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Postpartum
Our Moon Cycle and Postpartum massages work with the seasonal elements, essential oils and applied heat to bring relief from period symptoms. Treatment includes a warm wheat bag for your stomach & lower back, and a research-backed blend of essential oils for menstrual support. In controlled studies, our blend of oils reduced pain and bleeding.
Body pillows are designed to support your neck and lower back and due to their size and weight, don’t shift around as easily as your regular pillow. Body pillows provide the necessary support to your front and back body to alleviate pressure on your ever-growing (and glowing!) body. Body pillows extend the length of your body so side sleepers can have a pillow between their legs. Being in this position maximizes blood flow to the uterus without putting pressure on the liver. Body pillows come in various shapes so research which one works best with your sleeping position and where your pressure points are. The more comfortable you are, the sounder you sleep, and the less groggy you’ll feel in the morning.
Postpartum moms also benefit from body pillows since they offer comfort, support, and pressure relief. Your body may have adjusted to sleeping with one and going back to your regular size pillow (or partner) may feel… less than ideal.
Since lavender promotes calmness and reduces stress/anxiety, it’s a great example of emotional self-care. Additional pregnancy-related advantages include lavender’s ability to ease us into sleep - which is something you should cherish while you can! Lavender can also help relieve nausea that occurs early on in your pregnancy.
Check the label for lavender essential oil because “lavender oil” is usually diluted with fillers and synthetic ingredients.
Even busy moms-to-be can find a few moments each day to meditate. If sitting puts unnecessary pressure on your belly, lay on your side using your body pillow. For ambiance, use a diffuser filled with lavender essential oil. If you find meditation difficult, apps like Headspace can guide you through short meditations.
Once your baby is born, especially in those early weeks when they’re actually sleeping, take that time to continue your meditation practice. If you’re lulled into sleep, you’re sleeping when the baby sleeps which still remains one of the best, yet obvious, pieces of advice we’ve ever heard.
When many of your social situations involve alcohol but you’re pregnant, don’t just dismiss yourself to missing out on seeing your friends. Invite close friends over for drinks while you enjoy a mocktail. And lucky for you, many bars in Oakland and Chicago have finally realized that soda water just isn’t cutting it.
During pregnancy, the calming, mood, sleep, libido, and bone-enhancing hormone, progesterone, increases. This leaves you especially lethargic in the first trimester. Unfortunately, feeling tired doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily sleep like a baby- where did that phrase come from anyway? Totally inaccurate if you ask us.
Rather than stress about what to make for dinner and spend time preparing it, consider a meal delivery service or meal kit. Read this pregnant mom’s reviews of various subscription meal services. You will end up making fewer grocery store trips when you subscribe to a meal kit and you can customize your meals to get the nutrients your body needs during your pregnancy.
Want a heat and eat option? In Oakland, we like Planted Table and in Chicago, Eat Purely. Time is still a precious resource, pregnant or not, so consider subscribing to a service post pregnancy or add it to your gift registry.
Maybe we’re a little biased, but Glow Birth and Body offers incredible regular and prenatal massages. Prenatal massage has been shown to reduce swelling, lower back pain, provide natural pain relief, and improve the quality of your sleep.
Prenatal massage not only bestows benefits to mama while pregnant but also while giving birth. Studies from the Touch Research Institute suggest mamas who get a weekly massage have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol and higher levels of the feel-good hormones serotonin and dopamine. Researchers have linked these hormonal changes to fewer childbirth complications, including a 75 percent reduction in premature births among depressed women.
Remember to drink plenty of water after your massage. Drinking water post-massage helps the body flush out any accumulated materials released.
Massage is beneficial for anyone who wants to lower their stress levels and sleep better, and these needs don’t disappear when you’re no longer pregnant.
Glow Birth and Body’s Journal and Birth Deck set is the perfect gift for expectant moms to record their pregnancy and practice gratitude while the Birth Deck helps their partner support them throughout the pregnancy.
Keep up your journaling post-pregnancy. According to scientific studies, people who journal say it’s therapeutic and one of the best ways to consistently find gratitude when life is overwhelming.
Pregnancy and harsh cleaning chemicals are not a good combo. If you enlist a house cleaner, ask them to use natural, non-toxic cleaners.
Even before pregnancy, the average time spent cleaning is 6 hours a week. You may need those six hours back because you’re tired, you have pregnancy-related appointments, or you’re preparing your home for the baby's arrival. Having a clean environment, free of clutter can lessen anxiety too and a calmer mom-to-be is a win-win for all parties involved. Because personally, when our cars and houses are a mess, we are too.
What self-care practices have you adopted? What will you keep doing post-pregnancy? You can’t go wrong choosing whatever keeps you calm, well-rested (this is HUGE!) and with more time for the things that matter!
Well, one thing we aren’t usually prepared for is the after. Not until I was pregnant, actually, did I start to think about it after. Or maybe if we’re being honest - not until after, did I think about after. Our bodies undergo a major transformation during pregnancy, that’s no secret - but they undergo an equivalently similar one post-delivery (not to mention our emotions, too). And while you can find a book down to the daily changes that happen when you’re pregnant, the different vegetable sizes your baby is during each week, and even predictions on how different types of music can determine your child’s IQ - your health and relationship with your partner after birth are easily overlooked, which becomes increasingly more stressful as you begin to care for your new addition on little to no sleep.
Some women I’ve spoken to have even said they felt blindsided by their bodies, relationships, and emotions post-baby. Here are some things you can expect:
This section should come as no surprise - if you’re pregnant or have been pregnant, you understand this rollercoaster. Your hormones have been fluctuating like crazy to prepare for birth, and once you’ve delivered, your progesterone levels drop significantly, which can cause mood swings, anxiety, and depression for a few weeks after birth. Sometimes this can lead to postpartum depression, which is categorized by the same symptoms, but last longer.
