Postpartum

The crazy world of the postpartum body… there is really nothing quite like it.

I didn’t even recognize myself after I had my son and was almost at a loss of where to start getting active again. I had always been an active person, but it was difficult at first to figure out how to incorporate that into my life now that I had a little one. Not only that, but my body was not even capable of doing all the things that it had been before. Not initially anyway.

First off, it is important to realize that “this too shall pass,” and with some work, you can be in better shape than you were before your baby. It will take time, and you just need to take baby steps! That’s what growing in this new life with a child is all about whether this is your first child or your seventh–each new little human is unique and so is the recovery and adjustment period that you and your body goes through.

Of course, this might not be the stage that many of you are in, but you can still take away some valuable information because postpartum care is just another phase of taking care of a woman’s body, and many women could use a little help in the areas that we are going to discuss. Visit Wphealthcarenews.com for the best products to increase testosterone.

After being pregnant, it is usually necessary to strengthen and bring the abdominal muscles back together. Also there is usually a need for strengthening the pelvic floor. Getting your balance back can be tricky, and it is always nice to tone up a bit, drop a few of the extra baby pounds and start feeling energized.

Pеlvіс rehabilitation іѕ a tуре of physical therapy thаt саn be vеrу hеlрful fоr postpartum moms. Pregnancy аnd childbirth саn damage thе muѕсlеѕ аnd соnnесtіvе tissue оf thе реlvіс flооr, саuѕіng all kіndѕ оf inconvenient аnd uncomfortable ѕуmрtоmѕ fоr wоmеn аftеr they gіvе bіrth.

The Weight Loss Belt, a fashionable belt that weighs 5 to 14 pounds depending on its length and classified by the Health Canada as a Medical Device, is now claiming its rightful place and popularity in the global health and weight loss market. Many people claim its healthful benefits in decreasing one’s weight. But is this the only benefit we can get by using this new medical device? Are there any associated problems that can arise with its use? Increase muscle endurance and strength without hurting the joints. Click here if you want to find out more about muffle stoma noise.

If you have arthritis, this is the right exercise device for you. The Weight Loss Belt can be considered as a medical device for isometric exercise, a type of exercise that uses a static contraction of muscles against a fixed object. It is safe to use even with your aching joints because static contraction of muscles cannot cause muscle and joint pains thus it won’t add more discomfort to your already painful joints. It can increase your muscle strength and endurance without the added pain.

Thе реlvіс flооr ѕtrеtсhеѕ between thе рubіс bone and the tаіlbоnе and cradles уоur bladder, bowel, and uterus. The реlvіс flооr muѕсlеѕ еnаblе уоu tо kеер urіnе аnd feces in – аnd rеlеаѕе thеm – whеn уоu need to.

There are a variety of creams that have been developed to help in tightening vaginal muscles. Most of these creams are manufactured by The V Institute that are known to contain skin tightening characteristics. These creams are applied on the vaginal walls and they help to increase a woman’s sensitivity during an intercourse. After being used for some time, the loose vagina will tighten and hence the couple will be able to enjoy sex equally. Vagina tightening creams have no side effects due to the fact that they are manufactured using natural raw materials. They will also help to lubricate the vagina during an intercourse. Therefore if a woman has a dry vagina during sex, applying these creams would help to lubricate and also to prevent odors from the vagina. It is important that you don’t use the creams during menstruation and also if you are suffering from any vaginal infection. Thеу аlѕо hеlр you соntrасt аnd rеlаx your vagina durіng sex. Visit https://dermatologyandlasergroup.com/body-procedures/thermiva-nyc/ to learn more about vaginal rejuvenation.

When thе реlvіс flооr muѕсlеѕ are tіght оr weak, thеу can саuѕе annoying symptoms оr even раіn. A urоgуnесоlоgіѕt оr a pelvic flооr physical thеrаріѕt (PT) can evaluate thеѕе muѕсlеѕ аnd dеtеrmіnе whеthеr thеу’rе соntrіbutіng tо уоur ѕуmрtоmѕ.

