Having a caesarean section is considered major abdominal surgery and as with any surgery, your body needs time to heal afterwards and adding looking after a newborn baby into it, you must ensure that you really do give your body time to heal properly.
It is very important to get walking and moving around as soon as you feel up to it, doctors will suggest within a few hours after the birth, but ensure you go slowly and only with the help of a doctor, nurse or physiotherapist.
After having a c-section your body is under so much stress, an on top of that you are not sleeping well, while trying to produce enough milk to feed your baby, and you generally are feeling exhausted. However tired you may feel, starting pelvic floor exercises as soon as your doctor agrees will enhance your recovery and help you in the future too, as having a good pelvic floor will help alleviate bowel, bladder or uterus prolapse.
Once you are discharged from hospital you will be given simple exercises to do at home to help your body heal.
A list of dos and don’t’s:
- Walk as much as feel is possible
- Avoid any activities that will cause you to strain. Lifting the baby should be the only thing you lift for the first few weeks of your recovery
- Once your scar is healed it can be beneficial to massage your scar with some oil to help desensitise it and help with numbness or itching.
- Try to perform some pelvic floor exercises as soon as you feel you can manage it. It will help improve your bladder control and prevent a prolapse at a later stage
- When you get to six weeks post-delivery, it is safe to return to some exercise once your doctor has signed you off
- Eating a healthy diet will help avoid constipation
- Keep yourself hydrated
- Taking pain relief regularly to prevent pain. Do not wait till you are in the pain to take it.
- Joining a baby group at this time can be really helpful to meet new people who have also been through the same experience as yourself
What can I do after my six-week check?
Once you have been signed off by your doctor and you feel well enough in yourself, getting back to exercise is a great idea. Starting off with low impact sport such as pilates, yoga, swimming or low resistance exercises in the gym is a great way to start.
Your doctor may ask you to wait till the 12-week mark before you do any high impact sport, such as running or weight training.
Seeing a physiotherapist can help heal you faster by working the muscles around your uterus and help you get you on the road to recovery that much faster.
At Home Physio Group our specialist physiotherapists are trained in soft tissue mobilisation to help flatten and soften scar tissue once your incision has healed. Regaining core control is essential for our body and our therapists can tailor make you a programme to help you regain your strength and get you back on the road to recovery faster.
Please call us at Home Physio Group to see how we can help you recover on 0330 335 1016.