Tips for the emotional shifts: keep a written diary to help you release some emotions, or at least make sense of them. Write down the things you’re feeling grateful for (whether that’s a heavy dish of Fettucini Alfredo, or for your body which is literally growing a human being).
Speaking of a deep desire to bond with your baby - upon your little one’s new arrival, you’re also going to have a new dynamic in your relationship. This whole time, it’s just been the two on you, and sometimes moving into this transition can be difficult.
You’ll have new (sometimes difficult) decisions about parenting, all while adjusting to not being the only thing on your partner’s mind. Sometimes partners can struggle when they feel sidelined - make sure to still pay attention to each other and give each other a pat on the back from time to time for the work that’s going into being new parents (on such little sleep).
Tips for keeping attention on each other: Try to plan a nightly check-in with your partner, maybe before you go to bed. Make a point to talk about your favorite part of the day and something you noticed that your partner did that you appreciated.
Thought your breasts were big enough from pregnancy? Think again. All that extra progesterone we were talking about above is going to make your breasts even larger, especially with all that milk in there. This will typically peak two to three days after you give birth, as well as make your breasts pretty sore. As you transition to breastfeeding, the swelling will go down.
Tips for swelling: Rest, rest, rest! It will go down.
If you had a vaginal delivery, you were probably already expecting a bruised, swollen vagina. If you had a C-section, that means you’re dealing with a similarly swollen and bruised incision, along with puffy abdominal muscles. In both instances: painkillers and rest will be your best friends. Some other tips for vaginal recovery: try dipping a pad in witch hazel, or applying ice in your underwear to help decrease inflammation.
Tips for your vagina: Again, painkillers and rest will be your best friends (at the advisement of your practitioner).
Above all - Keep your and your partner’s mental health as a top priority during this time. You’re undergoing a lot of changes, so don’t be hard on yourself. You just brought a beautiful new life into the world, and for that, you should be so proud.
Lindsey Vestal of The Functional Pelvis guides you through scar massage.
Better Postpartum is a comprehensive 8-week holistic wellness program.
The program features interviews with homebirth midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, nutritionists, postpartum support specialists, baby sleep consultants, and more, who all have one goal in mind: to tell you how YOU can improve your postpartum experience.
Get 8-weeks worth of daily informational videos and support from some of the leading names in the birth/postpartum/motherhood/nutrition/health and wellness/lactation industries, whom have all come together to serve and support you and your baby in your grand transition into your 4th trimester and beyond.
In this week’s WILD WMN podcast Elizabeth Flynn speaks with Sara Lyon, creator of The Birth Deck and founder of Glow Birth and Body, mama, doula, birth educator and boss lady about the journey to birth and empowering women.
A trimester or two ago (I’m now 38 weeks pregnant), I was texting with a friend of mine, also pregnant, lamenting how terrible I was feeling. I had been up all night, stricken with nausea, frantically Googling “heartburn or heart attack?” because my epic chest pains were so bad that they were making me feel faint.
I’d been Deputy Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls, and then worked as Director of Public Policy for Care.com. Yet, I was totally unprepared for how challenging pregnancy would be--and felt uncomfortable voicing this to anyone but someone else who was also pregnant.
I didn’t want to be seen as complaining or ungrateful -- or even worse, not committed to my career. And I know I’m not alone. For the millions of American women who work outside the home, the career consequences that frequently accompany starting a family can begin during pregnancy, well before the baby arrives. The truth is, pretending pregnancy doesn’t sometimes suck isn’t doing anyone any good.
Yes, America, finally, is having the very overdue and well-deserved conversation about paid parental leave. But can we also talk about pregnancy for a second -- a life event that three-quarters of working women will experience at some point?
Let’s take, for example, this whole “morning sickness” thing. Almost 90 percent of women experience some symptoms of nausea during pregnancy. Ninety. That’s not the exception, it’s the rule. Of course, it’s not necessarily “morning sickness” at all – for millions of women, it’s more like “all-day” sickness, an ailment that can make you feel nauseous 24/7 for months on end. Some of us are even lucky enough to experience this for the entire duration of our pregnancy.
I have spent countless days triaging. I’d time my meetings and work for the first half of the day when my nausea was less severe and building in afternoon breaks to account for the freight train of nausea and exhaustion that I knew would come. In between I’d forage for something with any semblance of nutrition to eat, even though just a waft of fresh-cooked vegetables made me gag.
It’s time for employers and politicians to recognize that pregnancy is hard, birth is messy, and being postpartum is an actual medical event that requires recovery.
At Care.com, I was extremely fortunate to have unlimited paid sick days, but many workers don’t have even one. In fact, only 60% of workers have access to paid sick days, and those who are left out are at the bottom end of the income scale. More than 82 percent of low-wage workers don’t have access to paid sick days, and the majority of low-wage workers are women, many of whom are women of color. Additionally, forty-three percent of women working in the private sector are not able to take a single paid sick day when they are ill.
My heart breaks for the waitress who has to be on her feet all day, smelling the fumes from the kitchen, trying to hold herself together as a cranky customer gives her a hard time, and she grits her teeth, swallows her nausea (literally) and musters all the strength she has to just to get through her shift. Now there’s a woman who needs a paid, job-protected sick day.
Or how about the array of doctor’s visits to attend, especially women experiencing high-risk pregnancies who may need three or four times the number of typical pre-natal appointments? The fact is that for a variety of reasons, low-income women face a greater number of risk-factors during pregnancy, and those are the very same women who are far less likely to have access to paid sick days.
