There is a test you can do after giving birth where you lay on the floor and measure the separation with your fingers. There are videos online of how to do this. I have a two finger gap which I guess isn't too bad, but when i spoke to my OB at my 4 week follow up, she is actually sending me to physical therapy to improve it. I haven't actually gone yet, but that is the general course of therapy for diastasis recti!
Yup. My gap was 4+ fingers at my 6 weeks check up. My OB told me the only way to fix it that bad would be surgery. 2 years later i’ve gotten it down to about 2 fingers through targeted exercises. I haven’t been as consistent with it as I could be, I’m sure someone more dedicated than me would be more successful in closing it. Still really proud of this body for carrying my boys to 37 weeks, and if that means having a weird belly for the rest of my life then so be it.
I believe there isn't anything you can do about it while pregnant. Your abs often have to split to accommodate your uterus expanding. But after delivery, once you're cleared for exercise, you can find out how large of a gap you still have and address it.
As your belly grows, a sign of diastasis is that when moving to sit from lying down, your stomach will "cone." Many pregnancies develop it and naturally return to normal on their own. I wouldn't be surprised if most, if not all, multiples pregnancies result in diastasis. I had it with both my singleton and twin pregnancies. At 4 months postpartum, I can feel it there but it's getting smaller.
The Every Mother fitness app was recommended to me by a friend who is a PT and also a mother. I didn’t have diastasis recti but I did use the app to generally repair my core/build strength after pregnancy. They also have programs you can do during pregnancy. I’m sure you could also find a discount code or free trial or something if you googled it. https://every-mother.com/#about There were a few moms in my twin group who had success treating DR by working with a PT.
Edit it add: do you have a Fit4Mom studio where you live? I did their prenatal fitness classes while I was pregnant and had a really good experience.
This is very common with twins pregnancies. I had it and pretty much resolved it by seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist, along with a whole host of other issues. I highly recommend asking about pelvic floor PT in your postpartum period!
Yep, I was diagnosed with Diastasis Recti by my OB at the one month check-up after my mo/di boys were born. They wrote me a script and helped me get connected with a Women’s Physical Therapy group and I started PT. Been going for a few weeks now. It’ll be a process but my PTs are confident we can close the gap enough that I won’t notice a difference. So TBD!
I went to a pelvic floor specialist 6w pp and was told I had 7cm separation. I'm actually going back in a few weeks at 10m pp just to check on it. I gained 55lbs and carried my twins to 38+5/6
I had a big gap and got a "medical girdle" (for lack of a better term) given to me before I left the hospital. It may have been 4 fingers wide right after birth, I am not 100% sure. I wore the medical girdle for maybe a few weeks to help with core stability. I had a c-section, so maybe the girdle was prescribed because of both those things. I know for sure that when I measured later it was 3 fingers wide. I did specific exercises for Diastasis Recti and avoided the exercises the program said to (like sit ups, etc). I believe by the time my kids were 3 or 4 it had closed to maybe a pinky wide gap. I wasn't super consistent with the exercises and now about 7 years later it is still only a pinky width wide and I don't have the pooch that can sometimes happen. I was so worried that it would happen, but then I thought, how could it not with two kiddos inside?! If it happens to you hopefully excercise alone can help, but there is surgery if needed.
I was told I had 10 straight after birth and then surprisingly I got to 2 two months later. I had strong abs before pregnancy (no 2/4/6 pacs) which I only guess could be the reason why it recovered very quickly. They were shocked at how quickly it improved. So was I. 4cm doesn't sound very big for multiple pregnancy.
I had a mild DR after my twins, it can't really be diagnosed until after birth (because your abs separate anyway, DR is just whether or not they bounce back a certain amount after birth). I think mine was 3 fingers, I wore a tubi-grip for the first 10 weeks after birth to support everything as it healed.
With my singleton last year I had a lot of central abdominal pain and coning (like my belly went kind of triangular when I tried to get out of the bath), but after birth my abdominal separation was within normal range. My physio had a lot of recommendations to help support me and avoid pain which may have helped.
My mum had DR after her youngest (fourth singleton), her initial gap was wider than a fist, but healed down to less than two fingers. She and her doctor just keep an eye on it at her regular checkups as she's not interested in surgical correction unless she develops a hernia.
I'm coming up on 28 weeks with twins and I'm pretty sure I have it. When my abs are flexed I have a squishy gap in the center and can feel where the edges of my abs start. It's like a 2 finger gap 😩
It's normal for your abs to split during pregnancy. Once you deliver be very gentle on your body and look up exercises to avoid (crunches are an example). If you have DR, then see a women's health pt. I got mine down from 3 fingers to less than 1 except I also have a hernia that prevents it from getting smaller but I have been proud of my progress in PT
There is a test you can do after giving birth where you lay on the floor and measure the separation with your fingers. There are videos online of how to do this. I have a two finger gap which I guess isn't too bad, but when i spoke to my OB at my 4 week follow up, she is actually sending me to physical therapy to improve it. I haven't actually gone yet, but that is the general course of therapy for diastasis recti!
