News

Body Rebirth — Getting in shape takes special care after baby is born.

by Alexa Stanard
The Detroit News
September 5, 2006

Karin Stollman-Johnson of Bloomfield Hills, with daughter Emily 2, getting in the act, exercises twice a week at Functional Fitness and Inspired Wellness in Birmingham. It has helped her regain strength after two C-sections.

After giving birth to daughter Emily, Karin Stollman-Johnson felt sore and weak. So when the Bloomfield Hills resident got pregnant again less than a year later, her mother persuaded her to try Pilates.

“I had big babies, and I’m pretty small,” says Stollman-Johnson, 40. “Lifting was really hard. I had a lot of shoulder problems, and my back was always hurting me. Exercise has really helped.”

She’s especially happy with the improvement in her core strength, she says. Both of her children were born by Caesarean section, and Stollman-Johnson needed to do special exercises to get her stomach strong again.

“It’s been really hard to accept that it takes time,” she says. “I think it’s really important to get your inner strength, that’s what gets your whole body moving.”

While finding the time and the energy for exercise is a challenge for new moms, fitness is a challenge for new moms, fitness experts say doing so is well worth the effort: Exercise can help women’s bodies recover more quickly, boost energy and mood levels and help those pregnancy pounds drop off.

There are precautions postpartum women should take when they exercise, and women who have had C-sections face different fitness challenges than those who delivered vaginally.

Fitness after baby

At Functional Fitness and Inspired Wellness, a holistic health center in Birmingham where Stollman-Johnson exercises, owner Kelly Hale says women who work out after giving birth can look forward to a quicker recovery and better ability to perform the physically demanding tasks of motherhood.

But postpartum women need to go slow, she says. “We talk about functional training, and that takes on a whole new meaning when you have small children,” Hale says. “It’s an endurance event, with a lot of opportunity for injury, and you need to train for it.

“But you need to very gently progress. A lot of people want to come in, get back in shape and go too quickly too soon. You have to be careful.”

Dawn Sills, a physical therapist and personal trainer, was anxious to start exercising after giving birth to her daughter, Sophia. Physixcal activity improved her mood and energy. “When she was sleeping, and I had those 20-minute breaks, I would go jump on the treadmill, and it made me feel better,” says Sills, and Oakland Township resident.

Exercises classes for new moms abound in Metro Detroit — from water aerobics classes at the YMCA to stroller fitness classes at local recreation centers. Many health clubs provide child care, but programs that allow women to include their baby in their routine are often most successful, says Dr. Katherine Nori, medical director for the Healthy New Moms program at Beaumont Hospital.

“One of the main issues we address is caring for baby and taking time for yourself,” Nori says. “One thing we recommend is doing things together — taking baby for a walk, using harnesses to do lunges at home, or DVDs and videos you can do at home.”

Different challenges

Women looking to get in shape after giving birth face different challenges, depending on whether they’re recovering from a vaginal birth or a C-section.

“Exercising after a C-section is similar to starting after major abdominal surgery, because that’s what it is,” says Dr. Amy Tremper, an obstetrician and gynecological clinical instructor at the University of Michigan. “You’re going through layers of skin and connective tissue. “The muscle is stretched heavily, there’s an incision in the uterus. All of those structures are trying to regrow afterwards.”

Women should make no quick moves in the first two weeks after a C-section, Tremper says. They can gradually increase activity but shouldn’t exercise until the six-week postpartum assessment with their physician.

Even after getting the green light, women who have had C-sections can expect to go slowly.

“When the doctor gave me the OK to exercise, I wasn’t teaching kick-boxing the next day,” says aerobics instructor Cassandra Smith of Livonia, who had a C-section delivery in December. “You have to build up to that. Compared to someone who didn’t have a C-section, you have a little more work to do.”

Women who have C-sections lose about twice the amount of blood as those who deliver vaginally, Tremper says, which can affect their stamina and ability to begin cardiovascular exercise.

Normal vaginal deliveries often mean women can begin mild exercise within a day or two. Brooke Jones, 31, says after delivering her son seven months ago, she had mild soreness for a couple of days but quickly felt fine. The Ferndale resident returned to karate and yoga classes about 12 weeks after giving birth, hoping to lose 40 pounds she’d gained.

“My back was hurting form holding my baby, and exercise helped-it built up my arms and back,” Jones says. In the spring, she started walking every day: “It was so easy, and my baby loved the walks.”

Women who deliver vaginally need to rebuild pelvic floor muscles, learning to contract and relax them.

All postpartum women need to take it easy on their joints because the pregnancy hormone relaxin, which helps joints become looser, stays in effect two to three months after birth, Tremper says.

Women also need to be gentle on their abdominal muscles. Many are anxious to start stomach crunches and lose extra weight on their belly, but pushing too hard can be harmful, Hale says. About a third of women during pregnancy experience separation of the right and left sides of the abdomen called diastasis recti, which generally doesn’t cause pain but can permanently damage muscles.

Be gentle

The key to a successful postpartum exercise routine is to be patient, listen to your body and work in fitness when you can. “Be respectful and realize that just as it took nine months for your body to change, it should take another nine months or more for it to change again,” Hale says.

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