The array of flexible work arrangements such as teleworking, flexible start-stop times, and even the new rage of nap-rooms (yes, nap rooms!) could alleviate so much stress for pregnant workers. (Care.com has four of them)
For hourly workers, companies could use technology that allows for ease of shift-swapping, so that when a pregnant woman needs to adjust her schedule, she has the ability to do so more easily. These types of solutions allow for all workers and employers to benefit, with the added bonus of making work more flexible and manageable for pregnant workers in particular.
Even more important than enabling these women to be more productive at work, ideas like these help foster a culture of trust proven to help companies and organizations retain their valuable talent and participation in the workforce the long run – a benefit to families, companies, and the broader economy writ large.
I told my bosses the reality of my condition during pregnancy and am so lucky to have received full support and encouragement from the CEO down. All of us pregnant women who are in a position to do so can do our part to speak up at work. Because each and every time you tell your manager how you are feeling, you empower other women to do the same. This single action gives confidence and credence to those around you and helps to change the workplace culture from the ground up.
Let’s be real: it’s not like women got pregnant on their own – there was another person 50% responsible for that pregnancy. But men just happen not to be the biological sex that bears the child, and so all the consequences of the pregnancy fall on women because of our physical role in childbearing and rearing. When our laws and workplace policies do not account for the reality of pregnancy and childbirth, it is the height of gender inequality. We must do better, not because pregnancy is a disability, but because it is actually a condition that should be honored, revered and celebrated.
Avra Siegel is Policy and Strategic Partnerships consultant for the private and public sectors. She was formerly the Director of Public Policy and Strategic Partnerships at Care.com after serving as the Deputy Director of the White House Council on Women and Girls in the Obama administration. Avra also held positions at the White House National Economic Council where she led the women’s economic security portfolio.
Hannah Weiss, LM, CPM in her roll as Hybrid Midwife
In planning a hospital birth, you're encouraged to stay at home until labor is well under way before transitioning to the hospital for birth. How do you feel about that? Will you know when that time has come? Can you determine how far along you are in labor? Even the timing of contractions can be misleading. Doulas provide crucial support and guidance during these intense hours, and midwives take it to the next level with the ability to check dilation and the baby's heart beat. It's next-level birth support.
Hybrid Midwifery was born from a desire to provide one-to-one continuity of care to women planning a hospital birth. Not every woman wants to birth in her home, but every woman should have access to the personalized prenatal and postpartum services of a midwife. Many of you are familiar with a doula’s role, but most need clarification between a doula and a midwife. A doula provides advocacy, education and emotional support in your home and in the hospital. A midwife is clinically trained and licensed by the state medical board to provide maternity care to women during the prenatal, birth and postnatal period. A Hybrid Midwife can give you care alongside and in cooperation with your obstetric care, giving you 24/7 support in your home up to and after you have your baby in the hospital.
Some women simply want more maternity care; they want more information, they want more support and they want it to be holistic, incorporating all aspects of the human experience in pregnancy and birth. This includes emotional support as well as physical, nutritional and medical support.
An increasing body of research has unveiled the emotional and physiological benefits of being previously familiar with a medical practitioner who attends your birth. Simply having the continuous support of a doula can reduce labor time, the likelihood of a c-section and preterm labor. In case you’re interested, it also reduces the odds that you’ll need an epidural. These statistics alone have helped doulas and midwives increase in popularity.
Doulas are tremendously valuable practitioners, they offer physical and emotional support for you and your partner as well as vast knowledge about the birth process and hospital system. Different from a doula, a Hybrid Midwife has medical authority to administer healthcare prenatally, postpartum and at home in the early stages of labor before transitioning to the hospital for birth.
Your midwife will be your touchstone throughout your pregnancy and birth process. She will monitor your health status as you move through the medical system and support you as a familiar and trusted guide. The schedule for midwifery prenatal visits mirrors your OB visits, allowing for tandem care.
During these in-home hour-long visits, you’ll discuss topics that complement your obstetric care, like nutrition, exercise and ways to prepare your body and mind for birth. Perhaps most significantly, you’ll have time to discuss any fears or concerns that may be arising around pregnancy or birth. Your midwife will medically screen you by checking vitals, listening to the baby’s heart beat and discussing testing options such as genetic, gestational diabetes and Group B Strep, to name a few.
As you grow closer to delivery, your midwife will help you create a Birth Plan that may include desires around pain management, IV use, and what types of procedures you would like performed on your baby. You're able to discuss the pros and cons of each option with the midwife, so you have a basic understanding of the medical process.
Laboring at home with your midwife decreases the likelihood that you’ll receive medical interventions, sometimes a bi-product of arriving at the hospital too early. Different from a doula, your midwife continuously checks the health of both you and your baby during labor. She is constantly making sure it's safe to remain in the comfort of your own home for as long as possible. As your labor progresses, your midwife will help determine when it’s time to go to the hospital by checking cervical dilation, assessing your contraction pattern and the positioning of your baby.
At the hospital your midwife transitions into the role of an advocate, providing continuous comfort measures, breathing and meditation techniques and overall guidance for your needs and desires. After the birth of your babe, she remains by your side for an hour or more to help with breastfeeding. Your midwife will capture family photos and help transport the placenta should you choose to save it.
Maybe you remember those early days postpartum or you’ve heard stories about how physically and psychologically fragile the beginning of parenthood can be. Intense hormones and learning how to feed your newborn can be maddening, not to mention the complete physical recovery from a vaginal birth or C-Section. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that 24/7 access to a trusted healthcare provider is not only comforting, it’s clinically significant in decreasing postpartum depression and helping the entire family unit adjust. Unfortunately, in the common medical system, mothers won’t see a practitioner to assess their health and recovery for six weeks after discharge from the hospital. Enter your Hybrid Midwife.