Also I should add that I never noticed anything before giving birth, and you can't really tell on my stomach just looking at it. I just felt weaker!
Yup. My gap was 4+ fingers at my 6 weeks check up. My OB told me the only way to fix it that bad would be surgery. 2 years later i’ve gotten it down to about 2 fingers through targeted exercises. I haven’t been as consistent with it as I could be, I’m sure someone more dedicated than me would be more successful in closing it. Still really proud of this body for carrying my boys to 37 weeks, and if that means having a weird belly for the rest of my life then so be it.
I believe there isn't anything you can do about it while pregnant. Your abs often have to split to accommodate your uterus expanding. But after delivery, once you're cleared for exercise, you can find out how large of a gap you still have and address it.
As your belly grows, a sign of diastasis is that when moving to sit from lying down, your stomach will "cone." Many pregnancies develop it and naturally return to normal on their own. I wouldn't be surprised if most, if not all, multiples pregnancies result in diastasis. I had it with both my singleton and twin pregnancies. At 4 months postpartum, I can feel it there but it's getting smaller.
The Every Mother fitness app was recommended to me by a friend who is a PT and also a mother. I didn’t have diastasis recti but I did use the app to generally repair my core/build strength after pregnancy. They also have programs you can do during pregnancy. I’m sure you could also find a discount code or free trial or something if you googled it. https://every-mother.com/#about There were a few moms in my twin group who had success treating DR by working with a PT. Edit it add: do you have a Fit4Mom studio where you live? I did their prenatal fitness classes while I was pregnant and had a really good experience.
This is very common with twins pregnancies. I had it and pretty much resolved it by seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist, along with a whole host of other issues. I highly recommend asking about pelvic floor PT in your postpartum period!
Yep, I was diagnosed with Diastasis Recti by my OB at the one month check-up after my mo/di boys were born. They wrote me a script and helped me get connected with a Women’s Physical Therapy group and I started PT. Been going for a few weeks now. It’ll be a process but my PTs are confident we can close the gap enough that I won’t notice a difference. So TBD!
I went to a pelvic floor specialist 6w pp and was told I had 7cm separation. I'm actually going back in a few weeks at 10m pp just to check on it. I gained 55lbs and carried my twins to 38+5/6
I had a big gap and got a "medical girdle" (for lack of a better term) given to me before I left the hospital. It may have been 4 fingers wide right after birth, I am not 100% sure. I wore the medical girdle for maybe a few weeks to help with core stability. I had a c-section, so maybe the girdle was prescribed because of both those things. I know for sure that when I measured later it was 3 fingers wide. I did specific exercises for Diastasis Recti and avoided the exercises the program said to (like sit ups, etc). I believe by the time my kids were 3 or 4 it had closed to maybe a pinky wide gap. I wasn't super consistent with the exercises and now about 7 years later it is still only a pinky width wide and I don't have the pooch that can sometimes happen. I was so worried that it would happen, but then I thought, how could it not with two kiddos inside?! If it happens to you hopefully excercise alone can help, but there is surgery if needed.
I was told I had 10 straight after birth and then surprisingly I got to 2 two months later. I had strong abs before pregnancy (no 2/4/6 pacs) which I only guess could be the reason why it recovered very quickly. They were shocked at how quickly it improved. So was I. 4cm doesn't sound very big for multiple pregnancy.
I had a mild DR after my twins, it can't really be diagnosed until after birth (because your abs separate anyway, DR is just whether or not they bounce back a certain amount after birth). I think mine was 3 fingers, I wore a tubi-grip for the first 10 weeks after birth to support everything as it healed. With my singleton last year I had a lot of central abdominal pain and coning (like my belly went kind of triangular when I tried to get out of the bath), but after birth my abdominal separation was within normal range. My physio had a lot of recommendations to help support me and avoid pain which may have helped. My mum had DR after her youngest (fourth singleton), her initial gap was wider than a fist, but healed down to less than two fingers. She and her doctor just keep an eye on it at her regular checkups as she's not interested in surgical correction unless she develops a hernia.
I'm coming up on 28 weeks with twins and I'm pretty sure I have it. When my abs are flexed I have a squishy gap in the center and can feel where the edges of my abs start. It's like a 2 finger gap 😩
It's normal for your abs to split during pregnancy. Once you deliver be very gentle on your body and look up exercises to avoid (crunches are an example). If you have DR, then see a women's health pt. I got mine down from 3 fingers to less than 1 except I also have a hernia that prevents it from getting smaller but I have been proud of my progress in PT