Restoring the body after childbirth

During the process of bearing a child and during childbirth, significant hormonal changes occur in the body. Changes affect not only the reproductive system, but also other organs. Many things change dramatically, and therefore, of course, recovery of the body after childbirth takes a certain amount of time: not one or two weeks. How long it takes for the body to recover after childbirth is different in each specific case, but it is possible to generalize and derive a certain average norm.

• The female body after childbirth
• Myths and truth about rejuvenation

The female body after childbirth

After childbirth, a woman’s body does not immediately begin to function as it did before pregnancy. It took a long 9 months to give a start to a new life, so recovery will also take place gradually, step by step, and a complete return to the previous state will occur no earlier than in 2-3 months - and this is only in the case when the woman is absolutely healthy and doesn't practice.

Knowing what happens to the female body after childbirth, you can more clearly imagine the entire recovery period. Let's try to record all the changes in the form of a table to make it easier.

Table 1.

Internal organs (system, function)	Changes	When will it recover
Uterus	Immediately after the birth of the child and expulsion of the fetus, the uterus weighs 1 kg and takes on a spherical shape. It becomes half lighter in 10 days if it contracts normally.	It returns to its “old” form very quickly – after 2 months it looks the same as before. Its weight is 100 g. The weight of the organ of a woman who has not given birth is 50 grams.
Cervix	Forever changing form. Instead of conical it becomes cylindrical. The external pharynx becomes slit-like and not round, but this can only be seen by a gynecologist. There are no such changes after cesarean section	After 3 months it functions as before
Menstrual function	The uterus takes on a more physiological position, so menstrual pain often goes away. recovers after stopping feeding,	After 2–3 months – in non-lactating women. Breastfeeding may not recover until breastfeeding ends.
Vagina	Muscles may lose elasticity and tears may occur.	By the end of 2 months everything is healing. Muscle tone is restored. Kegel exercises are very helpful. These simple steps will help bring your stomach back to normal after childbirth.
Breast	Fills up, may sag after finishing feeding	Perhaps the previous form will not be completely restored, but this does not mean that the “new form” will be worse. You just shouldn’t leave it to chance and do exercises aimed at toning the pectoral muscles.
Musculoskeletal system	The spine was somewhat smoothed, the pelvis expanded, the joints were very mobile	Changes gradually, over 3-4 months, pass
Stomach	The stomach “hangs”, a skin fold forms	Usually disappears completely within 1-2 years (if you do not neglect physical exercises)
The cardiovascular system	Increased blood supply. Fetal pressure may cause hemorrhoids	Returns to normal in 3-4 weeks.

Myths and truth about rejuvenation after pregnancy and childbirth

Nowadays you can often come across statements online that the body of a “newly made” mother is rejuvenating. What happens to the body after childbirth - is this opinion true?

What happens to a woman’s body after childbirth?

If you pay attention to how long it takes the body to recover after childbirth, it becomes clear: in fact, it is significantly weakened by the stress experienced. In a woman with hidden chronic illnesses, the following may first appear:

• arthritis and other joint diseases;
• pyelonephritis;
• hormonal problems;
• diabetes mellitus (if a woman develops it during pregnancy).

If you notice that your body takes a long time to recover after childbirth, perhaps one of these diseases is making itself known. Old “sores” that already existed also become aggravated, especially after the second birth: for example, hemorrhoids, herpes. Based on how the body recovers after childbirth, some conclusions can be drawn about the woman’s health. If recovery processes take too long, you should consider a comprehensive examination.

Data from medical examinations also indicate a decrease in the level of “bad” cholesterol. Many women seem to become “smarter” with the birth of a child: they have to constantly keep their finger on the pulse of events, engage in the development of the child, and therefore develop themselves.

During the entire 9 months of pregnancy, eggs do not mature in the ovaries, which means that the reproductive function - the ability to become a mother - is prolonged. before all other cells in the body - this is a proven fact. Pregnancy delays this irreversible process.

Almost all women, when they calm down a little after the birth of the baby, wonder how to restore the body faster after childbirth, especially if it is not “behaving” very well and does not return to normal.

The transition time is different for everyone. When breastfeeding, the body usually recovers quickly.

When the uterus is completely cleansed and birth injuries have healed, you can begin physical exercise - little by little and very carefully. After 2 months (in case of complicated childbirth, in case of caesarean section - discussed with the doctor), sexual relations are allowed. The orgasm experienced by a woman helps speed up the recovery and healing processes due to a powerful rush of blood to the pelvic organs.

