Exercises immediately after birth

T+Schultz4 · September 2013

Hi - does anyone know what excersises you can right after birth and not have to wait for 6 weeks. I know I can walk, I'm talking about any toning excersises.

Thanks all!

zbeesma86 · September 2013

Did you have vaginal or csection?

I had a csection- if you did too- I'd say no. nope. don't do it.

vaginal? not sure.

edit- the docs have your well being at heart- it may seem like a long time but 6 weeks is nothing... so relax, and get on a schedule with your newborn- I'd just wait the 6 weeks to be safe

ajbook · September 2013

I was told not to lift over 10-15 lbs. that said, you could always do some light toning using 5lb weights.

andthatmakes4 · September 2013

I was told not to lift anything that weighs more than my baby. Then my dr remembered my baby weighed 2 lbs 13 ozs and he laughed at himself. He then corrected himself to not lift anything that hurts me.

monkeybutt61612 · October 2013

You just had a baby. Relax.

IncogNeato · October 2013

Don't do ab work. You'll "tone up" as your ute shrinks up naturally.

missysue_q · October 2013

Be very careful with any sort of exercise other than walking within the first few weeks after delivery. Everything is still healing down there. Your pelvic floor muscles have been weakened from the stretch. If you strain too hard lifting or put too much impact in that area you could risk prolapse...definitely not worth the extra week(s) of exercise. There's a reason behind waiting for clearance from your doc!

LiveNLove44 · October 2013

Talk to your doctor before doing anything. With that said, mine said I could continue my resistance training as I had pre and during pregnancy. I wasn't up to going anywhere for about a week PP due to recovering, but about 10 days PP, I needed to get out and get moving. I went to the gym and did a shoulder/tricep day with a slow walking warm-up. I really had to scale back on my lower body movements for awhile, and the weights felt a bit heavier than I remembered, but I just listened to my body and did what felt comfortable. If you were actively "toning" pre and during pregnancy, talk to you doctor about continuing with adjustments for safety and comfort. If you weren't doing those things pre and during pregnancy, you're probably better off taking easy walks until you are cleared for exercise.

APendola · October 2013

What's the rush? Honestly, I pulled muscles from just doing things like lifting my baby and the stroller. You may feel good, but you can quite easily injure yourself. So it is probably a good idea to stick to walking. You could do some gentle, restorative yoga...maybe a postpartum/baby-and-me yoga class or a dvd. If you want to do some cardio, I would do something low-impact like an elliptical. Swimming would also be good.

I'd stay away from weights and high-impact cardio for at least 6 weeks.

mommymegan831 · October 2013

I go with listen to your body. I had easy pregnancies and births. I was running with a double stroller 4 weeks after DS, and although they tell you not to lift anything heavier than the baby, that's really impossible when you have a 2 year old that wants their mommy. I think I lifted DD up to the window to see DS in the nursery.

athenacapri · November 2013

I tried bike riding 3 weeks after my first...mistake! Meanwhile my trainer was flipping tires a week after. lol But I honestly believe everyone is different. Listen to what your body is telling you.

MesmrEwe · November 2013

mommymegan831 said:

I go with listen to your body. I had easy pregnancies and births. I was running with a double stroller 4 weeks after DS, and although they tell you not to lift anything heavier than the baby, that's really impossible when you have a 2 year old that wants their mommy. I think I lifted DD up to the window to see DS in the nursery.

I'm also in the "Listen to your body" camp. One needs to remember that there are countries where women deliver the baby and back to work they go the same day.

I was walking about a half-mile each way any time I wanted to eat when I was released from the hospital and DS was in the PICU (the hospital was HUGE with a layout not designed with new Moms at heart and room service wasn't an option since I wasn't the patient), let's just say it took FOREVER those first couple days to waddle my way down there and made sure to stop and rest along the way... NOT ideal, but sometimes you don't have the option to just veg out and rest. In the ideal world though, wait until you're off the painkillers so you really can listen to your body!!!

potbellypig · December 2013

Walking and kegels. You'll wish you had done more of them when you start working out PP.

Also something I'll do different this time around is use those 6 weeks to get baby on a schedule and DD (2 y/o) on a routine so that after 6 weeks I have TIME to go to the gym 3-4 times per week.

Exercises immediately after birth

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