I remember my first week of postpartum life after we had our first son. Our natural hospital birth went smoother than we had hoped, and we were able to go home just 24 hours after delivery. I had spent so much time stocking up on items for the postpartum period, including my beloved mama bottom spray, but I had no way of preparing for what that time would be like. I think the postpartum period shocks most new moms. There are so many adjustments to make all while healing from your body being a superhuman machine (no matter how you gave birth!). One of the more common hurdles during postpartum living is diastasis recti, or “mummy tummy”. Fortunately, there are exercises to help heal diastasis recti that you can do in the comfort of your own home!
“I realized I had diastasis recit at about 5 weeks post partum. You can read about my story at my 10 weeks post partum update.
Being a personal trainer and have clients that have or had diastasis recti (DR) I knew about some about it. I generally knew the key issues with it but did not understand it fully until now. To be honest, I never thought I would get it. If you are sitting here and never heard of it, that’s okay. You’re not alone. It is not often talked about. Hopefully more and more ladies will discuss it to help spread the word because the great thing is – it’s fixable!
Yes FIXABLE!!
It’s kinda sad that very few of us even know what it is, and MOST IMPORTANTLY — How to GET RID OF IT! That is where I hope to help.
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You first need to test yourself to make sure you have diastasis recti (DR).
How to check for diastasis recti
Lay down on the floor with your knees bent. Place one hand behind your head for support. Next, take the index and middle fingers of your other hand and place them just above your belly button, pointing them downward. Slowly raise your head off the floor and feel for a separation of a finger-width or more. You want to press your fingers into the separation between your muscles. Feel above belly button and below belly button as well. If you are having a hard time knowing if you have a gap or not, you can feel someone’s else abs that haven’t been pregnant to feel for that muscle in your midline to give you a comparison. If you feel a gap when you check, it will need to heal before you begin any traditional abdominal exercises or you will do more harm than good.
Keep in mind depending on the size of your gap will depend on how long it will take to heal. That can be the hard part because we each have different size fingers. So, my 3 finger gap might be a 2 or 4 finger gap for someone else with either smaller or larger fingers than me. It’s confusing. My advice don’t stress too much about the size gap, focus on how your core feels and keep mental note of your gap.”
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