During pregnancy, it is normal for your body to undergo changes. Since you are carrying a growing baby, your skin and abdominal muscles stretch out.
As a way of supporting this change, your body adds fat cells.
But when you give birth, you end up having loose skin. Not to mention, your ab muscles will have space between them.
To help counter this, many women turn to the help of abdominal wrapping.
Through this practice, you can get support in your body’s postpartum recovery. The wrap creates a layer of support for your lower back.
By using a girdel, you encourage your abdominal muscles to start stitching themselves back together.
After you give birth, your body continues to release hormones. These help in stretching and relaxing your ligaments.
But when you use a belt, your body will be held in place until those hormones are no longer part of your system.
In short, an abdominal binder can help support your surgical incision, relieve post operation pain, reduce swelling, and help you get moving.
Be warned though, there isn’t a lot of scientific evidence that supports the theory that abdominal binders are beneficial.
But this review found out that these belts can help decrease psychological distress and post-operative pain.
With that in mind, let’s talk more about abdominal binders and how they can help you.
1. Do You Really Need One And Do They Work?
An abdominal binder can be helpful in speeding up your recovery process after going through surgery in your abdomen area.
Apart from a C-section, here are some of the procedures where an abdominal binder is recommended:
-
Hysterectomy
- Bariatric surgery
- Tummy tuck
- Spinal surgery
- Exploratory laparotomy
Although there isn’t a lot of research that backs up the effectiveness of abdominal binder, many women swear that these have helped in their postpartum recovery.
This is because binders help give them the support and stability they need while their core muscles are still recovering from a Caesarian.
Binders have also been known to help shrink the uterus back to its normal size.
Because of the support it brings, many women believe binders can help them get back to doing their normal activities a lot faster.
2. How Soon After C-section Can I Wear a Girdle?
Many women want to jump right in and start using a girdle after they give birth.
Although girdles can help support your back, reduce pain, and make your abdominal muscles feel like they used to, it’s important that you first ask your doctor for advice.
Especially if you had a c-section, you need to first focus on taking care of your wound.
Your doctor may recommend that you use a girdle for medical purposes.
This, however, does not mean you should start using a basic postpartum wrap right away.
Instead, your doctor will likely advise you to wait until your body has healed before you can start using one.
So make sure to ask your doctor when to wear postpartum belt after c-section on your next check-up.
3. Is It Too Late To Wear A Postpartum Belt?
You can still wear a girdle up to 12 weeks postpartum.
As a matter of fact, doctors say that wearing a postpartum belt for two to four months will give you the benefits that you are hoping for.
The important thing is that you have healed from your c-section and that your doctor has given you the green light to start wearing one.
However, wearing a postpartum belt beyond the 12-week mark will be pretty useless.
This is because your body should be mostly recovered from the c-section at this point.
Wearing a wrap won’t give you the benefits anymore.
Instead, you should focus on rebuilding and strengthening your core.