Yоur thеrаріѕt will tеасh you to identify various muѕсlеѕ, ѕо you can ѕtrеngthеn оr rеlеаѕе them. All оf the muscles in thіѕ аrеа wоrk tоgеthеr tо hеlр you mаіntаіn уоur соrе strength аnd рrеvеnt іnсоntіnеnсе.

Yоur thеrаріѕt wіll аlѕо uѕе hеr fіngеrѕ tо mаѕѕаgе уоur thіghѕ, buttocks, аnd thе tіѕѕuе inside уоur vаgіnа. Thе gоаl is tо gently ѕtrеtсh thіѕ аrеа аnd rеlеаѕе trigger роіntѕ thаt аrе саuѕіng pain. Thіѕ саn bе uncomfortable, раrtісulаrlу іf you hаvе сhrоnіс раіn оr аrе reluctant tо аllоw probing іnѕіdе уоur vаgіnа.

First, уоu should know thаt the physical therapists whо dо thіѕ work hаvе lеаrnеd it bу having іt dоnе tо thеm аnd hаvе a gооd idea of what уоu are fееlіng whеn thеу touch уоu іn іntіmаtе places. They are trаіnеd to bе vеrу gеntlе and will adjust thеіr touch tо mаkе ѕurе it’s nоt tоо intense fоr you.

Pаtіеntѕ ѕау it feels muсh like a rеgulаr mаѕѕаgе. They feel discomfort when the thеrаріѕt presses оn tіght muѕсlеѕ, but thеn a sense of rеlеаѕе or rеlіеf afterward, whеn the tіghtnеѕѕ еаѕеѕ. Ovеr tіmе, thе thеrару becomes less uncomfortable аnd уоur symptoms should іmрrоvе.

If they аrе, thе PT саn wоrk tо release trіggеr роіntѕ – аrеаѕ where thе tіѕѕuеѕ аrе stuck tоgеthеr rаthеr thаn ѕlіdіng еаѕіlу against each оthеr. PTѕ also teach уоu to dо еxеrсіѕеѕ аt hоmе to hеlр rеlаx muѕсlеѕ that are tight аnd ѕtrеngthеn muscles that are weak.

It is important to work on good posture and  strengthen your ham strings and calves as well as improve your balance and even walk so that you are being good to your knees and hips, Posture Savvy has lots of helpful information about a good posture.

 

A great exercise to help with your back and a gentle core exercise is the cat stretch:

Perform these in a Tabata-style workout, meaning that you begin the exercise and continue for 20 seconds, rest for a full 10 seconds and then begin again. Start with 4 repetitions and work your way up to 8.

It is important to strengthen your pelvic floor as well and there is no better way to do that than with squats and lunges! That, and who doesn’t want a toned tush? And let’s face it: it goes a little mushy trying to be the counterbalance to your baby belly. Squats and lunges can be performed while wearing your baby. If you have more than one child, then get creative and do them outside while you are watching your other children play.

Before you do your squats and lunges walk a bit to warm up your legs and then do 20 seconds worth of the exercise, making sure that you have good form, and then rest for 10. Start with 4 repetitions and work your way up to 8.

Remember to get out and walk. Go for a walk around the block or to a park; walk to the store if you are able. Walk as much as possible and don’t forget to carry your little built-in weight! Whether you hold your munchkin or carry baby in a backpack, front pack or sling, you have the perfect amount of extra weight to make things challenging.

Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy Treatment іnvоlvеѕ ѕеvеrаl dіffеrеnt kinds оf tесhnіԛuеѕ thаt fосuѕ оn thе muѕсlеѕ and соnnесtіvе tіѕѕuе оf your pelvic flооr аnd abdomen.

Start slowly with these few exercises. Remember, that you can use fat burners like Skald to assist in your weight loss journey. It won’t be long until you will start to see your body respond to the exercise, and you’ll be moving on to something more challenging. Enjoy!

