My greatest challenge - I wish I'd polished my pelvic floor

Pelvic floor exercises. It’s said you can do them anywhere – in the car, while making tea, at the office – and no-one need know. They strengthen the all-important sling of muscles stretching from the pubic bone to the backbone, which has many continence-related functions. The exercises are easy, straightforward, and unobtrusive. But did I do them? I won’t fib now. In spite of being predisposed to trouble down below, I rarely did. Ouch. Or should that be squelch? But I am not alone. A poll of 2,665 women on babycentre.co.uk found that two thirds did the exercises only occasionally (34%) or never (32%). We may regret our negligence.

Women’s health physio Georgina Evans says that one in three women experience incontinence by the age of 55. She adds that, no matter how flabby our stomachs are after giving birth, the pelvic floor will look worse. Judging by my stomach now, I must have a tyre factory inside my pelvis. So why did I persistently fail to do the exercises (and still do), and what tips can I offer others from my vantage of a rather soggy postpartum position?

Being absent-minded

Already inclined this way, I’ve become worse since giving birth. But I can hardly stick notices everywhere saying ‘pelvic floor’, can I? One friend asked her husband to remind her, though I was dubious about that. He gasped, ‘Are we supposed to be doing them already?’ – clearly envisaging holding her hand and co-breathing, as he planned to during labour. If only these exercises were so exciting! Some babycentre.co.uk birth club members remind each other to keep their muscles ‘fabby, not flabby’. Failing those prompts, perhaps I should build some into my daily routine, such as doing them when I turn on a tap.

Wanting a quick-fix

I want effects, and I want to feel them now. My enthusiasm waned after approximately three days. But the Continence Foundation says it’ll be three months before the benefits of pelvic floor exercises are felt. Next time (oops, I mean now) I’ll try to persist.

Georgina suggests the notion that the exercises are so straightforward is something of a myth. She warns that we need to check we’re doing them right. Insert two fingers into the vagina, and tighten round the back and then the front. If you’re not doing them right, then you won’t feel the grip on your fingers tighten. If that’s the case, specialist assistance should be sought. Georgina adds that pelvic floor exercises can’t really be done while doing other things. ‘If I try to do them while I’m washing up, I stop washing up’, she says. Clearly, I need to devote more time to the cause.

So will a combination of the fear factor, frequent prompts and persistence help me to polish my floor? I hope so. I can’t keep fibbing. And if I don’t, my daughter may not be the only one in nappies. Perish that thought, and tighten those muscles!

Pelvic floor exercises

Imagine you are trying to stop passing wind and urine at the same time. Tighten the muscles around your back passage, vagina and front passage and lift them up inside you.

Try to isolate your pelvic floor muscles by ensuring you are not pulling in your tummy, squeezing your legs together, tightening your buttocks or holding your breath.

Exercise One: Tighten the pelvic floor as long and as hard as you can. Build up to a maximum of ten seconds. Rest for four seconds and then repeat the contraction as many times as you can up to a maximum of ten contractions.

Exercise Two: Work the muscles quickly to help them react to sudden stresses from coughing, laughing or exercise that put pressure on the bladder. Draw in the pelvic floor and hold it for just one second before letting go. Repeat this quick contraction up to a maximum of ten times.

Aim to do one set of both exercises six times each day.

(Source: UK Continence Foundation)