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Our top 6 tips to help breastfeedling mums who exercise

If you are a breastfeeding mum and wanting to get stuck into exercise, here are the Pram Fitness top 6 exercise tips to help get you started with confidence that your milk supply will be a-ok!

Having a baby is a pretty incredible feat! Let’s think about that for a second, you have grown a human being…

Amazing!!

So now that your baby is here it’s important for you to know there are so many amazing benefits to keeping active post birth.

The thing is that so many mums worry about the effects of exercise while breastfeeding but the good news is that with a little bit of knowledge under your belt you can continue (or even start) to work out and safely feed your baby with no issues. Yay!

 

#1 Moderate exercise does not cause any harm to your breast milk or supply

There are so many benefits to exercising after having a baby, including:

  • Improved health and fitness
  • Improved mental health and energy levels
  • Reduction of stress levels
  • Improved bone strength
  • Can help with weight control and
  • Can help with mums that are experiencing post-natal depression

So for your own peace of mind…

According to the Australian Breastfeeding Association, moderate exercise will not affect breast milk supply or the levels of immune factors and major minerals and nutrients in breast milk.

Some research has shown lactic acid levels increased after maximal exercise, I don’t believe this is a problem for many exercising mums.

The first reason is most women only want to perform moderate exercise rather than high-intensity sessions (working at 100% for the whole session).

The second and main reason is that there is no evidence that these short increases of lactic acid has any effect on the milk nutrition.

So even if you are one of the mothers who want to go all out, you don’t need to worry that exercise will have an impact your breastfeeding journey.

#2 Start slowly and gradually build up your intensity

The way most mums describe breastfeeing and exercising is that they are moving around with 2 rockmelons where their boobs used to be.

If you are just getting back to exercise keep the intensity low to minimise bouncing and ease yourself into more impact when it feels right.

 

HOT TIP: If it doesn’t feel good when you’re exercising, stop or reduce the impact. Listen to your body and be kind to yourself as you transition back to exercise with some new life challenges.

 

#3 Breastfeed before you start exercising

It’s true that large, full and heavy breasts will be super uncomfortable (especially as you start to add in movement).

Giving your baby a feed before you exercise can have a double benefit…

A: Empting your breasts might give you a bit of comfort while you exercise and

B: It might help your baby to stay settled for a bit longer while you work out and before they need another feed – win win!

 

#4 Invest in a good breastfeeding maternity sports bra

It seems these days that a good breastfeeding sports bra is not that easy to find in a shop but if you are happy to take a chance and buy one online, you won’t be disappointed.

Some of the things to look out for when buying a breastfeeding sports bra are:

  • Look for an option that has no wire as this can help with reducing the chance of blocked ducts which can lead to mastitis – eeeeek painful!
  • Feeding clips at the front that are easily accessible. This way if you need to take a quick break from your workout to feed your baby you can do so with minimising any stress you might have about feeding your baby in public and it makes sure that your baby doesn’t get too upset waiting for a feed.

It’s true that some of our mums that come to Pram Fitness even feed and exercise at the same time. I know this might not be everyone’s cup of tea but I’m all about encouraging mums to do exactly what they want, when they want. In my eyes these mums are pretty much breastfeeding superheros.

 

TIP: Pram Fitness mum Sophia Thompson recommends Cadenshape Nursing Bras. Cadenshape is a New Zealand brand of activewear that has been developed specifically for breastfeeding mums. You can check them out here: https://www.cadenshae.co.nz/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

#5 Drink lots and lots of water

Always, always, always keep a drink bottle handy and make sure you drink throughout your workout.

Also keep in mind if it’s particularly hot or if you sweat a lot it’s important to replace lost fluids so you might need even more water than you think you need.

My favourite water tip is to purchase a 1 Litre bottle, drink till you are finished and then fill it up and go again. You want to be getting through at least 3 litres (or more) of water every day and this is a great way to know where you are up to.