It is advisable to take special vitamins, especially if your hair is falling out more than usual and your nails are peeling.

Caring for your baby and walking with a stroller will help you stay in good physical shape for the first time. Then you should add a series of exercises. For example, if weakness of the vaginal muscles and urinary incontinence are observed, you need to do Kegel exercises: alternately squeezing and relaxing the muscles. Another exercise from this series: you need to push for about 30 seconds, then sharply relax the vaginal muscles. After some time, the tone will return.

In order not to lose the beautiful shape of your breasts, you need to wear a supportive bra and use creams and masks for stretch marks.

The situation is somewhat more complicated with fat deposits in the waist and abdomen. You cannot lose weight sharply, even if you are no longer breastfeeding - this is harmful for the woman herself. Stretch marks and sagging skin in such cases are almost inevitable.

You should focus not on reducing your diet, but on physical activity: 2.5-3 months after giving birth, start pumping your abs from a lying position (this reduces the load on your back). Daily long walking at an energetic pace, gentle stretching of muscles, pumping up the abs - all this will help you quickly get back into good shape.

And one more important point: a young mother must definitely find time for herself to get enough sleep, rest a little in silence, just lie down. Therefore, do not try to do everything yourself, ask household members for help in caring for the baby. The more and better you rest, the sooner you will recover, and your former health and energy will return.

Hello, dear mothers! Today we will talk about how long it takes to recover after a second birth. Is it happening faster or slower than the first time? Will you experience the same sensations or not? Will it hurt more or less?

General and specific

It is possible to more or less recover after a second birth in 2-3 months, but this is with a natural birth, which passed without serious complications. If there was a cesarean section, the process will take longer - up to six months or even more.

The main problem is that no one will give you an accurate forecast: will your body and body return to normal faster or slower. I came across a bunch of examples where the first time it took a girl a month, and the second – seven. And, on the contrary, after the first birth, the recovery process was painful and long, and after the second, mommy didn’t even have time to blink an eye.

Therefore, remember the main rule - do not set yourself up for clear deadlines, and do not try to accurately predict: in a couple of months I will be like a cucumber. Don’t answer the question “How long will I have to wait?” in advance to avoid disappointment later.

By the way, you can find out how long it will take for your figure to recover in my separate section.

What is involution?

Surely you have come across this beautiful word - involution. Biologists and doctors call it the process of returning to its previous state. It concerns both the body as a whole and individual organs.

It is involution that starts after the birth of the baby, that is, all the organs and systems that were rebuilt for 9 months to carry, give birth and feed the child must now return to their previous state and begin to work as usual.

Reverse restructuring

It’s difficult to even say what exactly in our body is not affected by the pregnancy process. It seems that everything has changed - from the figure and skin to internal sensations and perception of the world. How will a typical involution proceed, and what organs and systems will be included in it first?

Breathing and lungs

You definitely noticed how easy it became to breathe. This is due not only to the psychological state of happiness, but also to the fact that the huge uterus is no longer trying to force the lungs out of the chest. Gradually they “straighten out” and take their rightful place, and along with this shortness of breath and heaviness go away.

Circulatory system

The amount of blood your heart had to pump through your vessels during pregnancy decreases after your baby is born. Now the circulatory system has to support the vital activity of only one organism, because the newborn baby has its own heart and its own blood vessels.

But blood volumes will not decrease overnight, so at first you may suffer from swelling and high blood pressure.

Nature has provided that in the first days after the birth of a child, blood clotting is as high as possible. But such a safety net is dangerous due to the formation of blood clots, especially during the second pregnancy, when the elasticity of the blood vessels is slightly worse, and you are older.

Therefore, to prevent and because of the threat of increased risks of blood clots, doctors may recommend compression stockings. , I talked about stockings after childbirth, I recommend reading it.

Uterus and discharge

How quickly will the uterus contract? On average, this takes from 6 to 8 weeks (longer for cesarean). Immediately after the birth of the baby, the uterus looks like a ball weighing up to a kilogram. After 2 months, she should become “prenatal”: take on a pear-shaped shape and “lose weight” to 80 grams. Just imagine - from a kilogram to 80 grams!

