PART I

How are you feeling about your postpartum belly? Personally, I’ve always been conflicted. Physically, mine felt like a pillow for quite some time and I even remember resting my arm on it while I nursed my newborn son!  What an odd feeling that was!  A belly that had been full and taught for so many months was now loose, overstretched, weakened and distractingly present.

I had a sudden desire to obliterate this leftover pillow. Ironic, seeing as it was this same belly from which I had derived such pride in showing off for so many months. That desire to obliterate the mummy tummy softened and ebbed and flowed as the days of motherhood wore on and my belly naturally diminished in size. Somedays my heart would swell with pride when I caught a glimpse of my softened and rounded belly that had nurtured a life, my hand would cradle that space and I’d wonder if I’d ever care about a bikini again.

And, if you’re wondering…yes, I do care about a bikini again. But it was a process and my son is now approaching his second birthday. Basically, I care about a bikini just in time to start trying for baby number two!

But here’s the thing, it’s not black and white, all or nothing, abs or no abs. It’s about tuning into your body, trusting the process and giving your whole self what you need along the way. During this postpartum and breastfeeding journey, there have been weeks in which my body needed an entire jar of almond butter and my mind an entire Netflix series for example! And that was perfectly okay.

Back to the original question, “How do I lose my Mummy Tummy?”

It is a synthesis of time, readiness, nutrition, exercise, patience and core and pelvic floor rehabilitation ultimately. There is no quick fix and the process will be quite different for each of us. No matter where you are emotionally or physically on this journey, it begins by reconnecting with your core and you do this through accessing your diaphragmatic breath. It’s never too early to too late to start here—meaning straight after delivery or three years into postpartum.

I’m assuming by now that you know and understand about abdominal separation, and that while your six-pack muscles can sometimes separate during pregnancy, they may not necessarily knit back to the exact position or gap, before you were pregnant. And worth noting is, the more pregnancies you have, the wider the gap remains in between.

As I described, some new moms complain of an excess layer of fat or a bulge in their abdominals, either immediately above or below the belly button. If your abdominals separated during pregnancy and haven’t knitted back together properly, this may explain this physical appearance.

If you attend “Mom & Baby” group class or a one-on-one session, why not ask me to test the separation for you? It takes me less than 30 seconds. Or, ask your health care provider to check these for you next time you’re in to see them. Getting a proper diagnosis is important if you’re at all concerned about your tummy muscles.

Once we’ve established that an abdominal separation still remains, it’s important to then put a program of exercises together to help you fix it—beginning with your active diaphragmatic breath. From there, we will work your pelvic floor muscles first, get your “core” muscles activating properly, and you will need to religiously practice a set number of exercises to help close the gap and shorten your six-pack muscle. You may have effective results in a few weeks performing 10-15 minutes worth of exercise every day, so it’s certainly achievable.

As you’d know, diet also plays a massive role in the reasons why postnatal women store fat around their mid-section, so we may find that there’s nothing wrong with your abdominals if and when you have them tested – it may actually be the extra jar of almond butter you’ve treated yourself to over the last few months instead!

No matter where you are in your journey, I am here to support you along the way. Part II of this series will address diet in greater detail, so stay tuned for that upcoming post!