your deep muscles, eat clean fresh food to recover and nourish your body, try to get plenty of sleep and love your body a little. Healing and restoring these muscles is the vital foundation of a flatter tummy again, so don’t even consider anything more strenuous until your body has learnt how to use them again!

Wendy is a qualified personal trainer who specialises in pre and postnatal fitness. For more information and free reports and video, visit www.mutusystem.com

Natural, assisted or unassisted, c-section… What does your birth experience mean for the strength and the look of your tummy and the condition of your core? What exercises will help reduce your belly after pregnancy and how soon can you start? TalkMum expert Wendy Powell shares her advice.

In the days and weeks after having your baby, your midsection and pelvic floor will probably be feeling tender, battered and bruised… to say the least.

You may be healing from stitches after tears or an episiotomy; you also may feel like your entire body is going to fall out if you sit on the loo. Your tummy will be looking like a slightly baggier version of its pregnant self and if you had a c-section, you will have a very tender scar area as well as reduced sensitivity. You also probably feel slightly like you’ve just been hit by a bus, totally ecstatic but at the same time you can’t stop crying.

Oh the joys of childbirth. But don’t worry, its gets better I promise!

First, congratulate yourself!

Just because gazillions of women give birth, that doesn’t mean it’s not a big deal. Don’t underestimate the physiological trauma your body has undergone, and don’t let anyone make you feel like you should get over it and get on with it any time soon. Giving birth, however you did it, was a strong, powerful, amazing feat and don’t let anybody (including you!) forget it!

So now we’ve established how clever we all are, we can start trying to put ourselves back together.

0 – 6 weeks post birth, your mission is to just find the muscles again

Er… what muscles?

You need your core if you want to stand up, sit, move, twist, pull, push, bend or turn. These muscles are connected (literally) to the muscles of your pelvic floor, which you need to prevent you from wetting yourself or having a prolapse. And you need strong core muscles to help close a diastasis recti, or separation of your abdominal muscles. And if you want to reduce your belly after pregnancy, you need all of the above in spades.

So start as soon as you can! You’re not ‘exercising’, you’re breathing and re-connecting your brain to your tummy and your pelvic floor. And the sooner you do this after any type of birth, the better. But if you’re reading this and your stomach muscles can’t remember last Tuesday, let alone how to synchronize with your pelvic floor, don’t worry!

How do I find my pelvic floor muscles?

The movement you’re aiming for is to draw your belly button down and back towards your spine at the same time as a deep lift of your pelvic floor. Practice this on an exhale. So breathe out, long and slow, as you gently draw back your belly button.

At the same time, engage your pelvic floor muscles. Not a little squeeze at the front, a deep, high lift in the middle. More on how to do pelvic floor exercises properly here (no, ‘squeezing like you’re trying not to wee’ doesn’t cut it!)

Get as used to this movement as you can. Practice as you sit in bed recovering, and as you feed your baby – just take long slow breaths in time with the muscle contractions. When you move around – roll out of bed (always from your side!) when you start to try lifting things, when you do anything that is going to place forward forceful pressure on your scar site… engage the muscles.

Can’t feel anything?

Following a natural / vaginal birth, your tummy will look somewhat deflated (but not completely – don’t expect it all to disappear right away!) and your pelvic floor will feel tender and lacking in strength or even any feeling at all. Trying to ‘lift your pelvic floor’ (think of it more as a ‘lift’ than a squeeze) will likely produce no discernible feeling or movement at all. But keep trying – your brain needs to re-connect those nerve pathways to the muscles!

On the other hand, after a Cesarean section, you will experience numbness around your scar site, and so the visualization of ‘gently drawing belly button to spine’ may be unhelpful even though you may be able feel something stirring in your pelvic floor.

Try this instead: imagine your abdomen as a clock, with your belly button at 12 o’clock, your pubic bone at 6 o’clock, and your hip bones as 3 and 6. Imagine you are slowly and gently drawing the hipbones, or 3 and 6 o’clock, together. It will also work if you imagine you are drawing them apart! Don’t worry that you can’t feel much happening for now. Go gently and do the movement on a long, slow exhale. Over time your muscle strength will improve and you’ll be well on the way to flattening that belly after pregnancy!

Wendy is a qualified personal trainer who specialises in pre and postnatal fitness. For more information and free reports and video, visit www.mutusystem.com

Exercise during pregnancy can seem like a scary prospect. Wendy Powell, exercise and diet expert for mums gives us her top tips for safe pregnancy exercise.