 

#6 Wipe your breasts before you feed your baby

When you sweat your body leaves behind a salty flavour and some babies just don’t like the taste.

If this is the case keep some wet wipes on hand to give yourself a bit of a once over before you feed.

So there you have it, 6 tips to help you feel safe and confident that it’s ok to be a breastfeeding mum who works out.

Enjoy
Karen xxx

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5 Important Questions To Ask Your Doctor At Your 6 Week Post Natal Checkup

Before you even think about returning to exercise after having a baby, it’s important to get clearance from your doctor. This usually happens with you going along to your GP for your 6-Week Post Natal checkup where, if you are lucky, they will look at you, ask you a few generic questions and then say – “sure, go for it, you are now cleared to get back into exercise…”

 

This makes me so angry!!

 

The problem is that as soon as a medical professional tells us we are ok to do something, we take that as gospel right?

 

WRONG!

 

The 6 week checkup is no more than a routine “standard” appointment. It’s not specialised enough to offer women the advice they need about returning to exercise which is why you should go armed with questions to ask so that you can either give that information to your trainer or have some more knowledge about what exactly is going on with your body.


You should be asking for so much more to ensure you don’t have any major issues that are going to impact your return to fitness journey and that your transition back to exercise is as smooth as it can be.

So many mums I work with that come to the Pram Fitness Get Started Session are surprised at how thorough it is. Our main focus is your safety, we want to gain all the information we can to make sure we know exactly what is going on with your body to offer you the best advice we can about your exercise plan.


So why don’t doctors do this? So frustrating!


In my opinion I think it’s important to also have a check up with a Women’s Physio after having a baby. The best time to do this would be about a month after birth but this is also a crazy time and fitting in a physio appointment might just be impossible. If this is the case for you, that’s ok – just go when you can.


With this in mind, here are the top 5 questions that relate to returning to fitness that I think you should be asking your doctor at your 6 Week Check up…

#1: Can you please check me for abdominal separation

Just bear with me for a second while I explain this one… Your abdominals are joined on the left and right side by connective tissue that runs along the midline. This tissue is called your linea alba (shown in blue in the illustration). During pregnancy the linea alba softens and stretches, allowing the abdominal wall (shown in pink) to expand as your baby grows inside you.

The linea alba can take a huge amount of stress and stretching during pregnancy, especially towards the tail end when your body has been stretched to the max. Pretty incredible if you ask me!

When the linea alba is stretched so much that the two sides of the rectus abdominus separate, that my friends is what is known as Abdominal Separation (Diastasis Recti).

After you have your baby the two sides of your abdominal wall don’t always join back together straight away and it’s important to know if you do have a separation because it may mean modifying some exercises until the gap closes enough to not have an impact on your core.

Keep in mind, it’s very common to have a separation and there are plenty of exercise we can do to help rehab the muscles so don’t freak out if you do get told you do have one.

When you come to your Get Started Session we will do a full check for Abdominal Separation before we do anything else just to make sure we know exactly what we are working with to keep you safe.

#2: Can you please make sure I know how to activate my pelvic floor muscles correctly

After giving birth it’s extremely common for you to experience urinary incontinence. You might sneeze, laugh, cough or jump and a bit of wee will leak out which in turn could lead to a freak out.

First of all I want to let you know you don’t need to freak out and urinary incontinence is not something you have to live with.

The pelvic floor muscle is just like any other muscle in the body, if you work it, it will get stronger. So if you do experience a bit of incontinence it can be fixed. It just means you need to be even more dedicated to doing your pelvic floor exercises.

Every medical practitioner, physiotherapist or post-natal trainer will have their own way of explaining how to activate your pelvic floor muscle and it’s an important life skill to have so keep talking to people until it clicks for you.

If you’re not sure if you are activating your pelvic floor muscle correctly I highly recommend you visit a specialist women’s physiotherapist that has ultrasound facilities. That way you can know for sure if you are or aren’t doing it right and you can also check out a great blog article I wrote with a whole heap of helpful information about Pelvic Floor health.