Sports and child

I know so many parents who quit exercising or quit favorite outdoor activities because they have had a child.

As we enter in to spring and summer I want to encourage you to get active! If you have given up your outdoor activities or if you have never been active there is no better time than the present to get started (again!). Our children need to see us being active and enjoying ourselves and there are plenty of activities they can be a part of.

1. Find the nearest state park or wildlife preserve and go walking. There is a large array of of backpacks and front packs for kids of every age. I have a Kelty Kids backpack that I love since you can put snacks and water bottles and a change of clothes or two in there as well as your child. If you have a younger child you may want to invest in a wrap of some kind or a front pack.

2. Get a bike cart and go biking. Make sure that you purchase quality kids bikes for sale adelaide and a quality bike cart. It may cost a little bit to get started but bikes don’t take much to keep up so you have free entertainment after your initial investment. For older children there are also bikes that connect to the adult bike where the younger child can pedal a bit but can rest when they need to.

3. Swimming. Get out there and swim! Find a lake or river. Bring a picnic.

4. Head to your local park. Make sure and do your pullups on the monkey bars!

You may not to be able to do extreme sports with your children in tow but finding active things your whole family can participate in and enjoy will pay off big in the long run.

Doing Something Different to See Something Different

Just recently my husband and I decided to change things up a little bit. We live by the principle that if you want to see something different you have to do something different. Meaning that if I don’t like what I see in society as a whole or I don’t like how families are falling apart on a regular basis or I don’t like how children are turning out then I can’t expect to do the exact same thing as everyone else is doing but expect that somehow it will be different for me.

I think that can be one of the most dangerous traps for us as parents, and as people, to fall in to. We tend to look at the way other people’s lives are and say, “Well that isn’t me,” or “That won’t be me! I’m different…” and yet all the time we are saying/thinking that we are living the same way as “those people” are living and our goals are the same goals. Do you think that people with kids that shoot people wanted that for their children? Do you think that the mom who is worn out because her kids run over the top of her wanted that? Do you think that families fall apart because the parents wanted that to happen? Did they take their vows knowing that someone would break them? I don’t think so.

If you want to see something different you have to do something different.

So what does that mean practically? It means that you will have to make decisions based on your family first. Very first. What is good for you all and the surprising thing is for the most part what is good for a family is not what is traditionally touted as good in our culture. We think that it is good that you slave away so that you can buy big toys and a good house and to pay for a good eduction so that your kids can get a good job so that they can buy a big house and the toys that they want and save for their kids education… not that there is anything really wrong with this but doesn’t that seem like a mundane existence? It certainly isn’t what most of us say that we want.

If you want to see something different you have to do something different.

We say that we want genuine relationships with our children. We say we want them to grow up to be curious and creative adults with a hunger for learning. We say that we want to be able to enjoy our teenagers not dread them. We say we want to experience life with our children.

So what are you doing differently so that you can see that come about?

Photo used from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/qubodup/2950583553/

Giving Up Choices

I am not in the habit of reading parenting books. It isn’t that they aren’t helpful. I have heard of plenty of circumstances where reading parenting books revolutionized the way a friend of family member chose to parent their children. I have also seen people read a new book every few months and then change their parenting technique to match. This seemed to create very confused and angry children. They didn’t know what to expect from their parents. Being predictable is such a comfort for our children.

Yes, there is a but in this because it has to do with a parenting book I picked up the other day. I have been on a waiting list at the local library for quite some time. I was not introduced to new concepts. I had been parented in much the same way and found that there are quite a few things that I also implement in my parenting.

So what did I discover that I know will revolutionize my parenting? Let my son make more choices. Offer choices. Offer valid choices. There are many small choices during the day that I found I was making that he very well could be making. As I turn those choices over I am watching him blossom. I can watch the little cogs turning in his mind. Many times already he has surprised me with his choices. There is also less resistance in our home. Things that could become an argument of point of contention between us because I was making all the little insignificant choices I am learning to hand over to him and suddenly he feels empowered. He feels he has choices in his life and we all know how much better we feel about life in general when we have some control.