When you’re all settled back home, your midwife schedules six full weeks of postnatal care for you and your baby. She will usually visit five or more times in these postpartum weeks, starting twenty-four hours after you arrive home. Your midwife’s long list of medical support topics will include lactation, normal newborn behaviors, umbilical cord care and vaginal healing. She will check your postpartum bleeding and vitals, to make sure you don’t need further medical care. She weighs the baby, assesses normal growth patterns, listens to your baby's heart and lungs and is consistently making sure your newborn is thriving.
A lot of questions come up in the first few weeks of welcoming your new baby into the world and it's truly wonderful to have a medically qualified and compassionate midwife by your side. Your midwife will carefully assess your overall emotional health, allowing you the time and space to learn what is “normal” and what is worrisome.
Aside from her vast knowledge, your midwife is also deeply connected to the wider community. Should you need referrals to support groups, lactation consultants, overnight doulas or massage therapists, your midwife is connected to this vibrant network.
Hybrid Midwifery is the best-kept secret out there! In the interest of perpetuating the health and vitality of early parenthood, spread the word!
Verify your insurance benefits here using Hannah Weiss’s provider details, (note that it’s a $20 verification process):
City: Oakland
State: CA
Zip Code: 94611
Phone number: 510-685-6703
Hannah Weiss is a Licensed Midwife under the Medical Board of California and a Certified Professional Midwife under the North American Registry of Midwives (NARM). Her formal education consisted of a three year accredited midwifery school and two clinical home birth apprenticeships in California and Utah. Hannah regularly attends Peer Review and is an active member of the California Association of Midwives (CAM). She held the lead doula position at Glow Massage and Birth Support for 2 years before starting her midwifery practice. Hannah is certified in Neonatal Resuscitation (NRP), CPR and First Aid.
When Hannah is off-call she travels home to Kaua'i where she grew up surrounded by an abundance of nature and the rhythms of the ocean. She currently lives in Montclair, Oakland with her husband Martin, head chef for Maiden Voyage Meals, it's a family affair!
My lovely baby girl is 18-months-old today.
Around her first birthday, I started managing crippling abdominal pain. The pain stops me in my tracks and wakes me in the middle of the night. Causes me to double over, grimacing and sweating while I wait in line at the grocery store; somehow still managing to dangle something – anything -- in front of my daughter’s face to keep her content for Just. Five. More. Minutes. Yet another attempt to stave off the piercing scream that marked her entry into this world and continues to sound out throughout each day to signal hunger, sleepiness, boredom, displeasure, disapproval…
My soul was not prepared to withstand the overwhelming amount of adoration and responsibility that accompanied my daughter's birth. I remain unstable. Many days I’m convinced that I will feel this way for the rest of my life. I often marvel at the fact that we are only at the very beginning of this journey together. Down the road remains teaching her how to ride a bike, helping her with math homework (ahem, learning how to do math), and holding her close when someone breaks her heart. Once you enter motherhood you can’t turn back. We are forced to evolve at someone else’s pace and keep up, keep up, keep up.
And I want to be the best. Mostly because I want her to be the happiest, healthiest person that ever was. Also, selfishly, I want her to love me as much as I love her.
But I digress -- back to the stomach pain. For months I’ve endured this pain. Most days I thought it would go away on its own. Some days I thought it was a sign of a heart attack. At some point, I think I just accepted that living with chronic pain was my new reality.
The truth is that between keeping a relatively new job, keeping a relatively neat home, keeping my husband relatively happy, toddler giggles, first steps, “Goodnight Moon,” changing diapers, changing clothes, filling bottles, cleaning the cat litter, feeding the dog, “Twinkle, Twinkle,” Doc McStuffins, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and “MOMMY!,”I just didn’t have time to figure out what was happening to me. There were never enough hours in the day to genuinely check “Take care of me” off of my to-do list.
My body showed evidence of this, too. Post the initial breastfeeding weight loss, I’d put on some weight. I ate whatever was nearby without thinking. My grad school days of eating only raw food, cognizant of the intentionality of food consumption as fuel for my body, soul, and mind, were long gone.
Then one day I sat in a meeting, pain searing through my stomach to my back and radiating down both sides of my ribcage. The room was fuzzy. I couldn’t focus on my colleague’s words. I could only focus on taking shallow breaths and contorting my body in just the right way to make it through this flare-up. I was finally fed up. I made my first appointment with my doctor.
As of today, I’ve had several appointments with specialists, including the one where they stick a camera down your throat. Nothing has been named. No plan for healing identified. No relief in sight. The ‘diagnosis’ does not ring true with my experience. I called my gastroenterologist the day after that procedure, failing to hide my lack of faith in his opinion, “This is not acid reflux. I was pregnant about a year ago. I know acid reflux intimately.”
A month ago, I started seeing a Chinese Medicine practitioner. She is convinced that the pain is related to food sensitivities and digestive disturbances, and I’m inclined to believe her. After some changes in my diet and the addition of some digestive herbs, I feel better. I’m not 100%, or even 85%, but I feel better.
During our second meeting, she did fire work over my body as she walked me through a guided meditation. This was the start of the shift to less pain. I felt at peace. As she closed the session, she shared what she’d learned about me that day. Four words rolled off of her tongue that will stick with me for the rest of my life, “Your heart is depleted”.
Having met the love of my life just a year or so prior, I could not fathom that this was true. My heart had never felt more full. The rewards of motherhood outweighed the pains every day -- not every moment, but definitely every day. She continued to tell me that I needed to find time to connect with other grown-ups – to laugh, to dance, to escape the to-do list.
I’d been so wrapped-up in giving all of me to my family, to my daughter, that I’d opted to endure a life full of pain just to keep doing it for her. My healer went on to explain that in the end, that choice would only be hurting my little girl as she would get a lesser version of her mother. I’m certain I’d heard this once or twice before, but it's so easy to get sucked in without even realizing it.