#3: Why are my bones and joints sore? What can I do about this?

After giving birth, it’s very common for your body to still be producing the hormone relaxin. While relaxin was awesome in helping you deliver your baby, it’s not so great post birth.

At your six week check up, if you are experiencing joint aches ask your doctor about post natal exercises that will help to relieve any tension.

The most common aches that I see at Pram Fitness are wrist, knee and back pain, so make sure you do get on top of this if it does become an issue for you.

Keep in mind that nutritional support is also very important at this time. Since the body is still recovering from birth your joints might need extra nutrients that can help strengthen and sustain them. Ask your doctor if they can recommend any joint supplements to help you with your recovery.

#4: Am I crying a bit too much?

Becoming a new mum is an intense and crazy time. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions and post-natal depression affects so many more people than you actually think.

Changes to hormone levels, complete sleep deprivation and having a new baby that needs you for everything are all big life changes.

Often mums tell me that they will just start crying for no reason, they will be having a chat to me about something they did on the weekend and then all of a sudden there are tears everywhere. It’s so common because of everything that is going on with your life.

Being a new mum is going to be one of the hardest jobs you will ever do, one minute you will feel that you can conquer the world and the next you will be questioning every parenting decision you have ever made. Please know, this is very normal however if you do start to feel intense feelings of sadness, anxiety or complete despair that hold you back from doing your day to day tasks make sure you talk to your doctor about how you are feeling immediately.

It’s important to know that whatever you are feeling, you don’t have to go it alone. There are so many people out there that can help so make sure you reach out if you need to.

Beyond Blue also have some great resources available, if you would like more information you can click HERE.

#5: Were there any issues with my birth that I should know about?

It’s more than likely that you covered this off while you were in hospital with your doctor or midwife… The thing is, after the dust settles and you get home from hospital you might have a few questions that you would still like answered.

When returning to exercise we always talk to our clients about their birth as this helps us to know of any issues that we might need to take into account when getting back into fitness.

For example, if you had a c-section or a traumatic birth story with a lot of tearing, you might need a bit of extra rehab time before moving forward with certain exercises. The more information we have, the better we can prescribe the right level of fitness for you.

A great way to think about your return to fitness plan is like building a house from the ground up. First you need to make sure the foundations are strong to support the rest of the house. If you don’t get the foundations right you will always have problems with the structure – make sense?

Asking the right questions now and doing the right work to ease into fitness can only help you in the long run. Take your time, ask as many questions as you need to and remember it’s your body so if something doesn’t feel right bring it up and find out why.

Once you are ready to exercise if you would like to know more about the Pram Fitness return to fitness Get Started Pass check it out HERE.

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Pram Fitness Clean Eating Basics – how to get started with healthy habits

Learning how to live a healthy lifestyle is great for so many reasons! It’s not about starving yourself, it’s about giving yourself delicious, nutritious food to keep you healthy and happy.

I have found that most mums want to eat ‘healthy’ but often the problem is they have no idea where to start? For this reason I have put together the Pram Fitness Clean Eating Basics which are my guidelines and philosophy around eating.

When it comes to achieving health related results it’s important to remember that 80% of your results will come from the very things you put into your mouth.

No matter how much or hard you exercise, if you aren’t fulling your body with the right nutrition you won’t be the best version of yourself until you make the choice to eat foods that are going to give you energy to thrive.

I agree, there is so much information out there and it’s hard to know what the right thing is to do so today I want to talk to you about the things that I have seen work and how you can implement these healthy changes into your life today.

I strongly believe that being organised and prepared is so important when it comes to making good food choices. As a mum you are busy, tired, sometimes cranky and maybe even have a short fuse. This is completely normal but it’s for these reasons that you need to plan your meals in advance so that when your baby is screaming and you haven’t slept for a month or even a year you can still make good choices because you are organised.