Breastfeeding helps speed up the process of uterine contractions, during which oxytocin is released. The more it gets into the blood, the more often the uterus will contract.

With repeated pregnancy, postpartum contractions are more often felt, occurring around the 3rd day. Contractions after the second birth are usually stronger, as the uterus tries to recover faster, and with it the muscles and ligaments.

You can understand that the uterus has returned to normal by the cessation of discharge (doctors call them postpartum lochia - read more about them in a separate post).

Here's how they will change:

• the first few days - very heavy periods;
• then the severity of bleeding will begin to decrease;
• in a week - they will become light, but will contain remnants of blood clots and mucus.

It is necessary to evaluate the appearance and number of lochia, because deviations may indicate various pathologies:

• uterine bleeding;
• inflammation as a result of stagnation of secretions, including endometritis, in which the uterine mucosa becomes inflamed.

Menstruation

Restoring the menstrual cycle depends on many factors - the individual characteristics of the body and the discharge regime before pregnancy, natural or artificial feeding.

Usually doctors say that menstruation returns:

• if a woman does not breastfeed – after 2 months;
• if the child is mixed-fed - after 6 months;
• with full attachment to the breast, the “pleasure” is delayed for a period of six months to 2 years.

If there is no menstruation within 2 months from the date of cessation of lactation, you need to go to an endocrinologist.

Genitals

The genitals and cervix are subject to significant deformation after childbirth. Kegel exercises will help speed up vaginal recovery and prevent the problem of urinary incontinence - you can do them before pregnancy, during it and after childbirth (read more about the Kegel system).

Unpleasant sensations of dryness, itching and irritation in the genital area after the second birth sometimes drag on for a year. They are caused by the fact that the body produces less estrogen and progesterone after the birth of a child. These hormones are also suppressed by prolactin, which is produced in large quantities during breastfeeding.

On average, by 4 months the cervix will complete recovery, but it will never be the same as before childbirth:

• before pregnancy – round in the form of an inverted cone;
• after childbirth - slit-like and cylindrical.

Breast

You can only think about returning to your previous breast shape after stopping breastfeeding. The final form will not return until a month and a half after the last feeding.

Features of recovery after cesarean section

If the second birth took place using a cesarean section, then recovery is slower and additional features appear:

• uterine contractions are stimulated by injections;
• bleeding is more profuse and prolonged;
• restoration of the uterus takes at least 2 months;
• it is necessary to restore the disrupted functioning of the intestines, which are temporarily paralyzed (hence constipation);
• a so-called adhesion occurs in the abdominal cavity.

I think that now you can estimate how long it will take to recover after the second birth. I say goodbye to you until a new topic. Share your experience in the comments.

Childbirth can cause accelerated aging in women, scientists warn. They found that women who gave birth had shortened telomeres, parts of chromosomes that shorten as they age. And the more children a woman had, the more pronounced the effect.

In addition to hemorrhoids, varicose veins, back pain, urinary incontinence, postpartum depression and other consequences of childbirth, one more thing has been added - accelerated aging. Researchers from George Mason University in the USA found that women who give birth shorten telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that protect DNA and shorten as the body ages. The results of the work were published in the journal Human Reproduction, Gazeta.Ru reports.

The study involved 1954 women, approximately equally distributed across age groups: 20−24 years, 25−29 years, 30−34 years, 35−39 years and 40−44 years. 37.6% were of normal weight, 27.9% were overweight, 31.3% were obese, and 3.3% were underweight. More than half had never smoked, the rest either smoked at the time of the study or had quit. 444 women never gave birth, the rest had from one to five children. 377 women were pregnant at the time of the study.

Compared with nulliparous women, those who had at least one child had telomeres that were at least 4.2% shorter—equivalent to about 11 years of cellular aging (i.e., the cell losing the ability to divide) or, the researchers estimate, three years of biological aging.

Short telomeres are associated with an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, and dementia.

Childbirth had a stronger effect on telomere length than smoking or obesity, which accelerated cellular aging by 4.6 and 8.8 years, respectively. The more children a woman gave birth to, the more her telomeres were shortened. Thus, in women with five children they were 12.7% shorter than in nulliparous women.

“We found that women who had five or more children had shorter telomeres than those who did not give birth or had one, two, three, even four children,” said epidemiologist Anna Pollack, author of the study.

The researchers note that telomere shortening due to childbirth can be caused by a variety of factors. For example, stress can play a significant role - it was previously found that it also contributes to a reduction in telomere length.