This time the light bulb went off. To help create the happiest, healthiest person ever, and even to achieve the impossible of having her love me as much as I love her, I have to make time for self-care. And, every once in a while, I have to attempt to define my health and happiness as separate from hers. I imagine this will be something I will have to remind myself of often.
The spa day is scheduled. I’ll keep you posted.
Get yourself some bliss:
ACUPUNCTURE | Cara Brockbank’s Temescal practice combines classic acupuncture with divine aromatherapy, set in a charming craftsman cottage.
TAROT | Are you having trouble tapping into your gut feelings? This is your remedy. Laura Zuspan’s tarot readings are just the dose of reality you need, with a sprinkle of magic on top. Laura pulls from her beloved tarot deck and offers grounded, pertinent observations without judgment.
INDIAN SPRINGS | Located in Calistoga, this resort and spa is the perfect day trip to fit between daycare drop-off and pick-up. Our favorite treat is the mud bath and mineral pool combo.
GLOW POSTPARTUM DOULA CARE | Email us to find out more about our postpartum doula services which include a suite of wellness therapies tailored for your experience.
Iman is an independent consultant living in Oakland, CA with her husband and their daughter, Lena. With the support of her family, Iman continues to actively pursue her ultimate balance.
Haha, tomayto, tomahto. I have heard people say it both ways - "di-uh-stay-sis" with a long second a and emphasis on the third syllable (which is how I pronounce it), or "di-aa-st-uh-sis" with the emphasis on the second syllable. The Greek prefix Dia- means “through” or “going through” and -stasis means permanent. So, in effect, going through and separating, and then staying that way. Luckily, there are many techniques to modify DR.
Diastasis recti (DR) is a separation of the connective tissue (linea alba) of our “6-pack” ab muscles (rectus abdominis). If you draw a line from the center of your ribs, down to your pubic bone, directly through your belly button, you are tracing the linea alba. This fibrous band connects all of your abdominal muscles like a corset: your obliques (abs at the sides of your waist, above the hips) and transverse abdominal muscles (our deepest layer of abs, wrapping like a corset).
DR is NOT life-threatening - it is a natural part of pregnancy, delivery, and birth recovery, that is often ignored by the American medical community. Left untreated, DR can seriously impact your quality of life. A severe separation of your abdominal muscles results in a weak pelvic floor, uterine prolapse, inadequate support for your internal organs, and may possibly result in back pain and tight hamstrings.
A couple of years ago, a friend and former Baby Bootcamp instructor got certified in the Tupler Technique. Tupler is another program that works on repairing DRs without surgery. She asked if she could speak to my Baby Boot Camp moms about it and do DR checks for my clients. She checked me, and lo and behold, I had a 3+ finger separation at my belly button, which explains (at least partly), my chronic low back pain! Since then, I have become licensed in Baby Boot Camp’s Core 9 Birth Recovery and Diastasis Recovery programs in an attempt to bring this education to mamas that really need it.
It is easiest if someone else checks you (I check all of the moms that attend my Baby Boot Camp classes), but you can certainly check yourself:
Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground, one hand behind your head. With the other hand, place your index and middle fingers inside your belly button with your palm facing you. Inhale with your head resting in your hand and then as you exhale, lift your head and shoulders an inch or two off the ground, like the beginning of a mini-crunch.
With your head up, you should feel the rectus abdominis muscles harden around your fingers. You then see how many fingers you can fit between those muscles. You will want to measure at your belly button (if you have a DR, it is usually largest at your belly button). Additionally, measure a couple of inches above your belly button, and a couple of inches below.
When I check moms at Baby Boot Camp, I also look for how far down I can push my fingers. Some moms have very shallow separations, which are not as concerning as deeper DRs. Moms that have a 1-2 finger separation can do most exercises; I modify significantly for 3-finger separations. If you have a separation of 4 or more fingers, you are still able to workout and come to class, but you should also see a physical therapist.
If you find that you have a separation, your goal is to strengthen and correctly engage your transverse abdominis muscles (TVA), which will start to bring the rectus abdominis back together. Do not do work that engages your Rectus Abdominus, or 6-pack muscle, it will only further the separation.
Stay active during your pregnancy and learn how to engage your Transverse Abdominal muscles (TA).
Never sit straight up from a reclining or flat position. Roll to your left side and then press up to seated with your hand every time you get up from bed or mat-based exercises. This way, you avoid putting additional pressure on your abdominal muscles and connective tissue.
We recommend signing up for our Core9 Birth Recovery program a minimum of six weeks prior to your due date. Core9 Birth Recovery provides specialized support specific to where you are at in your postpartum recovery. It begins with essential movements that you can do at home immediately after delivery.
There are some specific exercises and movements to avoid if you have a DR. You should not do any twisting movements (for example: Russian twist and bicycle) but you can work your obliques by doing a modified side plank instead.
Avoid a full plank position until you bring your DR down to at least a 2 finger separation, and this includes push-ups. These should be done with your upper body elevated or with your knees on the floor, and possibly not at all, depending on the severity of your DR. And NO sit-ups!!! Please!
If you take one thing away from this interview, mamas, no more sit-ups, no more crunches, no more roll-downs! I never do any of these in Baby Boot Camp classes - they can make your DR worse. We are socially conditioned to do crunches and sit-ups when we hear it is time for “mat work” or “ab work.” Not only is this not the most effective way to work your core, but it can make your DR worse, and all of that flexion and extension can be really harmful for your back. Did you hear that the US Army is phasing out sit-ups because of spine injuries?!