Please keep in mind, clean eating by no means needs to be boring, my philosophy is all about flavouring foods with amazing herbs and spices to give the dishes plenty of taste and for you to not miss things like sugar filled sauces that are going to ruin an otherwise healthy meals.

The Pram Fitness Clean Eating Basics are a short compilation of questions that client’s often ask me. Please keep in mind that i’m not a nutritionist and everyone’s specific needs are different so please take this information as general in nature and if you need more personalised nutrition guidance I’d strongly recommend getting in touch with a dietitian to discuss your needs.

Ok, let’s get stuck in…

The Pram Fitness Clean Eating Basics

Why don’t we count calories

You may notice there isn’t any calorie or kilojoule information in this program. We know as busy mums, you simply don’t have time to be calculating the energy of everything you put in your mouth. Also, our bodies have an in built ‘calorie-counter’ that is so much more accurate than any app could be: our hunger and fullness signals. It’s important to listen to your body to give yourself the best chance of achieving all the health goals that you have ever wanted to get in control of.

Why should I eat ‘clean’?

Clean Eating put simply is the lifestyle of avoiding processed foods and basing your diet on whole foods that come in their natural state. The clean eating lifestyle will help you to eliminate toxins from your body, lose weight, avoid diseases and most importantly give you lots of energy to get through your busy day and look after your little one.

The term ‘eating clean’ is majorly overused of late, but it is worth the hype and is something that is vitally important to achieving a lean and healthy body. Think of it as going back to basics. Our ancestors didn’t have supermarkets or pre-packaged meals to pop into the microwave when they got peckish. That being said I don’t expect you to attempt to cook dinner over a fire pit you started in the garden with two sticks, but I do highly recommend that 90% of your shopping trolley be filled with items from the fresh food section.

Rather than feeling like you are constantly on a diet, learning to live a clean eating lifestyle is the key to helping you achieve the results you are after, have more energy, be healthier and feel better than ever.

How often should I eat?

Personally, I believe in eating 5-6 smaller meals per day. This helps to fuel a healthy metabolism and to work towards sustainable and long term weight loss results.

Why do I have to think about portion sizes?

This really is the key, even if you are eating a seemingly healthy diet, if your portion sizes are too big you won’t achieve results – simple. The problem is, when it comes to portion sizes everyone is different. For example, some mums are breastfeeding and require more calories in just to fuel that super important job…

You should never feel overly full. Think about the last time you ate too much, did you filled like you were about to burst? Well at that point it’s too much. Likewise you should never be starving so we are looking for that happy sweet spot right in the middle where you are feeling satisfied but not stuffed.

One little trick I like to tell clients is that it’s best to eat slowly. Sometimes it takes your brain a bit of time to catch up to how your stomach is feeling so if you take your time eating this will give your brain more time to know if you really are full or just eating for the sake of it.

Why do I have to drink water?

Think about it this way. Your blood is made up of 80-90% water and our blood is the awesome vehicle that caries the nutrients around our body and to our cells to keep us healthy. Pretty simple really, when we are dehydrated there isn’t enough water to go around, therefore leaving us feeling tired, sluggish and cranky.

What’s this about protein?

Put simply protein is the building block for our entire body! Protein is made up of amino acids, these amino acids help to repair muscle tissue, look after our skin, ward off disease, gives us our all important energy and helps to look after our hormone balance.

There are 2 types of amino acids: non-essential amino acids (that are manufactured by the body) and essential amino acids (found in food).

There are 22 amino acids, your body can make 13 of them without you ever thinking about it. Your body can’t make the other nine amino acids, but you can get them by eating protein-rich foods. They are called essential amino acids because it’s essential that you get them from the foods you eat.

It is important to know that not all proteins are created equal, some contain all the essential amino acids and are therefore called “complete” proteins – some examples of this are all animal sources of protein such as chicken and fish. On the other hand vegetable sources of protein contain only a few of the essential amino acids and should be combined with other proteins to help them work more efficiently in your body.

