When does the separation of the adominal muscles close?

[Jane Citizen]

Well as the title says, does anyone have any idea???

DD is 3 months old and I apparently had no separation after birth but I can feel a gap between the muscles now, I have been using all my strength not to start doing sit ups and crunches as I have heard this can make is worse.

Also when the hell can I start working on my stomach it is horrible :(

[Raff]

I'm not sure, I still had a bit of a gap before I fell pg this time and my daughter was 18 months when I got pg. My sister has a 5 year old and hers is closed again. She said it takes around 3 years to completely close.

My advice would be consult a post natal physio as its the only way to be sure that its safe for you to do sit ups and if not then they can recommend other exercises to do instead.

Good luck :-)

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[PsychedAboutMike]

Hey Jane,

gentle core exercises can help close the gap and flatten your tummy at the same time, if your worried you could see a womens health physiotherapist about it. There is also a good book called 'hold it mama' that has a 'bust the jellybelly' program in it for post partum women. Dont do any heavy lifting or abdominal workouts til its healed or you've got the go ahead from your physio, or you risk giving yourself a hernia.

[Jane Citizen]

Thanks guys, I might talk to DP's physio about it and check out the books you recommended. I just don't want to make it worse but I don't want to keep this feral belly either lol

[bookwormmum]

If you don't do any exercises, will it close up on its own anyway? Just take longer to do so? I was always under the impression that if you didn't do anything it just stayed separated and had pretty much resigned myself to the ugliest belly in the world... lol.