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Why educate and strengthen your perineum during pregnancy?
If postnatal perineal rehabilitation is now common, studies have shown that working the perineum during pregnancy would prevent or limit the problems ofurinary incontinence, as are the more serious risks of organ descent. It is indeed common for women to suffer from urinary incontinence before, during, but also after their pregnancy. In France, nearly 4 million people would be affected, including three quarters of women. It is therefore preferable to act upstream, when you can still control your perineum and learn to contract it correctly.
Perineum training: when should you start?
It is strongly recommended to start making it work as soon as first trimester of pregnancy until the end of the second trimester. The last three months, the baby weighing heavier, it becomes indeed difficult for us to contract the perineum. But the work done in the previous months should in any case limit the risk of postpartum urinary incontinence.
Perineum education: what are the post-childbirth benefits?
Education of the perineum during pregnancy does not in any way dispense postnatal rehabilitation. However, studies have shown that women who worked their perineum in the first trimester of pregnancy recovered much more quickly after giving birth. They indeed have a better knowledge of the functioning of this group of muscles, the rehabilitation is therefore facilitated.
Who are the women concerned by the education of the perineum during pregnancy?
Women already suffering from minor urinary incontinence problems before pregnancy are obviously the most affected. It is essential to talk to the midwife or specialist who follows you. Only he will be able to establish a perineal assessment and determine the importance or not of the disorders. Be aware that incontinence problems can sometimes be hereditary, so some women will be more prone than others. THE’obesity is also a risk factor that can make incontinence worse, just like repeated chronic strain (allergies causing severe coughing attacks, practice of requiring intense work on the perineum such as horse riding or dancing…).
How to make your perineum work?
benefits sessions with a midwife can be prescribed for us to perform manual vaginal labor and make us aware of our perineum. These sessions will also be an opportunity to correct our bad habits. The perineum is indeed a muscle group that does not work spontaneously. It must therefore be done, but correctly. For example, you sometimes think you are contracting your perineum when you are only contracting your abdominals. Different breathing and contraction exercises will be performed with a professional. Once the exercises have been learned, nothing will prevent us from doing it on our own at home. These sessions will be covered if they have been prescribed.
What about perineum massages?
Special oils are available on the market to massage the perineum at the end of pregnancy, thus promising to “soften it“. Are they really effective? Apparently not. But it can’t hurt us to discover our perineum by massages, so nothing prevents us from doing it. On the other hand, there is no no miracle product and no scientific study has proven the effectiveness of such massages (to avoid episiotomy for example).