Fat…

Throw away your old beliefs about fat and don’t be scared anymore – in fact I LOVE fat – but only the good kind!

Good fats actually help you burn fat – yes this is true! And the other benefits are that good fat helps you to absorb vitamins and minerals, they reduce your sugar cravings as well as helping you concentrate and keep your body full
for longer.

What about Low Fat?

“Low-fat,” “reduced fat,” or “fat-free” processed foods are not as good as they sound. One problem with a generic lower-fat diet is that it prompts most people to stop eating fats that are good for the heart as well as those that are bad for it.

Now that we know more, ‘Low Fat’ is actually a bit of an old school way of thinking. What you need to be aware of is that when food manufacturers take out fat, they often replace it with carbohydrates from sugar, refined grains, or starch. Our bodies digest these refined carbohydrates and starches very quickly, causing blood sugar and insulin levels to spike and then dip, which in turn leads to hunger, overeating, and weight gain.

I don’t understand how carbs work? Should I avoid them to lose weight?

For some reason Carbs have become the devil when it comes to healthy eating and more specifically weight loss over the last few years. This couldn’t be further from the truth, in-fact eating the ‘right kind’ of carbohydrates will help give you much needed long lasting energy to get you through your busy day.

Put simply carbs are sugars that are broken down into glucose which is your body’s main source of energy. If that isn’t enough of a factor to start incorporating carbs into your every day nutrition then you should know that carbs create the fuel that keeps your brain working and your heart pumping – enough said right?

BUT not all carbs are created equal.. There are 2 types of carbohydrates:

1 – Simple Carbohydrates (Otherwise known as bad carbs): Simple Carbs are digested quickly into the body, the energy is stored as glycogen and if not used straight away will be stored as fat. Bad Carbs are usually processed foods that have been altered from their natural state such as cakes, white rice, pasta and lollies.

It’s good to take note that fruit and vegetables are actually Simple Carbohydrates BUT they are extremely different from other foods in this category. When you eat fruit or vegetables their fibre content helps to slow down digestion, actually making them act a bit more like complex carbs so they get a big thumbs up from me. (Confusing I know but bear with me) ☺

2 – Complex Carbohydrates (Otherwise known as good carbs). Complex carbs are an energy powerhouse, they take longer for the body to digest therefore they sustain your energy for a longer period of time. Complex carbs help to stabilise your blood sugar levels and help to improve the 2pm crash and burn that we can often feel. It’s important to know and understand that COMPLEX CARBS are an energy powerhouse and a fat burning machine.

It’s also good to know that while providing much needed energy is a very important job that Carbs look after they also have some other very important functions. They help to protect our muscles, provide nutrients to the intestinal tract that helps to digest food, assists in your body’s absorption on calcium and can help to lower cholesterol levels (just to name a few).

I hope this helps, it’s a lot of information all at once so take your time to ready through, if you have any questions or your want to understand something in more detail please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me.

I am so happy to be a part of your clean eating journey and i’m looking forward to helping you achieve all of your heath and fitness goals.

Love Karen

x

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Let’s talk about pelvic floor health

When I start working with mums after they give birth one of the first things I ask them is ”how is your pelvic floor?” to which they usually say… Not too bad… okay not great… yeah okay I accidentally did a little wee the other day when I laughed at a joke.

Ok now we are getting somewhere with honesty…

It’s extremely common that after you give birth your pelvic floor muscle has become weak so when you laugh, cough, jump, skip or jog you run the risk of accidentally pissing your pants. I’m sorry but it’s true.

I like to use the hammock and the bowling ball analogy… The hammock being your pelvic floor muscle and the bowling ball being your growing baby.

Imagine if you can, your pelvic floor as the hammock, when there is no weight on it, it’s sitting there with a nice amount of tension. If you were to place a bowling ball on the hammock, the tension is dramatically increased and the fabric then becomes extremely taut.

