Urine Leaks and Bladder Weakness after Childbirth.

Involuntary urine leaks manifests in lots of ways:

• Leaking urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh, jump or during high intensity exercise or activity

• Lose of control of your bladder before getting to the convenience or pulling down your pants

• Consistent trickle of urine that never stops that requires you to wear diaper

• Feeling slightly wet and having to change your pants multiple times a day because of the constant drops of urine.
• Bed wetting at night

There are different causes of urine leaks after childbirth. In some cases, the urine leaks starts during pregnancy because of the weight of your baby and because the body releases a hormone called relaxin.

This hormone helps your abdominal and pelvic floor muscles to stretch throughout pregnancy and as your baby makes it way through the birth canal during childbirth. During pregnancy, as your  baby grows, he pushes down on your bladder, urethra, and pelvic floor muscles.

Your pelvic floor supports your bladder, uterus and bowel. During pregnancy, as your  baby grows, the weight  pushes down on your bladder, urethra, and pelvic floor muscles.

Over time, this pressure can weaken your pelvic floor muscles and lead to urine leaks or problems passing urine.

Some mothers also experience pelvic floor damage during labor and delivery especially prolonged labor, assisted birth like forceps delivery or birthing a big baby.

Other postpartum issues like PELVIC ORGAN PROLAPSE can also cause urine leaks.

If you’re dealing with urine leaks after child birth, here are some things you should know and do:

1. Even though Kegel is beneficial, it not always the answer. In some cases it can make the urine leaks worse. If you’ve been doing Kegel for some time without seeing any improvement, then you should stop doing it and first of all find out the kind of Pelvic floor you have. There are 2 types of Pelvic floor  – the weak and the strong or tight pelvic floor. Knowing the type you have determines if you should be         doing Kegel or not. The pelvic floor guide explains more on this and gives you exercises that’s suitable for you
2. Don’t go to the toilet just in case. And when you get there, nothing will come out and you will then force yourself to pee. This confuses your bladder when you do this often as your bladder will lose it’s ability to know when you’re full to give you signs that its almost full. Instead of waiting till it’s full, your bladder will give you sign that’s full because it believes that is what you want.
3. Stop engaging in high intensive exercises after childbirth without proper assessment. Your body changes after childbirth. A lot of things stretched after childbirth. You need to give your body time to heal and recover before running, jumping and lifting very heavy weights.
4. If you leak urine during some exercises.. STOP DOING THEM. It means your pelvic floor is not yet strong enough to do them. Managing the leaks during exercise by using pads and still doing high intensive exercises could lead to Bladder prolapse.
5. Maintain a healthy weight after childbirth. Excess weight could also bring on excessive pressure on your bladder and lead to incontinence.
6. Avoid foods and drinks like caffeine because they may be diuretic or they can irritate your bladder and cause urinary urgency and frequency. If you’re already experiencing involuntary urine leaks you definitely don’t need things that will make it worse.
7. Any exercise that makes you hold your breath or increases the curve on your back like sit ups and crunches should be avoided till you are healed and can mange the pressure that comes from it.

If your incontinence continues for more than 6 weeks after childbirth then you need expert guidance and tailored exercises to help you heal. You can find such guidance and exercise in my Pelvic Floor Guide or you can apply for my  1-1 customized 5 weeks postpartum recovery coaching BBLB and lets get you living confidently and freely again.

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