Your bladder and pelvic floor

Your bladder and pelvic floor

It’s common to wet your pants a bit if you sneeze or cough after you’ve given birth vaginally. The pelvic floor muscles that support your bladder, uterus and bowel stretch 2.5 times their resting length during a vaginal birth, and more stretch is caused by a forceps birth, suction or pushing for a long time.

You can work on strengthening your pelvic floor muscles when you’re sitting on the couch, lying down, or standing at a desk and no one will ever know.

• squeeze and tighten your back passage (imagine you’re stopping a fart) 
• squeeze and tighten your vagina like you’re holding a tampon 
• squeeze and tighten your bladder as if you’re stopping the flow of wee 
• hold the squeeze for a few seconds – you might only be able to do it for a couple of seconds until your muscles get stronger again. Later, try to count to 10 
• relax and then repeat about five times 
• try to do this several times a day 
• keep breathing while you do these exercises. If you pull in your stomach or squeeze your bottom when you squeeze, you’ll be using the wrong muscles! 

Avoid doing pelvic floor exercises when you’re actually having a wee, as it might stop you from properly emptying your bladder. If you keep having problems, talk to your LMC or see a pelvic floor physiotherapist.