Being a mother changes you and that is true in every aspect. Especially after birth, a woman’s body can display many physical changes.
The female body is still flooded with hormones in the first 8-10 weeks after labor. One of these hormones is relaxin. This hormone increases throughout your pregnancy and allows your muscles to stretch and move to accommodate the baby. As your body is adjusting to not being pregnant anymore, the relaxin will slowly decrease. During this period, you can help your muscles come back together by using postpartum compression.
Without postpartum compression, your muscles will fall into place eventually, but it can take a much longer time. It may also take a lot of abdominal exercises to get the muscles back to the pre-pregnancy phase. Wearing a compression garment (such as maternity leggings) immediately after giving birth for up to six months can help you heal faster.
Here are some benefits of using your maternity leggings post-delivery as well:
- Helps in getting rid of the extra fluid in your uterus so it can go back to its regular size more quickly
- Helps your muscles regain their original strength and shape more quickly, without having to do additional abdominal exercises
- Reduces swelling
- Improves posture, which can help strengthen your pelvic floor muscles
It should also be noted that wearing these garments too tightly may cause increased pain, and difficulty in breathing. Also, you don’t want to wear your garment for more than 12 hours a day or more than 12 weeks because it can make your muscles weaker when worn too long.
