Belly dance and prolapse

Belly dancing is great! We're waiting for Louise to rejoin us after the big wedding - she is our dancing queen! Look for some of her posts. That being said - there are no quick fixes for a 9-week-post-partum belly. You have to give yourself time. Pulling up in strong WW posture, chest lifted, will help you create a nice smooth beautiful line. Dress appropriately. You'll be fine. Forget about flat abs. We were not designed to have them! Safe exercise, sensible eating, and posture will get you where you need to go. - Surviving

This is an interesting question, and I'm glad you asked it, enthusiastic. After watching Christine's DVD 'First Aid for Prolapse', I wondered the same thing about belly dancing. In my curiosity, I checked it out online to see if it fit the ww posture & exercise. My conclusion was: it does, to a point. As Surviviing said, we are not looking for flat abs, but we are looking for exercises that we can do 'in posture'.

I will be interested to see Louise's response

w2k

P.S. Happy Canada Day to any Canadians on here :-)

Hi enthusiastic,
Wishing you all the best on your return to work. The modern world puts a lot of pressure on the post partum mum to my mind. In the UK at least there seems to be an expectation that the new mum get back in pre babe shape and get back to normal asap. As if...! That perception is actually not normal. It's an overlay of modern preceptions, perhaps encouraged by media images & hype. 9 week sis not very long post partum. So long as you focus on looking after yourself well, for your sake and your baby's, by eating wisely and well, taking adequate fluids, getting as much rest as you can, avoiding constipation and straining on the loo, WW posture and any walking/exericses in WW posture... If you do these things you will gradually gain good health and being in good health is beautiful.

Don't be too hard on yourself. Love your baby, your body and yes - even your big belly - it carried and nurtured your baby for months! The body will naturally readjust. Look after yourself and be kind to yourself in every way and the weight will reduce and some semblance of normality will return - although probably it'll never be the same again! You're amazing! You're a beautiful post partum mum!

Regarding belly dancing - or any other form of exercise for that matter. So long as it fits or can be adapted to the WW posture and principles - it's all good! However I'm no belly dancer - so would welcome the opinions of any Belly Dancing Queens out there.

Wishing you all the best, xwholewomanuk

Hi enthusiastic,
I wish I had time to post everything I would like to say to you - but first congratulations on becoming a mother! I have a son, 14 months old now, and after giving birth to him had about 10kgs to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I discovered my POPs at 2 weeks PP and have been working on the posture since then. I want to encourage you that it helps a lot, even if you don't have time to do the exercises on the DVDs and in the book, and even if it takes a while to be able to be in posture all the time. There are still things I can't seem to do in posture (spending half an hour in the middle of the night shushing and back patting my little non-sleeper back to sleep in his cot because if he's in bed with us he spends half the night kicking us and pulling our hair!). But back to the weight - it has taken me about a year to get back to where I started - slowly, with plateaus, and fearing I would look pregnant forever. It seems to have happened quite naturally over this time, without dieting or doing any other exercise apart from daily walks (with the pushchair or 'wearing' the baby in a baby carrier). Here are a couple of websites that might encourage you:
jadebeall.com/a-beautiful-body-project
theshapeofamother.com
The great thing about how WW posture is that standing up straight and basically leading with your breasts does make your tummy area look more slender and firmer than when you slouch. It's impossible to block out all the unreasonable pressures put on us to look a certain way, but pp seemed a slightly easier time for me not to care (because I decided I would focus on the baby and learning the posture and try to forget about how I looked for a year), and with all the changes to your body I think physically it might be an easier time to adopt the posture. And remember that the more slowly you lose weight, the more permanent the weight loss is. Good luck going back to work!