Love your Post-Partum Body!

Posted on 03. Aug, 2009 by Becky in Love Your Body

Well, the pregnancy ride is over, and I am the proud mama of a perfect 3 week old little girl named Chloe.  Today’s post is about loving your post-partum body, and, I know, this can be a challenge–especially the morning after you’ve birthed that little miracle and it seems there’s still a little brother or sister inside of you.  But, hopefully these tips will help you celebrate the amazing abilities your body has!  Go mama!

1.  Be Patient

There’s nothing as frustrating as poking your jelly-belly, or staring in awe at your post-epidural cankles.  So…don’t do it!  Stay far far away from the mirror in those first few weeks when your body is recovering from the trauma of childbirth.  Don’t obsessively check your waistline and don’t even think about stepping on the scale.  You will have plenty of time to return to your fabulous former self.  Spend those first days gazing at your baby and poking her quickly-growing dimpled cheeks.  Soon she’ll be much pudgier than you are.

2.  Consider the miracle of Motherhood

When your chest is hard as a rock and your abs are soft and squishy, you may feel like the whole world is upside-down, but try to keep perspective.  Your body is amazingly equipped with everything it needs to grow life, bring life from a tiny womb into a wide world, and then to sustain life.  You are so awesome!

3.  Nurse, Baby, Nurse!

I have been a major proponent of nursing for all 3 of my children, not only because I’m too cheap to buy formula, too lazy to make a bottle in the middle of the night, and too selfish to let anyone else get the enjoyment of that special bonding time…but also because my nursing body is definitely most rocking body.  Not only is it the only time in my life I will ever be close to voluptuous, but because those extra 500 calories a day go a long way toward achieving and maintaining your ideal weight.  If you feel like you are far from losing that baby weight, keep on nursing, and it will melt off before you know it.

4.  Move it, Mama

If you are already post-partum, then this tip is too little, too late.  But the best way I have found to love my post-partum body is to work it through my whole pregnancy.  Even with sciatic nerve issues, an aching tailbone, and lots of contractions, finding a way to stay active through your whole pregnancy will definitely improve your recovery time. Although I was careful not to overdo it, I taught group exercise classes up through my 37th week, and thereafter I stayed consistent with a 30-40 minute cardio session on the stationary bike or elliptical almost everyday, even the day of my scheduled induction.  This persistence certainly paid off, not only with more energy, strong muscle tone, and positive-mindset-endorphines in the last weeks of my pregnancy, but in an exceptionally quick recovery.  Within 2 weeks of my daughter’s birth, I was back in my skinny pants.  It’s not good genes.  It’s hard work.  And anyone can do that.

5.  Find a Confidence Booster

Whether it’s a fresh coat of nail polish, a touch-up on your highlights, or a few new items of clothing, find something that makes you feel attractive and confident.  True confidence shouldn’t come from our outside appearance, but in these days when a shower seems like a luxury, we’ve got to have something to keep us out of the doldrums.  Spoil yourself a little, and tell yourself how fabulous you are.  After all, you are a new mama.  It doesn’t get much more important than that.

Tags: Post-Partum Body