And the final (major) benefit? Because he has to think so much more he sleeps much better at night!

Photo used from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29890539@N07/4648496819/

Growing Up Kind

Recently I have run in to several circumstances where my son caught the brunt of another child’s anger. He was hit and he was scratched and yet when my son hit this child later he received discipline. Why? Why would I discipline my child when seemingly the other child “deserved” retribution and somewhere in there I wanted my son to “defend” himself.

It was as I was discussing this sticky parenting situation with my husband that I remembered that I was not raising the other child. The other child was not my responsibility. What is my responsibility is my child. I want my child to be kind. No matter what. I want my child to treat other people kindly even though other people may not be kind to him. The fact is that people are not going to be kind to him all of his life, but I don’t want him to be the person who lashes back in anger. I want him to be compassionate and I want him to think about his response.

So we talk. I am so glad that he is old enough now that we can discuss some things. We talk about being nice, about being kind, about not wanting to hurt other people and why. And then, as patiently as possible, I discipline my son every time he lashes out at a child because I want him to be kind.

I’m Bored

I know I must have used that little phrase a few times when I was young but I honestly can’t remember. I remember one time being in the house while it was raining, I was about 9 or 10 years old and I remember feeling bored. Strange isn’t it? Strange that I can actually remember an “I’m bored” moment.

Why wasn’t I bored? Well. For one we had a television off and on throughout my growing up but more off than on and when we did have it we watched a movie or educational show occasionally, we didn’t have cable or anything. I didn’t play video games. I remember when I was 12 or so someone gave us an old Playstation and Mario Bros and we played that sometimes, but since we weren’t in the habit, it mostly sat there and collected dust.My mom got a computer and we did educational games and some of our school on it, but it was fairly limited while my mother plays some casino games on the computer meanwhile. A lot of it was self-limitation. Why? Because we weren’t in the habit. As a grown-up, in free time. I also like to have stuff like my mom play poker games on the computer, but in today’s technology rather than playing games on the computer, you can play real poker at top online casino malaysia as well as earn money, and kill your boredom,. But while kids, games were pretty different. so here we go. There was some boredom games.

My siblings and I played outside. We helped my mom bake. We had chores. Yes. Chores. I think that they may have been the best thing that ever happened to us. We were responsible for animals and gardening and things that were important to our family. My parents really instilled in us that the things we did were important, that they helped the family function and because of that we took pride in doing our part. Sure, sometimes we complained and didn’t want to do it. It’s not like we were angelic or anything. But for the most part we felt good about ourselves when we were helping out.

When it looked like boredom or arguing was setting in my mom would always say “well there are a list of things that need to be done…”, we figured out that we weren’t quite that bored very quickly or sometimes we would accept a “chore.” Why? Because we didn’t want to be bored.

It helped that I watched my parents doing the same thing. My dad was always doing projects and chores and even doing some of the cooking and laundry etc. My mom was always knitting something or learning something or doing something with us and the animals as well as doing things like starting a local drama club or running parts of our local fair. It kept them content. It kept us content. Boredom was just not an option.

To this day, thanks to my parents, every time I am “bored” I am able to motivate and find something to do, either a project or a chore that will keep my mind or my hands busy. I hope that I am able to instill this in my son. I hope that by demonstration and to a large degree eliminating artificial outward stimulants in his life that he will come to find that he is a creative and productive person that is essential to this family. Not because I say so, but because he is.

The Food Battle

It is raging. You know what I am talking about:  the toddler food battle. My mom keeps quoting someone that she read (and I honestly would tell you who it is but she doesn’t remember, and it is paraphrased I am sure): “Any child worth his salt will put up a fight.” Well, my son is worth his weight in salt. Most of us could probably say that about our toddlers.