Sara, I see this all the time, and I completely understand - most of us have a very limited amount of time off of work with our newborns, and our goal is to LOSE THE BABY WEIGHT! I get it! But things take time. Through Baby Boot Camp, I’m really trying to shift the focus more towards long-term health, safety, and longevity. Boot camps can be really great, but there is a danger in throwing yourself back into exercise and not listening to your body’s signals to pull back.
A physical therapist that specializes in pelvic floor issues spoke at the last Baby Boot Camp conference and she said that because of the relaxin still in your body (a joint loosening hormone), you should not run until you have stopped nursing! Now, I understand that sounds a bit extreme, and there would probably be a mutiny if I told my mamas that, so we have compromised and instituted the 6-16 week rule - moms can come to my classes 6 weeks after a vaginal birth and 8 weeks after a c-section, but from 6-16 weeks, we HIGHLY encourage moms to take the low-impact modifications and to power walk instead of run. You will still get a great workout, trust me!
You might feel really great after having your baby (and I hope you do!); but, use me as an example: I felt great and wanted to get back in shape and went back to teaching way too early, and I’m dealing with issues that I can trace back to my compromised core strength almost four years after I had my last baby!
I love this question!
About a year ago, we created a program called Core9 Birth Recovery. The program involves weekly supportive emails, movements and stretches you can start doing from week one postpartum, easy and nutritious recipes, and in-person Diastasis Recti checks for 0-9 weeks postpartum.
I would recommend using a postpartum belly binder during exercise and movements. Walking is great if you’re ready for more movement, and the no-impact core movements that are outlined in Core9 Birth Recovery are great for general core strength, but also to aid in repairing a DR.
I also highly recommend coming to Baby Boot Camp classes once you are cleared by your doctor and either 6 weeks postpartum (vaginal birth) or 8 weeks postpartum (c-section). You will get a great workout taught by nationally certified instructors, that are also well-versed in the appropriate postpartum modifications.
Read this great article by one of my colleagues that outlines safe exercises for newly postpartum moms, as well as what to avoid.
Indeed! Baby Boot Camp classes are taught by nationally certified fitness professionals. You will get a fantastic one-hour workout that is safe for newly postpartum mamas, all in a fun and supportive environment.
I am also licensed and certified in Core9 Birth Recovery and Core9 Diastasis Repair. Core9 Birth Recovery is for moms 0-9 weeks postpartum and is NOT an in-person program. It consists of weekly emails with safe and effective movements and videos that moms can do at home in the early postpartum weeks, plus two in-person DR checks.
Core9 Diastasis Repair, on the other hand, is an intensive in-person four-week workshop. I run 3-4 workshops per year, and have one coming up in June. We work on repairing DRs through safe and effective movements, while also improving posture and strengthening the pelvic floor.
The Fitness Center on the Baby Boot Camp website also has some great articles on DR, birth recovery, and postpartum exercise, in general.
Here are a couple articles that are particularly relevant to our conversation:
Early Postpartum Birth Recovery
Birth Recovery and Diastasis Recti
Birth Recovery and Running
Mary is mom to Liam (5/07), Sinead (6/10), and Jameson (7/12), and has owned Baby Boot Camp Oakland since April 2009. She has a B.A. in English and French Literature from U.C. San Diego, is an ACSM-certified personal trainer, and certified in Group TRX Suspension Training. You can reach Mary by email or phone at 510-418-8599.
Did you know that your abdominal muscles may not be strong even if you are performing core exercises?
Poor body mechanics and poor posture can greatly contribute to pre and postnatal discomfort and core dysfunction. For a balanced body throughout your pregnancy and throughout your life, various muscles should work in harmony for your pelvic floor to function well. Performing a bunch of Kegel exercises may only help you from holding in that “sneeze pee” temporarily.
Imagine standing with a posterior pelvic tilt (your buttocks tucked under).
This woman likely has tight pelvic floor muscles, muscles that when inflexible are not functional muscles. During labor, these muscles need to relax, and after labor, they need to fire properly for various practical reasons. This is the muscle group that helps you to control your urine. This is also the muscle group that, when functioning well, makes sexual intercourse more enjoyable.
Travel up the torso, and this woman’s ribs aren’t stacked over her pelvis. In-between the imbalanced pelvis and ribs is the abdominal core. Because of misalignment, the abdominal muscles are both pulled and shortened, leading to dysfunction.
Stacking the joints is a great first step to a healthier core—a healthier you. Imagine it’s you starting with a clean slate. From a stance of proper alignment, you then can move with the ability to employ the correct muscles. Pilates uses a lot of imagery.
I tell my clients to imagine that they are a hanging fruit basket, the head the first, the ribcage the second, the stomach the third, and the pelvis the fourth basket. If properly stacked, all of the baskets will balance
with ease.
I have worked with a number of postpartum clients who experienced “sneeze pee” after giving birth. They came to me because they’d been instructed to perform Kegel exercises yet weren’t getting better. With hip strengthening, such as gluteal work (squat, squat, squat!) and postural work, their bodies responded well. The pelvic floor consists of two types of fibers, slow twitch and fast twitch. Therefore, it’s good to practice both the quick “flicking” contraction and the slow contraction, like the rise of an elevator.
The Kegel work was performed in conjunction with other muscles in various exercises, resulting in a stronger and more functional core from the pelvis up through the trunk. The harmony of muscles engaging together is like listening to a well-tuned orchestra. You deserve to feel like your best, well-tuned self.
Sandra is a Pilates Master Trainer and Rehabilitation Specialist. Beyond her Pilates rehabilitation and fitness certifications, Sandra studied prenatal Pilates extensively and Pilates for diastasis recti. Sandra works with spinal injuries and repetitive strain injuries, as well as clients in stages from pre- to post-surgery, including Cesarean.
