Post Natal Workouts

OliveJuice821

I had a baby about two weeks ago, and I'm dying to feel the burn. I walk at least 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week, at about 2.5 MPH and I have a stationary bike I try to ride for at least 20 minutes at night.

I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for some effective, yet "easy" exercises or workouts I can do until my 6 week check-up when the doctor will tell me to go abouts life as normal again lol

Thanks in advance!

ajbeans

No. Unless your doctor has cleared you for exercise, don't exercise. You could really mess yourself up and end up having an even longer recovery.

momma3sweetgirls

How on earth can you sit on a bike for 20 minutes two weeks after having a baby??? ouch! I know you want the 'feel the burn', but really, a few more weeks to heal isn't going to kill you. Enjoy your new baby and forget about exercise.

angiesills

I would just listen to your body. I started jogging when all 3 of my kids were around 3 weeks old and I had no trouble at all. You should be able to tell if you are doing too much!

Ashley121205

I would stick with walking. Like the previous poster said, you don't want to hinder your recovery time and prevent you from able to work out more intensely when you were able. I've had 4 children and recovering after child birth is so important. So I would stick to walking and eating well Good luck !!! You can do it.

killerqueen17

Congrats on the baby! I'm no doctor, but I think walking should suffice until you can talk to an actual medical professional and get legitimate advice!

ajbeans

I would just listen to your body. I started jogging when all 3 of my kids were around 3 weeks old and I had no trouble at all. You should be able to tell if you are doing too much!

Unless she tries it and then starts bleeding. I thought I was capable of doing more soon after my daughter was born, but I found out too late that I had overdone it when I started bleeding and ended up having to rest for an extra week. So no, your body doesn't always tell you accurately when it's ready for that stuff.

OP, you should not be asking this question of strangers, and you should not rely on your body to tell you when it's ready. You really need to ask your doctor. Every woman is different, every delivery is different, and none of us are familiar with your unique circumstances.

OliveJuice821

The only problem I have with the bike is that it makes my butt sore lol!

The bleeding is, for the most part, done. A little spotting throughout the day, so it's not too bad. Which is awesome, because with my other two kids, I had such a long recovery time, but I think with all the exercise I did during my pregnancy, my body is recovering a lot faster than before.

And don't worry :-) I definitely listen to my body! I don't wanna kill myself or anything, I just was looking for some "okay" cardio, because that postnatal yoga stuff bores me to tears lol

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I'm an aerobics instructor, I exercised the day before my son was born, and I still waited my 6 weeks. Better safe then bleeding.

Also, crunches are a giant no-no until your abdominal wall repairs. Feel the center of your belly just above or below the navel, you should feel your right abs, a gap, left abs. Until that gap closes to less than a 2 finger width you should avoid all abdominal exercises. Doing crunches and what not before that starts to heal can cause a permanent tear that only surgery can fix. Let your body heal.

OliveJuice821

Oh god, the crunches! Those suck even without the wall issue lol That's definitely something I know to hold off on (mostly because I don't want to do them anyway lol!!!) Oh god, and the way you described all that stuff about the abdominal muscles just makes me feel all skeevy XD Yeah, I don't want surgery ever so that's something I really won't do lol!

ajbeans

Right, your bleeding is slowing down. Mine was too. Sometimes if you put too much strain on the area it can start the bleeding up again. For some women something as simple as driving a car can start it up again. Even if you don't feel like what you're doing is straining your abdominal area, you use those core muscles for almost everything you do, so anything can put strain on them.

You do what you feel you need to do. Personally, I think it's better safe than sorry, and a couple of weeks is not that long to wait in the grand scheme of your overall health.

TheRoamingWino

Congrats on the new baby! But I must say, I agree with the other posts - don't worry about working-out just yet!! I am not sure if you are nursing or not, but when I had my son my lactation consultant gave me great info. She said that while nursing your body needs 300 more calories than it did while you were pregnant! If you don't watch your calories earned and burned you won't be able to establish a healthy milk supply.

She also gave some sage advise because, like you, I was ready to start working out right away and assumed I should look back to normal immediately. She said I need to remember that it took my body 40 weeks (almost 42 in my case) to earn that extra weight and I should let my body take at least the same amount of time to loose it.

For low impact suggestions - I really enjoyed doing yoga to help stretch out. I could put the baby right by me on the mat and still interact with him. When soothing him by holding and walking around I would do half squats and partial lunges just to feel like I was doing more than simply walking. If you have a baby carrier that is handy too. Wearing the baby while doing regular household chores adds extra weight to whatever your doing.

Best of luck!

TheRoamingWino

P.S. - don't do the baby yoga videos... I hated those too. I go to my On Demand screen and pick a regular one.

killerqueen17

The bleeding is, for the most part, done. A little spotting throughout the day, so it's not too bad.

Wait... so bleeding continues for a few weeks after giving birth? I did not know this!! :P

"The more you know..."

OliveJuice821

Yeah the bleeding does go on, for about 2-6 weeks... Stock up on pads like a mo'fo! lol

As far as recovery goes, within a few days of being home, I was up cleaning the house like mad; Laundry, dishes, vacuuming, etc. I have two toddlers, so relaxing and recovering wasn't exactly an option. I mean, I get help, for sure, but I still got up to do things. I'm actually surprised that I'm recovering as fast as I am lol

I also like to think that I'm pretty damn lucky since I'm down about 10 pounds since I had the baby. I didn't gain that much because I know I was 190lbs this past Christmas, and now I'm 165lbs. Not sure what my exact "pre-pregnancy" weight was to be honest lol