This is exactly how your pelvic floor muscle acts when it has to withstand the weight of your baby during pregnancy.

Make sense? So pelvic floor health isn’t just important to think about if you have a vaginal birth, it’s actually something that all pregnant women need to work on – before, during and after giving birth.

To get a bit technical for just a minute, it’s important to know that you pelvic floor is a group of muscles (and connective tissue) that is located at the base of the pelvis. Check out the illustration below.

The pelvic floor muscle provides structure for the pelvis as well as the organs within in. As your baby grows, the pressure on the pelvic floor is increased which can then lead to your pelvic floor muscle not being as strong once you have given birth as the muscle has been stretched so much that it needs some help to regain its strength and become taught again.

Don’t freak out – the pelvic floor muscle is just like any other muscle in the body, you can work on it to increase the strength so that you don’t have to worry about doing a little wee when you cough and laugh. It just means you need to know how to strengthen the muscle so that you don’t have to live with the pee fear for the rest of your life.

Pelvic floor activations are perfect for those women who need help strengthening the muscle. This is very common for women during their pregnancy (especially in the later stages) and during the early post-natal period.

Something I want to stress here is that pelvic floor activations are not suitable for everyone. If you have an overly tight pelvic floor muscle (otherwise knows as hypertonic) your focus needs to be on finding ways to relax and release the muscles, not on activating them.

It’s always a good idea to check with your physiotherapist to check if your pelvic floor muscle is hypertonic or weak so that you can know what the best plan of action for you will be.

I will say though, it’s not an easy muscle to get working and it’s possible that you might not feel your pelvic floor muscles working for the first few days after giving birth. Don’t worry, this is completely normal, and happens because the nerves in your pelvic floor will have been stretched (a lot) during pregnancy and birth.

Here’s how you can get your pelvic floor working…

Step #1
  • Get yourself into good alignment by sitting on a chair with good posture. Think about being tall from the tailbone to the crown of your head while maintaining a neutral curve in your lower back.
Step #2
  • Now it’s important to focus on your breathing so that you are recruiting your core muscles together as a team.
  • Put one hand on your belly and the other hand on your ribs.
  • As you inhale, breathe into your hands and think about pulling your pelvic floor up like an elevator. Some women find it easier to think about stopping the flow of a wee while they are doing this.
  • As you exhale, feel your hands release and imagine the elevator going down.
Step #3
  • Hold the squeeze for about 2-3 seconds, while you continue to breathe in and out as normal.
  • You may feel your lower tummy muscles tightening, and that’s fine. If you are tightening your upper tummy muscles (above your belly button) or your buttocks, you’re trying too hard!
  • If you can’t hold the squeeze for 3 seconds, don’t worry – do your best and hold for as long as you can. We are after quality contractions – not quantity! As you practice and your muscles get stronger, you should be able to hold each contraction for longer – aim for 5-6 seconds by six weeks postnatal.
Karen’s Top Pelvic Floor Activation Tips   
  • It is important to continue to breathe normally through the exercise and keep the muscles in your legs, buttocks and tummy relaxed.
  • These exercises can be done when lying down, sitting or standing. It is useful to combine these exercises with everyday activities such as feeding your baby, having a shower or sitting at red lights in traffic, just to help you to remember to do them often in your day.
  • Tighten your pelvic floor muscles every time you lift your baby, cough, sneeze or laugh to protect your pelvic floor and help prevent leakage of urine or wind.

Just remember, even if you are struggling with continence post-birth, don’t lose heart. Even women who experience severe poor bladder control after giving birth will improve in the first 6 months as the pelvic floor tissues, muscles and nerves mend.

Don’t forget to look after yourself and seek help from a specialist physiotherapist who is trained in pelvic floor health to help you recover and get back on top of this as quickly and as safely as possible.

As always if things are not getting better for you, speak to your physio and make sure you are getting the care and the treatment plan you need. You don’t have to live with incontinence, this is something you can fix by working the muscle correctly.

 

 

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