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6 tips to get back in shape quickly after baby
Birth gifts: ask for help!
Do your friends or your family want to spoil you to celebrate the birth of your little one? Refuse the umpteenth comforter or pajamas in size 0 (already too small) and dare to ask… for help! Above all, you need to be surrounded and pampered. Of course, the dad is there to support you, but often, he is already running everywhere, between the administration and the house to run.
Here is a list of what you can ask those around you:
- homemade dishes to freeze,
- half a day of cleaning,
- a flat rate to pay someone to do it for you,
- a few hours of babysitting (for example a friend can go for a walk with your baby while you are resting),
- a foot massage (ideal for boosting blood circulation).
Another cool idea, get coaching :
- “Carry baby”,
- “Initiation of breastfeeding” (with a lactation counselor)
- “Infant massage”.
Practice relaxation and stretching
After childbirth, it takes a little time for the organs to return to their place. The abdominals widened by about fifteen centimeters during the pregnancy. As a result, some young mothers have a feeling of heaviness in their organs when they stand for too long. To avoid this, try to stay lying down as much as possible, at least for the first few days after birth. It is not a question of being bedridden all day because beware of the risk of phlebitis, but of spending more time horizontally than standing, over a period of 24 hours.
If you are feeling very tired, do a home relaxation session. Lie on the floor, legs raised at 90 °, calves resting on the seat of a chair. Place the breastfeeding pillow around your neck and lay your baby on your tummy facing you, unless you have had a cesarean (in which case, place it by your side). In this position, take a few deep breaths, and you will feel your whole body relax.
Also do stretching exercises. Sit in front of your companion, hold hands and descend slowly until you arrive in a squatting position. Thus, you gently stretch your spine. A few weeks after childbirth, go to an osteopath, he will check that everything is back in place and resolve any tensions.
Take care of your skin
Almost 70% of women see stretch marks appear during pregnancy. Because of a significant weight gain, the epidermis must manufacture more elastin and collagen fibers. But during pregnancy, hormonal changes slow down this mechanism and the elastic fibers of the skin break: red, even purplish streaks become lodged on the stomach, hips, etc.
To limit their appearance, avoid excessive weight loss or gain. So even if you want to get back to the line quickly, your best bet is to stabilize your weight gently.
Likewise, to strengthen the fibers of the epidermis, spread yourself generously with an anti-stretch mark cream. If you are breastfeeding, check to see if you can use it. And direction the dermatologist to reduce them thanks to creams containing acid vitamin A or peels. For all other minor skin concerns (pregnancy mask, etc.), go to your dermatologist.
Restore vitality to your hair
To know :
hair is often gray and tends to fall out one to five months after childbirth. To slow down the loss and promote growth, make an anti-hair loss cure in the form of capsules or lotion.
To have pep, a healthy and varied diet is essential. For balanced dishes, put on the menu: starchy foods (pasta, rice, bread), preferably complete, in moderate quantities at each meal, protein once or twice a day, favoring seafood, vegetables at will , fruits (two maximum because they contain sugar) and dairy products. And don’t feel guilty if you crack a bit between meals: cravings are common after childbirth, due to hormonal disturbances. Likewise, if you are breastfeeding, you will have more appetite. Opt for a snack in the morning and / or in the afternoon – yogurt with a slice of bread with very little butter – and avoid sweets, fried foods, sugary drinks …
Good news, simply by rebalancing your diet, you can lose 1 to 2 kg per month! But no diet: wait until the end of breastfeeding or the return of diapers, on the contrary you need to replenish your vitamins and minerals. Pregnancy has also pumped your iron stores (a deficit can cause great fatigue). To refuel, bet on dried vegetables, black pudding, liver … Breastfeeding involves greater needs in calcium and omega 3. Eat three dairy products per day and omega 3 side, consume at least twice a week of oily fish and sprinkle your salads with flax seeds and rapeseed or walnut oil.
Resume the abs gently
To exercise your muscles, learn false chest inspiration, as taught by Dr. Bernadette de Gasquet *. It can be done immediately after leaving the maternity ward. Forget the series of abs called “crunches”, where you lift the bust to the knees, destroying the perineum! Lying down with your back stretched, place a cushion under your knees to remove the low back. Exhale for a long time without pushing. When you have breathed out all your air, close your mouth and pinch your nose. Then make the gesture of inhaling, keeping the nose pinched. The belly hollows out sharply, under the abdomen. All the organs go up. This (false) inspiration massages the uterus and causes the deep abdominals to contract.
Another variant:
Imaginary skating. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet on the ground. Imagine you are skating and carrying your body weight from one foot to the other. Nothing moves, but everything works in depth!
Redraw your curves
First stage : Chest. During pregnancy, estrogen and progesterone increase the volume of the breasts: we gain one or two cup sizes. But after childbirth (if you are not breastfeeding) or at the end of breastfeeding, the mammary gland contracts and the breasts deflate. In a more or less marked way according to the variations of weight and the quality of the skin.
The right gestures:
- apply a firming cream, even if you are breastfeeding (wipe nipples before feeding). Massage in circular motions going up from the base of the breast to the neck.
- wear a supportive bra.
- strengthen your pecs – the muscles that support the chest – with specific exercises three times a week. Result: the shoulders straighten up, it gives the bust a look and it lifts the breasts.
Second step: the silhouette. Redraw your curves using creams (compatible with breastfeeding). No miracles, but these are good nudges. Draining and anti-infiltrating active ingredients – based on ivy, holly, etc. – reduce the orange peel appearance. The slimming active ingredients dislodge curves. Massage yourself morning and evening to boost their action. On the thighs, hips and buttocks, circular movements from bottom to top, then the famous palpate-roll. On the stomach, circular movements in a clockwise direction.
Do you want to talk about it between parents? To give your opinion, to bring your testimony? We meet on https://forum.parents.fr.