Should You Wait Until You’re Done Having Kids to “Fix” Your Body?

You’ve decided you’re not done at one.

You want more kids.

You’re thinking two? three? Maybe more?

So since you’re going to get pregnant again sometime in the near future you might as well just hold off and not worry about rehabbing your post-baby body until you’re absolutely sure you’re done, right?

I mean, what’s the point if you’re just going to go through it all again?

You don’t want to have to work hard only to have it all come undone with your next pregnancy.

So it just makes sense to wait until you know you’re done having kids to “fix” your body, right?

Well… my answer might surprise you.

I say nope. Don’t wait.

And there are 3 key reasons I don’t recommend you wait until your uterus is fully closed for business and living the retired life at Keawakapu beach on Maui (lucky uterus! 😉 ).

Now before we dive into the reasons I want to address this whole “fix” idea.

I use the word fix because that’s the word I hear from a lot of moms I work with and moms in the SweetMomBod community.

And I get it. You may have come out of birth feeling broken and in need of fixing so it makes sense to use that verbage.

But I want to make it very clear that what I’m focused on here is helping you feel like yourself again and not have any pain or symptoms that ruin your day (or life).

There’s enough pressure out there for you to “get your body back”.

So when I say “fix” I don’t mean make yourself look like you never even had a baby in the first place.

My goal is to help you reach your goals – whatever they may be, including looking a certain way if that’s what you really want – in a realistic, healthy, positive way.

I’m not interested in selling you the idea that you need to change anything about your body. You don’t. It’s your body. Your choice.

I’m simply here to support you and help empower you to make the best choices for yourself.

So, with that said, let’s dive into why I don’t think you should wait to work on some postpartum rehab goodness until you’re for sure done having kids.

1. You Could Simply Feel Better. Right Now.

Say you busted your knee and your doctor recommends surgery.

You’re getting some pain but it’s not that bad. You can manage… you think.

So you decide to train for and run 2 more marathons before getting the surgery because what’s the rush, right? You might as well wait until after you’re done this running season to get the surgery. You’ll get it all out of the way and then go under the knife.

Does that make sense? Does that sound like the best plan?

I’m gonna go with nope.

That definitely doesn’t sound like the best plan to me.

Why wait when you can take care of it now?

Sure there will be recovery time and you’ll probably miss some races and other stuff – and maybe you’ll even hurt it again at some point down the line – but by taking care of it sooner rather than later you’re more likely to heal better, faster, and without needing as much downtime.

The better you take care of yourself now, the better everything will feel in the long run – no pun intended 😉

This is how I like to think about postpartum recovery.

So many women say “Oh I’ll just wait until I’m done having kids then I’ll “fix” my body. There’s no point in doing anything now because the next pregnancy is just going to undo everything anyways.”

I get that. I get why you may think that.

What’s the point if you’re just going to go through it all again?

But consider the fact that using some simple, intentional strategies between having kids could literally change your life. Now and in the the future.

It could mean the difference between you feeling confident and like yourself again as soon as possible, or feeling uncomfortable, unhappy, and unable to do the things you want to do for years – at least not without any pain or issues.

So if you’d rather feel better right now, there’s no time like the present to work on some postpartum recovery strategies.

It doesn’t even have to be anything intense.

Just doing some basic exercises and taking care of your core and pelvic floor – especially if you’re working with any kind of pain or dysfunction like diastasis, leaking or prolapse – so you feel stronger and better, that could give you more joy and confidence right now.

So why wait?

2. What You Do Now Could Impact Future Pregnancies & Recoveries

Say you ignored the doctor’s suggestion and just kept running until you got all the races you wanted to get done out of the way, how do you think that would impact your performance and how you feel during and after those races?

Do you think there’s a chance your injury could end up being worse (maybe even much worse) if you just kept going?

It doesn’t get any easier.

Nothing in our bodies (usually) spontaneously heals while we’re doing things that could negatively impact the healing process.

Going into another pregnancy and postpartum period with an already compromised core and pelvic floor doesn’t make things fun and it sure can make it uncomfortable at best, painful at worst.

If you knew that there was something you could do to help prevent your kiddo from having to go through any kind of pain and suffering you would do it, right?

So give yourself the same kindness.

Go into future pregnancies knowing that you did what you could, as best you could with the time, energy and strategies you had to feel as strong as possible.

Pregnancy is tough enough.

You don’t need to add all kinds of aches and pains to the picture when they could have been prevented – or at least lessened.

Even if you’re pregnant right now, it’s not too late.

There are some strategies and exercises you can use to help feel and function better and help you recover as quickly as possible post-birth.

Again, this doesn’t have to be an intensive rehab program.

Just some basic things – like learning how to breathe well and be in the best alignment possible – could make a huge difference in your next (or current) pregnancy.

If you just decide to wait it out until the very end, you could end up with some pain and issues during pregnancy and postpartum that you honestly don’t have to deal with.

The more you empower yourself and use the strategies and tools available to you now, the better you’ll feel in every future pregnancy.

3. If You’re Going to That Bootcamp, Know This.

If you’re planning on diving back into your pre-pregnancy, high-impact, high-intensity bootcamp, CrossFit, tabata… workouts between baby #1 and #2 (or #2 and #3…) you still need to consider the impact on your core and pelvic floor – even if you’re planning on having more kids.

You need to make sure that your core and pelvic floor is ready to handle those kinds of things.

If you simply decide to wait until you’re all done to get your rehab on, you could end up doing more damage and have a lot longer road to recovery (and maybe not even recover as well) than if you had been patient and did what you needed to do to get back into those workouts safely.

I know.

I know this isn’t fun.

I know you don’t want to hear this.

You just want to go back to CrossFit and get a good, hard workout in again.

But your core and pelvic floor needs you to appreciate that the choices you make between kids – like skipping the rehab portion of the program – could impact your function and performance for the rest of your life.

This isn’t meant to scare you.

I simply want to make you aware of the risk versus the reward.

Is it worth it to do those box jumps when you know you’re leaking – even just a little bit – and you could end up doing more harm than good?

Is it worth it to run those 5 miles when you’re getting some pretty intense pressure in your pelvic floor still?

Is it worth it to ignore the fact that your stomach is coning and still keep doing those sit-ups?

Especially when you know there are things you can do to help overcome all these issues (and more)?

I know it sounds very serious but the truth is that sometimes it is. Sometimes your quality of life changes dramatically if you’re not willing to be patient and take the time and learn the strategies and do the things so that you can get back into running and all the things feeling awesome and absolutely ready.

It’s all about risk versus reward.

Are you willing to take that risk for the potential reward?

Is it truly worth it to you?

It’s your choice.

I’m not here to make it for you. Simply to let you know as many of the facts as I can think of to share.

So yes. I think it’s a great idea to work on some postpartum rehab strategies between kids. Even if you feel like your next pregnancy is just going to undo everything.

Chances are it won’t.

Because the truth is your next pregnancy is going to feel a heck of a lot better and you’re going to have a much easier time recovering if you take care of business now.

Helping your body heal well and constantly using smart breathing and alignment strategies now will actually set you up to recover faster in the long run because you’ll already have the tools you need in your toolbox.

So do what you need to do. Learn the strategies. Take it slow. Build back up.

In the grand scheme of things this is such a short amount of time and you only get one core and pelvic floor.

It’ll thank you for this one day.

I know.

I asked 😉

 

Hugs,

Jen

P.S. Have a friend who thinks she should just wait until she’s done having kids and worry about all the stuff then? Send her this post. I have a feeling she’ll be grateful you did.