3 steps to caesarean birth recovery

At present in the UK, around 1 in 4 women give birth by caesarean.

Despite these statistics, and the fact that a caesarean is a major surgery that requires proper healing and rehab (like any other type of surgery!), the level of support and guidance provided after a c-section birth is often very limited (if not absolutely poor!) leaving most new mums to their own devices.

Often, the instinctive focus of new mums is to go straight to try and rebuild strength in the abdominals. However, this will often be harder, or not as effective, if some ‘foundations’ for healing are not in place.

Here are the 3 steps that I share with all the new mums I work with after a caesarean. These steps go hand in hand and it all starts with step 1!

Step 1: Reconnecting with the lower belly

This might sound ‘fluffy’ or ‘woowoo’ but it’s not. Recovery truly starts here.
You cannot aim to rebuild strength in your core/abdominals without using the breath (see below), and you cannot breathe fully (and find the full support of the breath for your movement) if you don’t reconnect with the lower area of your belly first.

Yet for a lot of women, daring to truly reconnect with the site of their baby’s birth, and befriending their scar can be difficult.
If that’s you, start gently. Place your hands on your lower belly, fingertips near or on your scar and bring your (loving) attention there. When you feel ready, ‘send’ your breath into your scar, nourishing it with your breath, without pushing.

Massaging your scar (once it has healed, about 6 weeks after birth) is a great way to truly reconnect with the site of your baby’s birth, and hugely beneficial to support healing of scar tissue healing, and reduce the risk of adhesions. Start massaging the area above and below the scar, before moving on to massaging the scar itself.

Step 2: Diaphragmatic breathing

Full functional breathing form the basis of all recovery exercises (and daily functional movement like lifting, holding, bending etc). And the fact is that most of us don’t breathe well at all!

Yes we do get enough oxygen in our lungs to survive (!) but more often than not, our breathing is shallow or uncoordinated, and doesn’t create the movement and engagement of our whole core (your abs, but also your diaphragm, your pelvic floor and your back muscles) that it should.

Learning to let your ribcage and belly expand as you breathe in, and ‘float down’ as you exhale will retrain your deep core muscles to engage and help you rebuild that strength safely and effectively.

And the beauty is, you can do this ‘core’ exercise as soon as your baby has arrived, regardless of the type of birth you had.

Step 3: Progressive movements with breath to rebuild lower core strength

Once you have become more comfortable with diaphragmatic breathing, you can start adding progressive movement to gradually rebuild strength in your deep core.

This does include the pelvic floor that will have been affected by the weight of your baby during pregnancy and will need some rehab, AND rebuilding strength in your midline as all caesarean births involve abdominal muscles separation (diastasis recti - more on this here)

I like to start with isometric movements lying on your back when there is no weight bearing to be done by your abdominals, then gradually progress to other positions and movements, always listening to how you are feeling. Recovery is not a straight line that is the same for everybody.

In addition to the above, it is really worth remembering that caesarean birth recovery is not only about your scar and abdominals. Like any other birth, it is also about supporting the body to ‘close’ and re-stabilise after pregnancy, regaining posture, and keeping the upper body nice and relaxed as well to support that full breathing (and generally feel more comfortable amidst all the holding and feeding of your baby).

If you would like more support with your recovery, I cover many foundational exercises in my Postnatal Recovery Essentials workshop, which you can access in my on-demand Postnatal Recovery Collection of progressive postpartum and postnatal yoga recorded resources.

For more personalised support, I offer 1:1 sessions either in-person or online. If you would like to arrange a free consultation over the phone to see whether this would work for you, you can do so here.