• Don’t exercise intensely. Stop exercising when you feel tired, and don’t exercise to the point of exhaustion or gasping for breath!
• Be consistent. Exercise regularly and consistently – at least 3 days a week, for 20-30 minutes at a time
• Stay hydrated. Drink plenty of pure water, especially before, during and after exercise
• A good sports bra that fits properly and supports your breasts is essential!
• Use good posture. Use your legs and squat to pick things up, don’t strain your back
• Warm up and cool down and stretch slowly and thoroughly
• Nourish your body and your baby… don’t ‘eat for two’ and avoid the empty calories of processed foods, crisps, fizzy drinks and excess sugar
• Keep your balance! Avoid activities that require jumping or sudden changes in direction
• Don’t over-stretch – the hormone relaxing has made all your joints less stable
• Don’t exercise on your back for more than 30 seconds, or at all if uncomfortable. This position can reduce blood flow to the uterus. If you feel out of breathe or uncomfortable, simply roll on to your left side and relax, breathing deeply. Also, avoid prolonged periods of motionless standing
• Keep aerobic exercise low impact – however you can continue running or jogging at moderate intensity if you were a runner pre-pregnancy
• Yoga is fine, provided your teacher is trained in pre and postnatal instruction. Avoid ‘hot’ or ‘fast’ yoga as well as inverted positions or positions that require spending long periods of time on your back

Safe pregnancy exercise requires you to use your common sense when choosing activities, listen to your body, take frequent breaks and only do what feels comfortable.

Wendy Powell, creator of the MuTu System (www.mutusystem.com) , the exercise & diet programme especially for mums and named the ‘Mummy Tummy Guru’ by the Mummy Bloggers!

This week we’re talking about the challenges of looking after your health when pregnant. TalkMum blogger Sonia describes of her busy lifestyle and how she keeps fit during pregnancy.

Staying fit during pregnancy can be a hard one to master with people around you throwing advice at every hurdle; but the main thing to remember is that you shouldn’t push yourself too much until you feel uncomfortable and/or in pain.

With my first pregnancy, I didn’t know what was considered to be too much exercise or too little exercise; I was playing netball up until I was 10 weeks pregnant and then I was advised that netball and other contact sports are a no no! So I immediately stopped playing netball and of course looked into things that I could do. Walking is a great form of exercise during pregnancy and with 2 lively dogs and a very over active husband – I always have an excuse to walk. We would take the dogs for long walks around the countryside, stopping periodically for snacks, water and the inevitable “wee”, it helped me keep fit and I felt great too.

Towards the end of my third trimester I did not do as much walking and I could no longer hold the dog’s leads when walking with them, as it hurt my pelvis and tummy area too much. It was during my third trimester that I took up pregnancy yoga and I did a lot more swimming. Swimming is great for pregnant ladies, the weightlessness you feel helps relax your body for a short time whilst you are getting some exercise – nice gentle exercise!

Pregnancy yoga was a weekly class and it was wonderful. I met some lovely ladies who I am still in contact with; we learnt things about birth and the newborn babies that were on their way. But the main point of pregnancy yoga was that we learnt how to exercise safely and focus on our babies. It is very easy to get consumed in day to day life; work, family and other stresses can get on top of you and finding the time to sit around and think about your growing baby is a rarity.

At the end of every yoga session, we would all sit around in a circle and we could choose the object we used to sit down, most people chose a normal chair, but I always chose the birthing ball; it was amazingly comfortable, kept your back in a good position and didn’t allow for back ache and it felt really comfortable around the pelvis area. The birthing ball helped me right up until I left the house to get to hospital; not only was it great for staying fit during pregnancy but I was still sitting on it when my contractions were every 4/5 minutes.

We all know it’s important to stay fit and healthy during pregnancy. However, exercise during pregnancy can be daunting or just unappealing! Wendy Powell, exercise and diet expert for mums tells us why we should be exercising.

Why exercise during pregnancy? Safe pregnancy exercise will:

• Improve circulation and decrease risk of varicose veins and swelling
• Reduce common pregnancy problems such as constipation, hemorrhoids, and other leg cramps
• Prevent excessive weight gain during pregnancy and allow for a quicker return to pre-pregnancy weight
• Strengthen your pelvic floor to avoid tress incontinence during and after pregnancy
• Reduce your risk of developing gestational diabetes
• Reduce risk of developing pre-eclampsia (high blood pressure)
• Increase your endurance, fitness and stamina for the demands of pregnancy and labour.
• Stress relief and increased body confidence throughout pregnancy and beyond!

Your aim should be to maintain and gradually build endurance and strength, but not to dramatically increase fitness. Adjust the intensity as your pregnancy progresses, and if yours is a low-risk pregnancy, and your doctor approves, you can continue to exercise right up until your due date.

Regular exercise during pregnancy will make you feel good about yourself and more in control of your changing body and raging hormones. It’s good for you and your baby!

Wendy Powell, creator of the MuTu System (www.mutusystem.com) , the exercise & diet programme especially for mums and named the ‘Mummy Tummy Guru’ by the Mummy Bloggers!