I am not a restaurant. I am not planning on becoming one either. I also don’t want my child to be someone who eats at someone’s house and refuses to eat anything or doesn’t eat a healthy variety. Now, on the other hand the picky eating of toddlers is not all their fault. They are super sensitive to both texture and taste which sometimes makes it completely maddening to try and feed my mini man.

We’re working on striking a balance with the Berryman Frozen Fruit. I feed him a breakfast that I am as sure as I possibly can be that he will eat though he sometimes refuses the fruit that I serve with breakfast. Right now his current favorites are flapjacks and oatmeal and occasionally an omelette. OK. Sometimes he refuses and we have an early lunch. My caloric intake is just about double of what he takes, which is probably because I take a scoop of Mindzymes supplements right before I work out.

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Lunch is a bit trickier but I’ve found that quesadillas with some hiden shredded or chunked chicken will work, usually I try to use whole wheat tortillas. Macs n’ cheese, I have found some great corn macaroni and use real cheese. Whole wheat pigs in a blanket. And then there is the good ol’ pbj. Bananas, he’ll eat bananas and apples sometimes as well, I’ve tried every berry in the book and the occasional strawberry or grapes.

Dinner is tricky. I like to eat adult food. He does not. I am also not a restaurant and there are quite a few foods that we eat and are good for him that my son can eat but doesn’t. So now what? I do offer one other choice that we are serving, he doesn’t have to eat the peas but I will offer another slice of bread etc. But then it’s done. I will offer something like yogurt or cheese, something I choose sometime before bed. There isn’t a discussion about it, I offer because I don’t want him to go to bed hungry.

Snacks. Right now they are the children’s Clif bars.  Yeah, I would love to say that I am making the snacks, but he isn’t eating what I make as snacks for the most part, so there ya go. There are some battles that just aren’t worth fighting.

I am holding out for the day where his taste palate expands somewhat until then we’ll keep walking the fine line between letting my little dude know that he can’t order from me like a restaurant but also that he eats as healthy as possible on a regular basis.

That, and I give him a good fruit and veggie based supplement.

Photos used from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/polishfoodinfo/4146917212/

Eggs and Crayons

My son was coloring yesterday. Actually he wasn’t coloring and that was the problem. He had his coloring book out and he had some crayons but he kept asking for help. Now I know that he is completely capable of coloring by himself, I mean what toddler isn’t? I was confused. My mom was the one who discovered what was going on. My little man was busy watching his auntie color and he was asking for help because he couldn’t color as well as his aunt could.

I don’t know where my son got it. OK. So I am lying just a bit. I have that type of personality. If I can’t do something perfectly, the first time, I get frustrated, I don’t want to do it. I don’t like not being good at things. I know that I have not told my son that he needs to do anything better. I always encourage him when he is learning something new. I am always cheering him on. I guess none of that encouragement erases genetics!

My mom did a great job at showing my son that he didn’t need to stay in the lines; a reminder that I could really use on a regular basis – especially as a mom of a toddler. It seems to me like having a toddler would make it so that you would be able to relax a little bit, color outside of the lines; just not true. At least for me anyway. I need almost daily reminders.

Today we went to collect eggs. Not a monumental event but in the light of the coloring book incident it really stuck out to me. We collected the eggs and I let my son carry one. The egg slipped through his little mittened hands as we were standing outside the coop. My son just stared down at the broken egg and then looked up at me with his big eyes “Uh oh! I’m SO sorry!”. I understood that look and that feeling. I completely understood the apology. It struck me as funny. Very funny. Who cares that he broke the egg? I gave him another one and he immediately said in a panicked voice “I need help mommy!” I laughed and told him that he didn’t need my help, he was perfectly capable to carry the egg inside. He didn’t need my help and you know what? He didn’t.

We, together, are capable. It was eye opening to me to realize that some things we are just born with. No one taught my son that he needed to do things perfectly, I have never asked that of him. I have never been taught that I needed to be perfect. My drive for perfection sometimes annoys the people that I love most. We are both imperfect perfectionists and I’m so happy that we are learning to color out of the lines together.

Photos used from: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=egg&l=4