Mrs Ojo (not real name)
had just given birth to her first baby and like many mothers, was ecstatic.
However after about three months of her journey to motherhood, she has begun to
nurse some misgivings. “I love my baby more than anything in the world and won’t
trade the experience for anything. But whenever I look in the mirror, I’m a bit
discouraged at how fat I have gotten and bulgy my stomach has become. I used to
pride myself of a relatively flat tummy and I know with pregnancy would come a
bigger tummy but it’s taking too long for my body to return to shape. It gets
worse when I visit the social media. I see pictures of celebrity mums who say
they got their bodies and tummies back after few weeks of putting to bed. I
remember seeing dancer Kaffy’s picture few weeks after she gave birth to her
second baby. She was so toned with no single fat. Even Annie Idibia didn’t have
such a huge bulge after some weeks of putting to bed. I saw Toyin Lawani’s
picture and was just amazed. I don’t even want to go into foreign celebrity
mums. Even my sister in-law that has three kids still looks like she has not
had one. Looking in the mirror makes me feel lazy and insecure. I’m beginning
to worry that my husband may not find me attractive anymore.”
Unfortunately,
Mrs Ojo is not alone. For many women, the realisation that they are nursing a
life inside of them comes with joy and a bit of nervousness but after nine
months of morning sickness, strong cravings, weight gain, mood swings, sore
breasts and fatigue, and they hold their baby for the first time, the sense of
relief and accomplishment makes it worth it. After the birth comes the
adjustment, both physically and psychologically. And although new mums have
intense love for their babies, the same may not be said of their bodies which
sometimes go through drastic changes. As if the adjustment to motherhood is not
pressure enough, in today’s world, new mums are hassled to speedily lose baby
weight and gain their pre-pregnancy bodies back in as short a time as possible.
With celebrity mums splashing “post natal swag” pictures all over social media
of how they regained their pre-pregnancy bodies barely a month after birth, the
already existing pressure on women about their bodies and the presumed ideal
body size becomes worse for the post natal mum of whom demands are made by her
partner, society and sometimes herself to have the same body as she did before
birth. Although some women may choose to ignore such expectations, but the
judgements and snide comments about her weight and belly (such as asking if she
has again taken in owing to a bulgy belly months after putting to bed)
sometimes push the new mum to the point of anxiety. Hence, a period where she
should bask in the post pregnancy experience and allow her body transit naturally
is spent worrying about getting back her body, especially her belly.
However,
experts say this should not be so. Dr Steven Adegoke, a
gynaecologist/obstetrician, said: “There are lots of changes that occur during
pregnancy and these include hormonal changes and physical changes, especially
with the skin and the muscles. Although these changes generally occur in
every pregnant woman, the fact remains that each woman is different and the
extent of each change is peculiar to her body system. It takes a
nine-month period for the changes to occur so it is only natural that it would
take some time for the body to heal and try to get back to its former state. It
used to be six weeks needed for the body to heal but recent discoveries show
that women might need up to a year to heal and recover from pregnancy.”
For
women who are in a hurry to get back their bodies, intense exercises and diet
modification are usually adopted. In fact, celebrity new-mums on the social
media attribute their trim, tone bodies to this. While exercises and diet
changes are welcome, Dr Adegoke calls for caution. He said: “For each week post
partum, there are required exercises that are needed and this is different for
every woman. So, it is wrong to throw a blanket statement saying this
particular exercise is what every new mum must do to get her body back.
However, light exercises are recommended at the initial weeks after putting to
bed. These include stretching and even sex. As early as four weeks, a woman can
resume sexual activities. They should stay away from strenuous physical
activities and exercises all in a bid to get their bodies back. In fact, in
some women no exercise is even needed, yet their bodies return to normal after
the required time. However, that depends on the woman’s body makeup.”
Head
of the Ante-Natal Clinic, State Hospital, Adeoyo Ring Road, Ibadan, Dr Adekunle
Aremu, added that “there is usually, on the average, a 12.5kg increase in
weight during pregnancy. It is not likely that a woman would lose the entire
additional weight after pregnancy. However, it is expected that there be an
appreciable change in her weight. If she follows dietary and exercise advice as
prescribed by her doctor, she would be on her way to getting her body back. It
is important for women to realise that no two pregnancies are the same. That
one dietary/exercise routine worked for woman A doesn’t mean it would work for
woman B. In fact, that a routine worked for a first pregnancy doesn’t mean it
would work for a second pregnancy in the same woman.
“As
a result of innovations in terms of drugs, machinery and physical therapy, so
many factors have come to play such that there is an adjustment in the six
weeks recovery period. But this calls for caution. It is not advisable to rush an
incident, that should under normal circumstances take six weeks, to less. We
encourage light exercises and diet to get back to the original pre-pregnancy
state on time but this should be at the body’s natural pace. When women come
out to say they got their bodies back in two weeks, it is more of an
exaggeration just to create an impression; the body needs longer than that to
recover.”
Besides
exercise and diet, it has also been discovered that breastfeeding is a potent
way to reduce pregnancy weight and get the tummy back in shape as adequate
breastfeeding encourages involution (shrinking of the uterus).
Experts
advise women to not be misled by social media. “The fact that a celebrity put
to bed and is flaunting a flat abdomen few weeks after may be as a result of
accessories she’s wearing in the said picture such as corsets and girdles.
These can help to an extent but women should not be deceived into going through
strenuous exercises shortly after childbirth just because of the pressure to
have a flat abdomen. The body should be given time,” Dr Irene Bassey, a medical
practitioner said.
In
some cultures, it is believed that using a towel soaked in hot water to press
on the post-natal tummy would flush clotted blood and enable the uterus to
shrink so as to get back a flat abdomen. Certain spicy and hot foods are also
said to help shrink the uterus. However, experts say this is neither practical
nor necessary. “If hot water compress is the only way to remove blood clots
what happens to women who undergo caesarean section and can’t be pressed? One
can even suffer scalding and burns from such a practice. The body will
naturally and gradually return to a normal state after the baby is born,” Dr
Aremu said.
Source:
tribuneonlineng
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