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More on Abdominal Amnesia

by kate baggott on May 15th, 2006

We live in a culture where having a six-pack is now the anti-beer belly. Talk about abdominal exercise and you hear about crunches, sit ups and other regimes that are not appropriate for the post-partum mother. Re-building stretched out muscles shouldn’t been seen in the same light as trying to achieve a six pack.

After a woman gives birth, her muscles are in a state that I call abdominal amnesia. The muscles there have lost their memory. You may not even be able to feel the muscles when you consciously attempt to tighten them.

My mother-in-law swore by girdles for new mothers. A few weeks after giving birth, she said new mothers should put one on to help wake up the stomach muscles. My own mother, on the other hand, had been told that using a girdle would prevent the muscles from coming back on their own through daily activity.

In my experience, daily activity alone is not enough to wake those muscles and I hate discomfort so I haven’t tried the girdle.

So, to begin waking the muscles up a few very gentle exercises are needed. A few days after you give birth, lie on your stomach and try to squeeze your stomach in toward your spine. You should have some awareness of your muscles when you lie on them. After a few weeks, you can try getting on the floor on all fours. With your back straight, try to pull your stomach up toward your spine as you breathe in. Hold for a few seconds and relax your stomach as you breathe out. Keep your back straight and flat throughout.

This is not the path to a six pack, but a gentle awakening of your muscles to remind them that there is now, just one person living in your body again. Remember, we all have to start from the beginning again.

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