During pregnancy your stomach expands with the growth of your baby and the placenta. This extreme expansion in the size of your stomach is only possible because your body produces the hormone 'relaxin'.
Relaxin is produced during the early part of the pregnancy in large quantities initially by the remnants of the egg shell left behind after ovulation and then by the placenta. Relaxin continues to be produced throughout the whole pregnancy right up until the birth. This hormone helps the abdominal muscles and pelvis to stretch allowing for the growth and eventual birth of the baby.
During pregnancy, the two bands of muscles separate down the midline of the body. This is an on going effect called Diastasis Recti and is a completely natural and painless process.
After the birth your abdominal muscles will naturally tighten to some degree, after just three or four days the muscles will start to realign. However they may take up to six months to recover fully.
The muscles will remain very weak, leaving both your spine and pelvis vulnerable to injury and unless specific post pregnancy pelvic tilting exercises are followed you may have seen the last of your flat stomach forever.
You will have also stored a large percentage of body fat around your stomach and this will still be present after the birth. The only way to get rid of this is to burn away the fat. This may happen naturally over time if you become more active and eat a well balanced diet, or you can take action to lose it yourself.
You can do this in one of two ways: -
The placenta which has been nourishing the baby will be removed at birth and therefore most of the internal bulge will disappear after birth but there may still be some swelling remaining afterwards, so your stomach will look far from flat.
It is quite possible that purple streaky stretch marks may have appeared on and around your stomach during pregnancy, between 70 -90% of mothers suffer from them in some way. These are unfortunately a permanent feature although they will fade within a few months to a barely noticeable silvery white. They pose no health risks at all and will not affect the healing of your stomach after pregnancy.
Your stomach after pregnancy at first will not resemble the one that you once had, but over time it has the potential to be the same again or even better. However these changes will only happen if you take the appropriate actions. To do this you need to exercise regularly to burn away the stored fat and eat the right amount of calories from good quality foods to provide the best nutrients for repair which also ensures that no extra weight is gained.
Finally you will need to exercise and strengthen the stomach muscles regularly especially in the early stages to both realign and tighten up the area. By following these recommendations and doing so regularly you will give yourself the best chances of success of once again having a stomach you can be proud of.
Jago Holmes is a registered personal trainer and director of New Image Fitness Ltd. He is a qualified personal trainer with over 10 years experience working with new mums and pregnant women. He has created a website for new mothers, devoted entirely to safe and effective weight loss after pregnancy. You can get instant access to his free reports here -
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