Sandra focuses on inefficient patterns of movement and imbalances so that clients can not only gain awareness about their bodies, but also integrate the lessons into their daily lives.
In her prenatal Pilates courses, she tailor exercises to each client’s needs as the group classes are small—only three per class. The classes were developed to safely move you through each trimester. You will be exercising with other moms-to-be while both relaxing and strengthening your body during incredible, life-changing time!
Beyond pilates, Sandra is a lauded writer, earning a Fulbright Scholarship and the Joseph Henry Jackson Award.
Sleep deprivation is not a laughing matter, nothing to be casually bandied about like it’s a cheeky right of passage. It’s not a badge of honor. It’s torture. And it sucks. Bad.
What are we living on if we haven’t slept for days on end? If we’re postpartum, we get a healthy super-mama dose of oxytocin to help us through those zombie days, so we can drive a car and be trusted with another human’s life. But that’s not enough.
Our wise, desperate bodies release adrenaline to carry the tired load. And then we drink caffeine, which only increases the amount of adrenaline our adrenal glands pump into the bloodstream. So, now you’re flitting about the new-mama world of mothers groups, work, and grocery runs fueled by adrenaline and caffeine. Oops. This can’t be physiologically healthy, never mind psychologically.
So, let’s review what happens when your body is operating like this. Adrenaline is designed to trigger your fight or flight response (thank you, evolution). There are three major muscles programmed to contract with adrenaline- any guesses what they are?
Your shoulder muscles, the ones between the shoulders and the ears- yeah, those. They tighten to protect your brainstem as if a grizzly bear is approaching.
Your jaw tightens in preparation for direct combat - those teeth are serious weapons, am I right early teethers?
Finally, the psoas, a deep abdominal muscle, tightens along the lower back and this muscle helps us run away. Fast. But it also provides significant lower back discomfort when chronically contracted from adrenaline and poor posture (read: stress and sitting- hmmm sounds an awful lot like the early days of breastfeeding. And every single day in the car or an office.
It’s a feedback loop: the tighter these muscles become, the more adrenaline they trigger in your tired, baby-obsessed brain. But this is good news! You can address this exhaustion, this overwhelming abundance of adrenaline, from two different angles: physical and lifestyle. Reduce your physical tension in your shoulders, your jaw, and your psoas and you will reduce your anxiety, your stress, and your general feeling of “what’s happened to my life?!" (thumbs up!).
Stand with your feet wide, look straight ahead, clasp your hands behind your back and bend forward, letting your hands slowly drift towards the floor
Open your jaw slowly just to the point that you feel a gentle relieving stretch. Then close your jaw lightly so your teeth are barely touching, relax your tongue in your mouth and massage the jaw muscles
Place one foot on the ground and the other knee on the ground with both knees initially bent at 90 degrees. Support yourself with both hands on the ground at your sides. Slowly inch the front foot forward so that you begin to feel a gentle stretch at the front of the body with the bent knee.
Once you feel a gentle stretch, place both hands on your upper knee and lift your chest to stretch the psoas
Yeah, yeah, I know, embarrassing to order, but give it a whirl. And notice how your breastfeeding baby responds- maybe they’ll chill out too since they drink what you drink. It may take you both a few days to notice the positive benefits. Trust that it’ll be worth it when you don’t want to go all “Red Wedding” on your partner come the end of the day.
It may only be 90 minutes that you crucially need, or an hour: ask someone to come to your house and hang out with your baby or, better yet, take the baby on a long walk around the ‘hood while you put earplugs in and slumber. Ask a mom in your mothers group if you two can do a sleep/playdate swap. Call your friend who wants to be called ‘Aunty’ and let her know that this is the test. Ask a tolerable and relatively responsible family member to help. People will be honored, I kid you not. And, most importantly, don’t let this opportunity pass you by: discipline yourself to get in bed, plug those ears, and close your eyes.
Share this article with your partner and then arrange for them to take at least one of the feedings at the beginning or end of the night so that you can go to bed early or wake up later and get a “proper” stretch of sleep (4 hours!? YAAASSSSSS!!).
If you’re breastfeeding, you will have to consider your boobs’ schedule but it’s worth the logistical analysis. If you encounter pushback, reference the “Red Wedding” allusion above.
Did you know that Glow treats women at any age and stage of life? We’re not just prenatal specialists! Massage relieves anxiety by relaxing your tired muscles, reducing adrenaline, reducing blood pressure and increasing our happy hormones like oxytocin and serotonin (yum). Glow’s massage therapists will come to your house if that’s what suits you logistically or you can escape to our perfectly controlled environment at 4901 Lawton Avenue.
Hire a Glow postpartum doula to come to your house for a four-hour spell so you can take a load off, watch a backlogged episode of The Affair, and zzzzzzzzzzzzz. If a postpartum doula is too costly with all baby accoutrement accounted for, ask your friends and family for an early birthday gift. Better yet, pregnant mamas, ask for postpartum doula care in lieu of baby gifts! Email us to explore more postpartum doula options at glow@gloweastbay.com and check out our offerings.
Once you’ve mastered breast milk storage or trained your partner/friend/family member to mix formula, GET OUT OF THE HOUSE! Book yourself a hotel room; it doesn’t have to be posh, because your eyes will be shut, god willing. Bring ear plugs, bring some basic food items, and SLEEP, MAMA, SLEEP! Even if you have to pump in the middle of the night, it’s not the same as waiting to hear the cry for a feeding. Worth every penny you will save on couples counseling, do this for the team.
From birth to age 6, your child’s relationship with you is the central organizing experience of their life. From the beginning, your baby is a person with feelings, thoughts, and a meaningful inner life who is developing a sense of themselves, others, and the world through their relationship with you.
