There is a lot of attention and information around right now focused on healing a diastasis in the first year after having your baby, but what if your baby is 3 or 5 or 20 years old?
Is it too late?
Have you missed the boat for healing your abdominal separation and now have to live with the lower belly pooch or achy hips and back forever?
I couldn't resist the cruise ship picture as I used to work one just like this, as Fitness Director - and it's where I met my hubby, but back to Diastasis.
The good news is that it's never too late to fix your diastasis.
In fact, I find that moms with older kids often have an easier time of it and get faster results for their efforts.
Here's why:
Three factors that influence the healing a Diastasis
Sleep
When your kids are older, you tend to be getting more sleep, which when your body does most of it's healing.
When you are in the newborn phase, getting 7 -8 hours of uninterrupted sleep every night just doesn't happen for most of us. This means it takes longer for your body to heal the connective tissue that has been stretched out during pregnancy.
Breastfeeding and Hormone Levels
When your kids are older, your hormones have had the chance to settle back to their normal levels after pregnancy and birth.
Progesterone and relaxin levels can remain high in your body for some time after having a baby and these can cause your joints to feel more unstable or looser.
Breastfeeding Mamma's have elevated hormones related to milk production until 3 months after they have finished breastfeeding, so being past this phase of life can be to your advantage.
If you are a new mom reading this, who isn't sleeping a lot and breastfeeding, don't worry.
You can still heal your diastasis. You just need to recognize that your path might take a little bit longer.
Time for yourself
Baby's take a lot of looking after.
They are cute, smell good and melt your heart just by looking at you, but it's a full time job looking after them.
Once your kids are older, it can be easier to carve out the time to look after yourself and do all the things that can speed up the healing process.
Doing your exercises regularly, seeing a professional for hands on help and guidance, or having a massage to release tension and tight muscles are all easier, when you aren't trying to schedule them around your baby's nap time.
Nutrition
Eating well and supplying your body with the basic nutrients it needs to heal and repair itself (at a cellular level) is key.
Your connective tissue is mostly made up collagen, so eating well, with a wide variety of healthy foods gives your body the building blocks it needs to repair or make new collagen fibers. This in turn helps heal your Diastasis.
New moms often struggle with this because they are really tired and the thought of making nutritious meals from scratch is just too much. When you add in a baby who reacts to certain foods you eat when breastfeeding then eating healthily gets a whole lot more complicated.
I can remember finding half eaten sandwiches on the kitchen bench, where I put them down to go and change a nappy, or pick up my son when he was fussy, and forgot to come back and eat them.
Oh and forget about eating strawberries or acid fruits, if I didn't want a gassy crying boy on my hands (although it took a while to figure that one out).
Being a mom with older kids can actually be an advantage for you when you are doing the work to heal your Diastasis.
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