I have been seeing many videos speaking about the ‘mom pooch’, both in positive and negative ways to the point where I feel the need to way in.

First off a mom pooch is not a bad thing. And you if you are under 1 year postpartum, you will likely have more rounding in your belly from all the adaptations your body went through in pregnancy. Once you understand the different causes of a mom pooch and you can identify some adaptations or patterns that you have which may not be serving your body [especially if you have pelvic floor issues, back pain, diastasis recti or gut issues].

What is a mom pooch?

A ‘mom pooch’ is a distended or partially rounded belly. This can happen after giving birth, may be worse after multiple births and can last forever. Often times it makes you look pregnant and feel bloated. It can impact how you view yourself, your digestion, and muscle function.

Why you have a mom pooch

Contrary to some popular beliefs it is not your uterus. After 6 weeks postpartum your uterus has shrunk back to pre-pregnancy size and should not be large enough to distend your belly as it sits inside your pelvis. You may notice a difference based on your cycle but again your uterus doesn’t grow large even close to your period.

Mom pooches can be divided into several categories:

Genetics

You may have a belly pooch solely because of extra fat and skin in the area. Your genetics is what plays a role in this reason as we all accumulate fat in different places on the body. As well as have different skin elasticity thus how much it stretches and rebounds. If this is the case and it is bothersome you will want to look into working with a dietician as well as an exercise professional for safe and sustainable weight loss in postpartum.

Skin is more challenging as you can’t lose extra skin, however when you work on toning muscles underneath stretched skin it can improve the skin elasticity and can improve the look and feel of the area.

Hormones/weaker muscle

Changes in hormones can also impact abdominal muscle functioning. Estrogen is a major player in muscle function and control. With the decrease in estrogen in postpartum it can make the recruitment of your muscles more challenging. Then as your cycle returns you may notice a difference as you near your period.

However, you can help your muscles build a solid foundation for a strong resting tone that is minimally impacted by your hormone changes. As well as support your hormones through sleep hygiene, gut health & digestion and stress management.

Breathing mechanics

The way you breath generally changes through pregnancy to adapt to your growing belly, which may become your default breathing pattern in postpartum. The most common breathing mechanics that can result in a belly pooch is chest breathing. When you inhale solely into your chest this creates a vacuum that draws your belly in which reverses on exhale and pushes the belly out. Having a default breathing pattern like this increases pressure into your belly and pelvis, challenging the muscles and possibly even keeping them stretched out.

The other breathing pattern that can contribute to a distended belly is belly breathing. In postpartum your abdominal muscles are softer and stretched out, this makes them the path of least resistance for breathing. So rather than breathing into your ribs using diaphragmatic or physiological breathing your body opts for the easy button. Unfortunately, this pattern reenforces the length in the abdominal muscles rather than helps them resume a more taught resting state.

Abdominal muscle imbalance (DRA, core weakness, uncoordinated recruitment)

Abdominal muscle imbalances can also contribute to belly distention. Imbalances can vary from a diastasis recti (when the linea alba or midline of the abdominal muscles stay seperated), deep core weakness or uncoordinated recruitment. As I stated above in postpartum your abdominal muscles are lengthened from pregnancy and need time and retraining to shorten to an optimal resting tone.

A DRA can contribute to abdominal muscle recruitment and may make pressure management more challenging thus more belly distention.

Deep core weakness in the transverse abdominus and pelvic floor muscles again can result in pressure management concerns and the visual belly distention.

Uncoordinated muscle recruitment can look like over powering your lower belly with your upper or side belly.

There are two forms of over powering or over recruitment that can result in belly distention.

1. Upper Rectus Abs dominance

   If you are an upper belly gripper, this tends to push down into your belly and if your transverse abdominus isn’t strong enough to withstand the pressure it bulges the belly.

2. Oblique dominance

   If you grip in your sides, this tends to create a larger midline bread-loaf looking bulge if the transverse abs are strong enough.

This incoordination can be made worse with a DRA or weak transervse abdominuse. However, that is not always the case. The TA may be perfectly functioning and strong but the other muscles are just TOO much. So it’s finding a balance of helping the too much muscles dial it down while dialing up the too little muscles (as needed).

You can do this is a couple different ways [typically it takes all of them]:

• Manually release tension in the too much muscles using silicone cups or skin rolling.

• Stretch the too much muscles from the inside out by breathing into the tension in various positions

• Practice doing “less” with your core exercises or when you feel yourself gripping to retrain how they respond

• Connect to your inner core with breath work and basic core exercises like heel slides and knee fall outs to help retrain the order your abs turn on

Scarring or restriction

Scarring from a cesarean birth or other surgeries may cause a belly shelf or pooching in the lower belly. This is from the scarring pulling inward making the tissue above the scar bulge out. Another way scarring can contribute to a mom pooch is disruption in fluid movement through the gut and pelvis. This can cause bloating and constipation which can distend the belly. If this is persistent the mom pooch may not go away until addressed.

If this is the cause of your mom pooch then doing scar mobilization once the [incision is fully closed] will help. The most basic scar mobilization steps to take are:

1. Light rubbing with a soft cloth to make sure you are comfortable touching the area.

2. Light rubbing with your fingers and some lotion or oil - up/down, side/side, circles

3. Adding a little more press through your fingers and repeating #2 - gradually increasing the pressure to get into the deeper layers

4. Light pulling of the skin with your fingers or a silicone cup (no lotion or oil) - up/down, side/side, diagonals without sliding your fingers across the skin but staying in one spot and pulling the skin in a direction to hold for 10-30 seconds

5. Adding more pressure through fingers and repeating #4 - gradually increasing pressure to get into deeper layers

6. Skin rolling or pulling - above, along and below the scar

If you are uncomfortable with doing this on your own find a pelvic PT in your area to help! Scar mobilization should NOT be painful and you can go at your own pace. You do not need to get to each step from day 1, it may take you multiple weeks before moving on to the deeper layers.

Posture

Your posture can also impact your pressure management and how your muscles function. The most common posture that impacts belly distention is holding your pelvis in an anterior tilt.

I call this the duck butt. If you can picture a duck you know what I mean. This is when your pelvis is tipped forward so your pubic bone is dropped lower and your tailbone is lifted higher than a neutral position. If you can’t picture this it’s essentially the position your pelvis goes in when you are doing a cow during cat/cow pose.

When your pelvis tips forward like this it increases pressure into the front of the belly, making it more likely your belly is going to distend forward. This is from your body having less space in your back for you breath and organs to move into.

If this is your default posture, it’s like you have weak hamstrings (even though they probably feel tight) and you need to strengthen them. I’m not talking about hamstring curls here, that only works the lower half of your hamstrings. You need to work the upper half of your hamstrings, the part that attaches to your pelvis and actually pulls your pelvis back.

A simple exercise is this:

• Lie on your back with your legs up on a chair or couch

• Prop up your back and head with a bunch of pillows or put a rolled towel under your low back - both can help you feel your low back lengthening

• Place you hands (if you can reach - this is where the pillows behind your back lifting you up can be handy) just below your sit bones [those bony parts of your butt]

• Inhale into your back then as you exhale press your heals into the chair/couch as you round your butt under pulling down with your hamstrings.

• You should NOT feel your butt clenching to make this happen - keep your glutes OFF

• Then hold this position as you breath into your back on inhale and up and out from your pelvic floor on your exhale

This was a lot of information and much of it is challenging to understand by just reading. Fortunately for you, I have turned this blog into a video so you can visually see me walking through three of these common reasons why you may have a mom pooch and some of the exercises to go with it. All you need to do is click here and watch!