A Few Months Later…
A few months after birth, many of us find ourselves wondering why our body still doesn’t feel quite like our own.
The baby is here.
Life has moved on.
You’ve settled into some sort of routine, even if it doesn’t always feel like it.
Yet something still feels different.
Perhaps your shoulders ache by the end of the day. Perhaps your back feels stiff when you get up from the floor. Perhaps you’re wondering why you still don’t feel as strong or as comfortable as you expected to by now.
I think many of us imagine recovery as something that happens quietly in the background.
The reality is often very different.
By this point, many of us expect to feel further along in our recovery than we actually do.
Six weeks can sound like a long time when you’re pregnant. Then the baby arrives and those weeks disappear in a blur of feeding, nappies, appointments and very little sleep.
The thing that’s easy to overlook is that recovery doesn’t happen in isolation.
Pregnancy has finished.
Birth has happened.
Motherhood has begun.
And motherhood is surprisingly physical.
Motherhood Is A Physical Job
When we think about recovery after birth, it’s easy to imagine the body quietly healing.
Most of us don’t spend those early weeks resting.
We’re lifting babies, carrying changing bags, leaning over cots, getting up and down from the floor, pushing prams and finding ways to do everyday tasks with one hand free.
At the same time, we’re often dealing with broken sleep and bodies that are still recovering from pregnancy and birth.
It’s a lot to ask of a body that is still healing.
That’s one of the reasons aches and pains can linger for longer than expected.
It’s not necessarily that something has gone wrong.
It’s that recovery is happening alongside the physical demands of caring for a baby.
The Positions That Work For Baby
One of the things I notice in postnatal classes is how often women find positions that work brilliantly for their baby and not particularly well for themselves.
A feeding position that settles baby perfectly.
A way of carrying them that leaves one hand free.
A chair that’s comfortable enough at 3am.
A position in bed that helps everybody get a little more sleep.
None of these things are wrong.
In fact, most of them make perfect sense.
When you’re tired, getting through the day often matters more than sitting with perfect posture.
The challenge is that your body adapts to those positions too.
Weeks later, you may find your shoulders, back or wrists are quietly protesting.
It’s Not Just About Recovery
I think this is where many of us get caught out.
We assume recovery means healing from pregnancy and birth.
But that’s only part of the picture.
At the same time, your body is learning an entirely new set of movements and demands.
You are carrying a baby who gets heavier every week.
You are lifting them out of cots, car seats and prams.
You are feeding them, settling them, changing them and carrying everything they seem to need for even the shortest trip out of the house.
Sometimes the problem isn’t that your body is failing to recover.
Sometimes it’s that you’re asking a recovering body to do an enormous amount.
Why Do My Shoulders, Back And Wrists Hurt?
The most common physical complaints I hear about in Mum & Baby Yoga are shoulder pain, lower back pain and wrist pain.
When you start looking at daily life with a baby, it’s not particularly surprising.
The lifting, carrying, feeding and repetitive movements add up.
Sleep can play a role too.
Many mums find themselves sleeping in unusual positions or waking frequently through the night. These choices are often made for very good reasons.
The difficulty is that your body has to live with them afterwards.
Just Because It’s Common Doesn’t Mean You Have To Put Up With It
There can be an assumption that because shoulder pain, back pain or wrist pain are common after birth, they’re simply something to live with.
I don’t think that’s always helpful.
Common and unavoidable are not the same thing.
If something is affecting your daily life, preventing you from moving comfortably or making everyday tasks harder than they need to be, it’s worth finding out what support is available.
Sometimes a small adjustment can make a significant difference.
Sometimes what you really need is an assessment and a plan rather than hoping things will improve by themselves.
A Love Letter To Your Body
I think we can be very quick to focus on what our body isn’t doing.
What still hurts.
What still feels weak.
What still doesn’t feel quite right.
What we sometimes forget is what your body has already done.
It grew a baby.
It carried a baby.
It gave birth.
For many women, it is now feeding, carrying, comforting and responding to that baby day after day.
That’s a lot.
So if your body doesn’t feel completely back to normal a few months after birth, it doesn’t automatically mean something is wrong.
It may simply mean your body is still adapting, still recovering and still doing an enormous amount of work every single day.
Where To Start
If you’ve been living with shoulder pain, back pain, wrist pain or another physical issue for weeks or months, it may be worth speaking to somebody.
An osteopath, physiotherapist or other women’s health professional may be able to help you understand what’s causing the problem and what can be done about it.
If you’re planning a future pregnancy, have private healthcare through work or are currently pregnant, it’s worth checking what support is available through your policy.
If you don’t have private healthcare, discuss ongoing concerns at your six-week postnatal check and ask about referrals. Waiting lists can be long, so getting onto them early is often worthwhile.
The important thing to remember is that just because something is common after birth doesn’t mean you have to put up with it.
There is often more help available than you realise.
Pregnancy and postnatal yoga classes in E14, Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs and surrounding East London areas.
Shar – E14YogaCoach
