Bouncing back after baby: Embrace healing, forget unrealistic pressure

Pregnancy and childbirth are great moments for the majority of women. Inevitably, weight gain and loss of muscular tone are effects of pregnancy. Soon after delivery, new pressures start to pile up almost immediately, mostly related to adjustments required to care for a newborn. For some, there’s added pressure to return to the body shape that predated the pregnancy.

Regaining the desired body shape after pregnancy has had its celebrity status. Those in the limelight appear to revert to their pre-pregnancy shapes in a matter of weeks. Such an expectation is hardly the norm and is an unrealistic goal for the majority of women. Celebrities may have resources that include personal trainers, chefs and nannies, all of whom allow them to devote serious time to getting back in shape. If you are an ordinary mortal, spare yourself from unrealistic deadlines.

For the majority, there is a long road to getting back to the original pre-pregnancy body habitus. A 2009 study showed that it takes, on average, about 10 months to revert to the pre-pregnancy weight. Five per cent of women take a whole three years to regain their previous looks, but depressingly, one in three women never regain their pre-pregnancy shapes at all!

There are things you could do to enhance returning to what your body was before pregnancy. Having a good diet, pregnancy and childbirth have high nutritional demands, especially in breastfeeding women who need additional calories daily. Prematurely commencing on fancy weight reduction diets just limits your energy reserves and contributes to unending fatigue. This may jeopardise well-intentioned efforts at giving optimal care to your newborn baby, all in an attempt to regain envious looks.

Getting back to a physical exercise routine should be gradual and unhurried. Women who have had normal and uncomplicated vaginal deliveries can usually commence physical activities as early as they wish. If the delivery was more complicated or by Cesarian Section, a review by your Obstetrician before commencing physical activities may be necessary. Initial exercises may just be taking simple walks, combined with some stretching to improve muscular tone. As physical tolerance improves, aerobics and other more demanding exercises can be added on gradually.

Being a new mother is stressful, don’t get caught up in how the rest of the world wants you to look. You can become depressed and discouraged. You must accept that getting back into those pre-pregnancy sexy jeans may not be easy. The worst you can do is try too hard, do too much too soon, only to end up worse than you desire. Be ready to accept that pregnancy and childbirth are inevitably linked to changes in the way you look thereafter.

Dr Alfred Murage is a Consultant Gynaecologist and Fertility Specialist