{"id":2476,"date":"2018-05-05T21:28:50","date_gmt":"2018-05-05T21:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=2476"},"modified":"2018-05-05T22:41:20","modified_gmt":"2018-05-05T22:41:20","slug":"postnatal-care-is-it-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=2476","title":{"rendered":"Postnatal Care – is it enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m not even sure where to start with this post. So I will start with my own experience. I’ve had 3 babies in the past 7.5 years and my youngest is about to turn 2 yrs. With each baby, my own recovery, my own postnatal journey and the care offered to me, has been different. I’ve had 3 babies who have lost weight post-birth, 2 of which required a period in hospital, each baby has had a tongue tie and it’s always been a stressful start in those initial weeks. Now I’m a well-educated, opinionated, determined (or bloody stubborn) kind of girl, which has got me through. What I have been, and continue to be surprised at, is the lack of support that is out there for new Mums. I had a hyper-tonic pelvic floor before babies, after babies I was complete unprepared for the change in my pelvic floor! I also had a diastasis recti after baby 2 and 3.<\/p>\n

Having baby 1 is overwhelming, you are learning new skills constantly and becoming a new family. Subsequent babies are also equally overwhelming, suddenly you have to balance everyone’s needs. The babe becomes the most important in all of this and Mums come way down the list. But they shouldn’t. The early postnatal period is a critical time for recovery, by offering good support at this stage and preparing Mums we could actually help prevent some problems later on. Even by helping Mums with some simple stress management and practical ideas it could help them feel looked after, nurtured and reduce their cortisol levels. I know I was highly stressed after having my 2nd baby and it really had an impact on my body. Techniques such a deep breathing, meditation, mindfulness and just having time off for Mum can make such a difference. I now recommend Mums have a 2 week chill-out after baby as much as they can and call in lots of help.<\/p>\n

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Mums are usually offered a 6-8 week check, however this is often more for baby than for mum. It’s a quick assessment and I think a lot more could be offered at this stage, however resources are thin on the ground. The Mums that I see and my experience is that pelvic floor is not really discussed, perhaps a cursory “are you doing your exercises”, abdominal separation is rarely checked but there is a screening for Mums mood and contraception.<\/p>\n

Whilst it is great that Mums and babies are seen by the GP and continue to be monitored by the health visitors, I feel we are missing a vital opportunity. A chance to talk to women about their bodies, what is not right, where could they be signposted to get more help. I’m not suggesting these teams can provide the answers but they could link in with NHS or private services who could. For example, local women’s health physiotherapists and postnatal fitness instructors who really specialise in this type of rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

We need a revolution in postnatal care, more chat, more information sharing, more love, more respect for how women’s bodies change and more holistic care. I’d love to know your stories and thoughts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m not even sure where to start with this post. So I will start with my own experience. I’ve had …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[259,1351,965,9],"tags":[1455,1462,1461,158,1460,1453,1395,1459,153,118,1452,1451,346,1463,1464,1458,1457,1454,223,1456],"class_list":["post-2476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bump-to-birth","category-diastasis-recti","category-pelvic-floor","category-postnatal","tag-after-pregnancy-care-for-mum","tag-c-section-healing","tag-c-section-scar-recovery","tag-diastasis-recti","tag-diastasis-recti-recovery","tag-improving-postnatal-care","tag-pelvic-floor-recovery","tag-pelvic-floor-rehabilitation","tag-pilates-southampton","tag-pilates-with-priya","tag-posnatal-care-for-mum","tag-postnatal-care","tag-postnatal-fitness","tag-postnatal-healing","tag-postnatal-health","tag-postnatal-pelvic-floor","tag-postnatal-southampton","tag-postpartum-care","tag-priya-tew","tag-why-postnatal-care-needs-improving"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3FIsx-DW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2305,"url":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=2305","url_meta":{"origin":2476,"position":0},"title":"The 3 top benefits of postnatal pilates.","author":"Priya Tew","date":"17 September, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It strengthens your core and fixes your body. 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Sounds pretty scary but it is actually very common and some research suggests it happens in all pregnancies, but for some ladies it may heal up before it is noticed. Why does it happen? The rectus abdominals are the tummy muscles that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bump to Birth"","block_context":{"text":"Bump to Birth","link":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?cat=259"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Diastasis-Recti-1.jpg?fit=620%2C395&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Diastasis-Recti-1.jpg?fit=620%2C395&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/Diastasis-Recti-1.jpg?fit=620%2C395&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2371,"url":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=2371","url_meta":{"origin":2476,"position":2},"title":"Hypopressives are coming to Southampton","author":"Priya Tew","date":"27 November, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The Hypopressive exercise, is a relatively new technique developed to help with pelvic floor rehabilitation and postnatal recovery of the abdominals. It is a form of breathing and intense posture work that involves creating a vacuum with your breath. This activate the involuntary fibres of the pelvic floor and abdominals,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Alignment"","block_context":{"text":"Alignment","link":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?cat=616"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2496,"url":"https:\/\/www.pilateswithpriya.co.uk\/?p=2496","url_meta":{"origin":2476,"position":3},"title":"Prepare to Plank","author":"Priya Tew","date":"21 May, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's talk planks. An amazing exercise for building core strength, for working the whole of your body and there is so much you can layer and add into a plank. Also one of the exercises that therefore needs great technique or a lot can go wrong. 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