After pregnancyPhysiotherapy and yoga
Six weeks after delivery: what is safe to start
Breathing, then the pelvic floor, then the core. Not sit-ups, not yet.
At the six-week check your doctor says you can exercise. That sentence is where most of the confusion starts, because it does not say what, or how much. Here is the order I use with every new mother, whether the birth was normal or a C-section.
First, breathing
Your diaphragm and pelvic floor move together. Every breath in, the pelvic floor drops slightly; every breath out, it lifts. Relearning that link is the foundation for everything that follows, and you can start it from day one.
Breath and lift
- Lie on your back with knees bent, or sit comfortably while feeding.
- Breathe in slowly through your nose and let your belly rise. Let go.
- As you breathe out through your mouth, gently draw up the pelvic floor, as if stopping wind and urine together.
- Release fully at the end of the breath. The release matters as much as the lift.
Then, the tummy gap
Diastasis recti, the gap between the two sides of the abdominal wall, is normal after pregnancy. What matters is whether the tissue between the halves can take load. At the first home visit I measure the gap in finger widths and check how it responds when you lift your head. That tells us what to start and what to leave for later.
What to leave for later
Sit-ups, crunches, planks and anything that makes your belly dome outward. Running and jumping until the pelvic floor can cope with a cough or a sneeze without leaking. None of this is forever. It is usually a matter of weeks.