Diastasis Recti

TobieRose · July 2013

How common is this after multiples pregnancies? Is just a matter of chance/individual bodies or is there something you can do to avoid it? I just read a twin mother's blog post about how she still looked pregnant almost two years after her babies were born and it kind of scared me a bit, especially since my abdominal muscles have been doing weird things lately. (I know, if I'm going to worry it should probably be over more serious things, but ... sigh.)

pillowass · July 2013

Most MOM's will have it and I don't think there is anything you can do to avoid it, although you may be able to ease your recovery by keeping your transabdominal muscles toned. (In my experience it's really difficult to figure out how to isolate these muscles though - I needed lots of coaching from my physical therapist.)

My advice is to ask for a referral to a physical therapist who specializes in women's health/birth recovery at your 6 week PP visit. I was able to close a 4 finger gap in 2 months with pt. In the vast majority of cases, surgery is not necessary. I wouldn't worry about it now

raraavis28 · July 2013

Agree w/ PPs that there isn't probably much (or anything) you can do to avoid it, and that you have a higher chance w/ multiples. Mine is very slight....I don't look pregnant at all and I can only really see the separation if I'm lying down. My friend who's a PT says doing planks helps, as well as general core exercises (*not* crunches!) Also, I don't know if this helps at all, but when I was pregnant I was a bit concerned that I might have some body image issues after having the twins, but now that they're here, it's honestly the last thing I care about....I think it's a combination of being too busy to care and being proud of whatever changes are there....I'm a mommy now and I'm proud of it!:)

pillowass · July 2013

One more thing to think about, beyond the body image issues (which are not insignificant!) is that a lot of times DR can lead to back pain and injuries. I know it did for me, and regaining core strength was crucial to being able to care for my babies without pain.

fanofanne · July 2013

I had it...and as pp have posted, I think it's pretty common with being pregnant with multiples. anyway, I didn't know I had it until my ob said after the c-sec that I had it and she sewed some of my abs back together. well she didn't say it like that, but you know what I mean. she did say also that I still had some work to do ie. sit ups, ab-work, etc. maybe your ob can help you out?

Want a personalized experience?

Diastasis Recti

Re: Diastasis Recti

Choose Another Board

Search Boards