Muscle Separation

We had an antenatal physio class last night which showed us massage during labour and positions etc.. The physio had us all lie down and check if the muscle in the front of our stomach had separated, she then went to each lady to check it and show how to find the separation correctly.

Mine has separated 3-4 fingers wide (most other girls had maybe 1 finger of separation).. I kinda already knew this as if i flex my belly to get up, my belly goes into a very noticable cone shape and baby sticks out like you wouldn't believe.

The physio used me as an example of what it looked like and the whole class thought it was a fabulous party trick... She just said that the wider the separation the longer it may take for it to go back after birth.. She said it is common in people with a tiny frame, as she said "baby is growing and it has to go somewhere".. I do have a small frame but still just wanting to hear from others who had this happen and even how long it took to go back to normal after baby arrived.

The physio said at this stage we should avoid any movement which causes our abdominals to flex and hence could make this separation even bigger. She said no vaccuming, picking up heavy items or washing and even bending up and down and getting out of bed in certain ways which cause our abdominals to flex. I've been doing alot of that due to renovations so obviously i can stop that knowing but just wanted to hear from anyone who had this also?

I had it with my second pg. After my first birth I did gentle abdo exercises from day 1 after birth, and then after 6 or so weeks ramped them up and my tummy recovered it's shape pretty quickly. After my second I was told not to do any abdo exercises due to the muscle separation (which I didn't know about until after the birth) so I didn't. It has taken my tummy longer to recover, but that is probably also because with two kids I never really had the chance to exercise properly at all, even after the muscles were ok for me to do so. Now I am doing Pilates twice a week and things are definitely better.

I wouldn't be too worried, try and not do anything to make them worse. Also, after birth you can get a brace thing for your tummy which helps them heal quicker, so I recommend that (see a physio for this - you might even be able to have one while pg but I don't know about this). A physio can also guide you with appropriate exercises and let you know when it's ok to start etc.

Wow i've never heard of any of that stuff, sounds a bit scary. I'm small too and when i sit up from laying i get that cone shape too. I've already had a child and afterwards my tummy went back to being flat and all good, didnt do anything but dancing, not sure if that helped, but i'll def be asking the doc about this.

A friend just had her baby last week and had the same thing happen. 4 fingers of separation and she was given a belly belt to help the muscles reform quicker so I'm assuming I'll get this after birth also.

Yeah, that's what it's called LOL. Oh well, "brace thing" was kind of close!

Once you are ok to exercise again after birth (and not before!!), start Pilates classes. They are really awesome for getting your tummy back into shape.

Yeah, that's what it's called LOL. Oh well, "brace thing" was kind of close!

Once you are ok to exercise again after birth (and not before!!), start Pilates classes. They are really awesome for getting your tummy back into shape.