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No Housework And Regular Massage: Postnatal Traditions From Around The World.

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postnatal traditions recovery fitness

I have some vivid and precious memories from the first few months after my sons were born, despite being in a bit of a daze at the time. It’s such a special time, and one of enormous transition: physically there’s a lot of healing needs to take place, there are hormonal changes, bonding, learning to breastfeed, and relationships adjust.

And I can’t help but feel we don’t honour this time as we should. We’re pretty good about pregnancy, but once baby arrives, the mum doesn’t always get so much attention anymore. And with paediatrician appointments,  endless nappies to change, baby clothes to wash and visitors to see baby, self-care can take a back seat.

 postnatal recovery traditions

But is this good for our recovery?

In a word: no. Which made me wonder- do other cultures take better care of new mums than we do?

Confinement.

Many countries have confinement practices where the new mum stays at home, with no visitors except close family until the confinement period is over. For Malaysian women this usually lasts for 42 to 44 days, for an Indian mum, it’s about 40.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could follow a similar practise in the UK, treating the postpartum period as a time to cherish and give mum extra care? Unfortunately it is just not practical for most of us: how many have family members who can tend to us for that long? There is the option of hiring a doula though, who often provide support beyond the birth itself and can advise on self-care and even help with household chores, or postnatal support from someone like Karen at Parents & Co, who can provide overnight care too.

No washing your hair!

This is a Chinese one, and linked to an overall practise of staying warm, because loss of blood and energy is thought to make mum ‘cold’: in Vietnam they practise nam lua (‘mother-roasting) where a fire keeps the mother warm for a month.

Other warming practises include bathing in warm, herb infused water- I don’t think any of us want cold baths or showers, so this one is pretty easy to follow!

postnatal traditions

Is this a valid concern though? Apparently so! One study found people who dipped their feet in icy water for 20 minutes were more likely to develop a cold than those who didn’t.

Given that new mums often experience increased sweating (getting rid of the extra water retained during pregnancy) these warming traditions do seem like a good idea!

No TV or reading!

Ok, I would have struggled with this one. I get the reasoning- strain on the eyes and potentially tiring- but I’m not sure I could stay in the house for that long without books. Unless I ran up a MAHOOSIVE bill at audible.com. Is it acceptable to ask for itunes vouchers instead of baby clothes as a gift?

Other activities considered to be stressful and avoided include shouting, crying, and too much conversation. I may have struggled with the crying (hormones!), however talking to fewer people may have helped…

No housework

Awesome. Also, no bending at the waist to prevent back injuries. In India new mums are sometimes helped by a dia (or even a maid) who will help with cooking, laundry, and bathing the baby.

In some cases, where the birth has been particularly difficult and there may be problems such as a prolapse, this is great advice. In others, it may feel impractical: bending over baby to play, for example.

Also, whilst I’m all for rest, some exercise, such as gentle walking, can be really beneficial in encouraging the core to repair. It will increase circulation which will increase the nutrients being delivered to mums muscles, aiding her at a cellular level.

However, there’s something else that aids circulation…

Massage.

postpartum traditions healing massage

Also awesome. In India the dia will do this too (maybe even daily), or in Malaysia a bidan massages the abdomen. Pregnancy and the strains of a new baby can leave mum with tight areas, and  a tight spot pulling you out of alignment can affect posture, and therefore abdominal healing (diastasis recti).

Release work doesn’t have to be done with massage, I give clients techniques they can use at home for this, but massage would be my method of choice!

Abdominal binding.

Many cultures practise some form of belly wrapping to aid with healing the core. In Malaysia they use a special postnatal corset (bengkung), and India a long cloth to bind it. They can give extra support to weakened abdominal muscles, reduce postnatal swelling, and encourage them to close back together.

In the UK Physiotherapists can recommend abdominal support for women who are having trouble healing. But whereas across the pond in France new mums see a Women’s Health Physio as standard, subsidised by the government, here you have to be referred by your GP if, or search for a private one. The difference this would make to recovery, and incidences of pelvic floor disorders such as incontinence and prolapse, is immense.

Diet: warming ginger, good; windy onion, bad.

The keeping warm theme continues here, as in many countries (including China, India and Malaysia) some foods, such as ginger, are believed to promote better blood circulation and strengthen the joints, while other cooling foods are avoided. Cucumber, cabbage, young coconut and pineapple fall into this catagory, the ‘cooling’ elements thought to cause rheumatism, arthritis and weak joints in a mother.

I’m not at all convinced by this, and would have recommended pineapple myself, as the enzyme bromelain in it is thought to aid digestion! However other advise I came across, such avoiding ‘windy’ foods like as onions and jackfruit, seems pretty wise! And bone broth/ soup is a staple of the postpartum diet in many cultures, which is great for recovery.

nutrition postpartum tradition soup

Not all these practises are followed rigidly; even for the confinement, some mums will end early if they feel they need to. I don’t think I would: the prospect of a month of massage and having my meals cooked is almost enough to make me want another baby!