Babies are extremely attentive and sensitive to the feelings, facial expressions, and mental state of the adults to whom they’re close, and they depend on back and forth responsive communication to feel calm and secure.
Understanding the mind of your baby or child, and the meaning of their signals and behavior as they seek to understand yours, is a key part of the parenting experience. However, it is not uncommon for parents to find it challenging to attune to their baby or young child, especially with babies that have difficult temperaments.
When stressful things happen in your child’s life, it’s their relationship with you as their attachment figure that will help them manage their feelings and make sense of their world.
The more safe and secure your young child feels in their relationship with you, the more they will turn to you for help when in trouble when they’re older. With this foundational security, they will have a higher sense of self-worth, know that most problems have an answer, solve problems on their own, know how to be kind, and trust that good things will come their way.
Be aware that memories of our own early relationships and childhood experiences—both benevolent and problematic—return to us when we become parents. As children go through different developmental phases, unresolved past experiences and feelings can emerge in one’s present relationship with their child.Sometimes this causes difficulty with parents’ relationships with their children, but it also offers new opportunities for growth and transformation
Every baby and child is different. What it takes to be a good-enough parent to one child can be very different from what it takes to be a good-enough parent to another.
Separating from your baby? Make sure to say goodbye! All children feel more secure when they know they can count on you to let them know when you are leaving. Otherwise, children learn that that the people closest to them unpredictably disappear, and can become more clingy and anxious in general since they don’t know when you will suddenly be gone.
Everyday routine activities like diapering, bathing, dressing and feeding are not mundane activities for your young child; from the start, these are learning experiences through which your baby is developing a relationship to their body and their needs, and discovering what they can expect in connections with other people.
Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
The Emotional Life of the Toddler, by Alicia F. Lieberman, Ph.D.
Parenting from the Inside Out: How a Deeper Self-Understanding Can Help You Raise Children Who Thrive,
by Daniel J. Siegel, M.D. and Mary Hartzell, M.Ed.
Jill Sulka, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist who specializes in infant and early childhood mental health. She provides parent consultation, infant-parent and child-parent psychotherapy, and child play therapy in her office and at home, depending on the needs of the family. Dr. Sulka has been providing psychological services for 20 years, and has directed several programs for parents and their children birth to 8 years old.She believes that every child and parent deserve the opportunity to develop a relationship together that best supports that child’s potential to grow well and love well. She can be reached at (510) 326-2002 and jillsulka@gmail.com.
Growing a baby necessarily forces your organs to the sides of your abdomen. Your tummy muscles, connective tissue and skin stretch to accommodate your growing baby. After birthing, you are left with an abdominal void, an empty space where the baby once grew. Your body gives you about 6 weeks to acutely impact the healing of your abdominal and pelvic tissue. Depending on our breastfeeding tenure, you have about 6 months to recover from birth before your beneficial postpartum hormones dwindle and you’ll then start fighting an uphill battle to bring our organs and abdominal tissue back into alignment. The first 6 weeks postpartum are imperative to our lifelong urinary and sexual health.
In the Bay Area we have access to a wealth of prenatal education but we rarely learn about postpartum rehabilitation. Recently, the tradition of postpartum corseting or “belly binding” has gained popularity. Lauded for its superficial impact on Hollywood starlets (Jessica Alba’s abs immediately postpartum, anyone?) the practice’s exposure has us buzzing. More important than fitting into your pre-baby jeans, the practice of belly binding can protect you from a secretly common ailment that we previously discussed in our June newsletter: Uterine prolapse.
Prolapse occurs when the uterus falls through the weakened pelvic floor and into or even out of the vagina. Painful, scary and embarrassing, prolapse is mostly preventable if postpartum care is taken seriously. Postpartum corseting draws the abdomen back to the spine and brings your abs together in the case of diastasis recti.
A postpartum corset retrains the tissue to support your lower back and organs as the postpartum hormones reset your posture. Combined with the pelvic floor exercises from our June newsletter, you are giving your torso the kindest support possible.
Glow has sourced the best postpartum corsets available in America. Unlike the bulky Velcro versions developed in the U.S., or the time consuming woven binders, we offer South American eye-hooked corsets with flexible boning so the fabric stays put at your hips and around your upper torso. Our postpartum wellness specialist will visit you immediately postpartum to take your measurements and fit you for the appropriate sizing. Contact us at glow@gloweastbay.com for more information on corset fitting and more postpartum services to care for your body.
The French medical system devotes an entire 10-20 professionally-guided sessions to la rééducation périnéale or postpartum vagina education. Following this course of therapy, abdominal reeducation begins with a further 10-20 sessions. This program successfully reduces incontinence, postpartum depression, sexual dysfunction and organ prolapse (look it up!).
In contrast, our American system eschews rehabilitation, instead focusing on a return to normal physical activity. With no guidance in between, many of us exercise to get our outermost layers smokin’ hot and yet we’re unable to jog around the block without a maxi pad. So what’s the skinny?
You may have pelvic floor dysfunction if you experience the following...
Incontinence: Urinary or fecal (with cough, sneeze, running, laughing)
Urgency: Having to rush and not quite make it to the bathroom
Frequency: Going more than every 2-4 hours
Pain with sex, pain with orgasm or inability to orgasm
Pelvic, hip, lower back and/or SI joint pain
WATCH | A succinct five-minute video of the perfect abdominal workout appropriate for all women: prenatal, postpartum or non-natal. Do it 3-5 times per week.
VISIT | Back to Life Physical Therapy in San Francisco and Oakland. Kaiser patients are covered by referral at this practice.
VISIT | Pelvic Health & Rehabilitation Center in Berkeley.
READ | Postpartum Strong, from the inside out. Real talk about your pelvic floor and all the fun organs it supports.
READ | A hilarious Slate article about the French postpartum care system.
