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Mothers of New Babies and Toddlers

Physical Activity

Find your Physical Activity Level

Are you a Healthy active woman?


If physical activities were a well-established part of your lifestyle during pregnancy, you can progress to your pre-pregnancy active lifestyle using the common sense guidelines we provide here. Good examples are those women that walk, jog, swim, in-line skate, cycle, or cross country ski regularly (a few times a week).

Track your progress during the first six weeks!

  • Be physically active at least three times a week.

  • Begin SLOWLY and increase your activity gradually.

  • Make sure that the activity makes you feel good both during and afterwards.

  • If you had an episiotomy (stitches), you will need to wait for them to heal before you begin physical activity.

  • If you had a C-section you will need to wait for your stitches and your abdomen to heal before you begin physical activity.

  • Start slowly with abdominal exercises - if it hurts, you are not ready!

  • There should be NO pain from the activity you choose.

  • There should be NO heavy vaginal bleeding from the activity you choose.

  • Your baby's weight gain should be normal.

  • Your fluid intake must be high!

  • You must get enough rest!

 

Stop any physical activity if you have any of these signs:

  • Heavy Bleeding
  • Pain
  • Breast Infection or abscess

 

Your Mothers in Motion Healthy Habits Log will help you to track how you feel, especially during the first 6 weeks after childbirth. It’s always a good idea to be positive AND to be aware of any roadblocks to your success. Make sure you know:

 

  • Whether you are eating and drinking enough before, during, and after breastfeeding and physical activity;

  • Whether you are drinking the right amount of fluid during physical activity to maintain and produce the correct level of breast milk;

  • When the best "breast-time" is to be physically active;

  • When you have higher energy times of the day;

  • If there are any physical activities that leave you too tired or sore in the 24 to 36 hours afterwards;

  • When you are ready to increase the intensity, duration, and type of your physical activities; AND

  • What you need to do to make sure you have physical activity time for yourself every day!

Set your physical activity goals for the first six weeks postpartum


Decide what you want to achieve. You should be able to measure what you will do and how you will get to your goal. These are called measurable goals, and they might be something like this:

“I will have an hour to myself every day to be physically active.” OR “I will walk 25 minutes every day during the next 3 weeks.”

 

The common goals shared by new mothers are: 

  • To return to the weight they had before pregnancy

  • Better stomach tone

  • Better body image

Your plan needs to be short- and long-term

Set both short-term and long-term goals. Think of short-term goals as rungs of a ladder. A long-term goal would be the final rung at the top of the ladder. Here is an example:

“I will be able to walk for 20 minutes without stopping by end of two weeks (short-term), and 40 minutes by the end of the month (long term).”

 

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