“We are not advocating not to have children,” the authors of the work emphasize.

They also avoid talking about any causal relationship between the number of births and the length of telomeres - perhaps women with initially shorter telomeres are simply able to give birth to fewer children. Scientists note that further studies of this phenomenon should take into account changes in telomere length over a certain period.

“Even when we talk about children with friends, we point out that children age us,” says Pollack. - And this is confirmed by science. We know that having children is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. And many large studies have linked telomere length to the risk of other serious diseases or death.”

In addition to hemorrhoids, varicose veins, back pain, urinary incontinence, postpartum depression and other consequences of childbirth, one more thing has been added - accelerated aging. Researchers from a university in the United States have found that women who give birth shorten telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that protect DNA and shorten as the body ages. The results of the work were published in the journal Human Reproduction .

The study involved 1,954 women, approximately equally distributed across age groups: 20-24 years, 25-29 years, 30-34 years, 35-39 years and 40-44 years. 37.6% were of normal weight, 27.9% were overweight, 31.3% were obese, and 3.3% were underweight. More than half had never smoked, the rest either smoked at the time of the study or had quit. 444 women never gave birth, the rest had from one to five children. 377 women were pregnant at the time of the study.

Compared to nulliparous women, those who had at least one child had telomeres that were at least 4.2% shorter.

This equates to about 11 years of cellular aging (i.e., the cell losing the ability to divide) or, according to researchers, three years of biological aging.

Short telomeres are associated with an increased risk of cancer, heart disease, and dementia.

Childbirth had a stronger effect on telomere length than smoking or obesity, which accelerated cellular aging by 4.6 and 8.8 years, respectively. The more children a woman gave birth to, the more her telomeres were shortened. Thus, in women with five children they were 12.7% shorter than in nulliparous women.

“We found that women who had five or more children had shorter telomeres than those who did not give birth or had one, two, three, even four children,” said epidemiologist Anna Pollack, author of the study.

The researchers note that telomere shortening due to childbirth can be caused by a variety of factors. For example, stress can play a significant role - it was previously found that it also contributes to a reduction in telomere length.

“We are not advocating not to have children,” the authors of the work emphasize.

They also avoid talking about any causal relationship between the number of births and the length of telomeres - perhaps women with initially shorter telomeres are simply able to give birth to fewer children. Scientists note that further studies of this phenomenon should take into account changes in telomere length over a certain period.

“Even when we talk about children with friends, we point out that children age us,” says Pollack. - And this is confirmed by science. We know that having children is associated with an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. And many large studies have linked telomere length to the risk of other serious diseases or death.”

It is possible that telomere shortening is indeed caused by stress - Gazeta.Ru previously wrote that new mothers spend twice as much time as fathers caring for and doing household chores, even if both partners work. For three months after giving birth, 52 couples kept a diary where they noted what time they were doing and what they were doing.

On weekdays, women took care of the house and children only slightly more than men, but on weekends the difference doubled.

Research also confirms the common belief about the deterioration of cognitive function during pregnancy. Symptoms include forgetfulness, loss of concentration and intelligence. Memory deterioration during pregnancy is familiar to four out of five women: they note the appearance of absent-mindedness - they cannot remember where they put this or that thing or during some activity they forget what they were doing, they more often lose the thread of the conversation, it is more difficult for them to concentrate and, in order to to stay organized, they have to take notes. Some people find it difficult to even concentrate on reading.

A meta-analysis of 20 studies on this phenomenon showed that cognitive function was significantly worse than in non-pregnant women.

Memory suffers throughout pregnancy, and in the third trimester problems with executive functions arise - the ability to plan actions and selectively respond to external stimuli.

However, according to scientists, the changes are within normal limits. “We are not talking about impairments that could seriously interfere with pregnant women's ability to carry out their daily activities or work. It’s more about the fact that they feel different than usual,” the researchers note.

Previously, scientists using MRI were able to find out how the volume of gray matter in the expectant mother decreases over time. The brain scan results showed a clear difference between the expectant mothers and the rest of the study participants: the former showed a reduction in gray matter in the medial frontal and posterior parietal cortices, as well as in the prefrontal and temporal cortices. These areas of the brain are responsible for feelings of empathy, the ability to understand others, and other social processes. The changes persisted for two years after birth.