If you’re struggling with your diastasis recti find out about my postnatal personal training packages here.

References

http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/magazine/issue-23-bittersweet/motherhood-rooted

http://www.babycenter.com.my/a1021145/confinement-practices-an-overview
http://www.babycenter.com.my/a1042118/indian-confinement-practices#ixzz3ZlkB5GUy

http://www.babycenter.com/0_postpartum-sweating_11720.bc

 

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Postnatal Exercise Advice: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

There’s no shortage of advice on what exercises you should be doing to get your ‘pre-baby body’ back. Problem is, not all of it’s good advice.

postnatal exercise advice

First off, I hate the ‘get your pre-baby body back’ thing. It is not a race to see who can shift their pregnancy weight fastest, and it encourages mums to throw themselves into exercise and dieting to do so. Not healthy.

And whilst it’s fine (not vain) to want to change how you look, you shouldn’t have to feel ashamed of your post-baby body. You need to take it slowly and be gentle on yourself, take time out and be a little selfish (except it’s not really selfish- happy mum means happy baby).

But back to the advice itself.

The Good.

Let’s start with some exercises you CAN do. I’m going to link to someone else’s website here, so you don’t have to just take my word for it!

Marianne Ryan is a top Womem’s Health Physio, and I’ve shared this blog of hers with clients before, to reiterate what we’ve talked about in the session. It includes safe, effective exercises, that I use with personal training clients and in Restore My Core.

Good advice is about how to connect to your deep core. Training the breath and pelvic floor. Click here for Marianne’s advice on how to get a flat tummy.

The Bad.

Here’s a blog with ‘4 Moves to Target Your Mummy Tummy.’

However it’s more like 4 exercises to make your mummy tummy worse!

While this article does say to check with your GP if you have diastasis recti, it’s misleading in saying these exercises are how you should get a flat tummy post partum.

I’m not saying never do planks or crunches (although crunches would never be my exercise of choice to get a flat belly, postnatal or not), but you have to go through a progressive restorative programme first.

Any exercise that creates a lot of abdominal pressure, like these, runs a big risk of pushing your tummy out, not giving you a flat stable core. For example, the strain of the double leg lifts could lead to the low back arching, or pushing it into the ground to compensate, both of which put the pelvis in a non-optimal position for the transverse abdoninis and pelvic floor muscles. And the rectus abdominis and obliques can end up taking over, placing strain on a weakened linea alba.

Bad advice involves ab exercises, feeling the burn and anything that leaves you straining while you train.

The Ugly.

This one is actually part ugly, part good. But then I wouldn’t have had a nifty blog title, so I just went with ugly.

The first link mentioned girdles, and I want to talk about that some more. Are they a good idea postpartum?

Waist training has been in the news a lot recently, in large part thanks to the Kardashians making social media posts like this:

e56a76_264525e951d74115aff4113cb2fe862f

And because this was after giving birth (although over a year later), women can see it as a good way to get their tummy down. But wearing a supportive garment after having a baby is completely different to waist training, so please don’t confuse the two.

To start with I wouldn’t recommend this type of waist training. If you squeeze your tummy in like that, where do you think all your organs are going? Where is the pressure going?

Up or down is where. And pressure down on your pelvic floor is not a good idea, ever. Especially not when postnatal. It is going to put you at huge risk of pelvic organ prolapse.

And pressure up on the diaphragm? Hiatus hernia anyone?

On top of  which you will actually be preventing your core from functioning properly. Here’s a video from Women’s Health Physio Julie Weibe that explains this beautifully.

But a supportive belt postpartum is different. They provide support spread around the torso, rather than just squeezing one area. This can give extra support to weakened abdominal muscles, reduce postnatal swelling, and encourage them to close back together whilst regaining tension.

Because it isn’t just the gap between the muscles that’s the issue. It’s the ability to create tension along the linea alba, which is the tissue in that gap. And if you close the gap without restoring function, your core still won’t be able to do it’s job properly, and any symptoms you may be having, like pelvic girdle pain, low back pain, or incontinence, will likely remain. You need to relearn how to use the deep core muscles and address your alignment.

If you do have abdominal separation and are considering a belt, I really recommend you see a Women’s Health Physio first. They can make sure the belt is fitted correctly and address any underlying issues with a tailored programme.

You can be referred by your GP, or you can find one to see privately here, just make sure you pick Women’s Health from the drop down menu.

Anyone local to me, I recommend www.beckyastonphysiotherapy.co.uk, having seen her myself.

I hope this article helps give you a bit more confidence in being able to distinguish between the fitness advice that’s worth following, and that which is best ignored. And as a mum, I trust you’re pretty good at listening to bad advice, nodding along, then going along on your way whilst ignoring it completely!

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