Postpartum Resources

What You Can Start Right Away

• Intro and the importance of rest
• Posture (all day everyday)
• Breathing (all day every day and at least once a day, lying down 10+ times)
• Pelvic floor (kegel every cough or sneeze, relaxation using breath all day every day especially when pooping, peeing and with sex)
• Abdominals (throughout your day and at least once a day, lying down 10+ times. If cesarean delivery, wait until your incision has healed and you are cleared for abdominal activation) 
• How to move initially after a cesarean delivery
• Picking up baby with squat
• Picking up baby with hip hinge 
• Getting off floor with shin box to lunge

More Pelvic Floor Care

• Pelvic floor workshop
• Pelvic floor class series
• Pelvic floor virtual programs
• Pelvic floor physical therapists in Santa Cruz, Watsonville and Monterey

Constipation

• Using a foot stool while on the toilet is optimal for the pelvic floor and helps with constipation
• Natural Calm -Magnesium Citrate for softer bowel movements
• Taking some toilet paper and applying gentle pressure to the perineal (space between anus and vagina) can help ease pain with pooping

Nutrition

• Lily Nichols – Postpartum Nutrition / Recipes 

Ask Your Provider/Midwife for a list of pelvic floor therapists after 6 weeks postpartum (or earlier if desired) to address any of the following issues:

• Rehabilitation of inner core including abdominals, pelvic floor and back
• Leaking/ Urinary incontinence
• Urinary Frequency
• Pain
• Return to sex
• Return to exercise
• Diastasis Recti
• Hemorrhoids, constipation and other related issues
• Pressure/Heaviness/Discomfort in the pelvis and vagina