Abs are always the cover story any time a celebrity mom makes her first appearance after having a baby. Most non-celeb moms aren’t too overly concerned–bonding with baby trumps having a washboard stomach at six weeks post partum.
But in some cases, your abs should concern you. During pregnancy, your abdominal muscles actually separate to accommodate the growing uterus. You can tell this has happened because during braxton-hicks contractions your stomach comes to a point instead of remaining rounded.
After pregnancy, your abdominal wall will slowly come back together. In fact, it’s one of the reasons you need to go really easy on your body following childbirth. Overexerting yourself with exercise, housework or heavy lifting can cause further damage while this area is healing.
In some cases, the gap remains months after it should have closed. This is called diasasis recti. While some of these cases will eventually require surgery to completely close, many women can help ease the process along themselves with a simple set of exercises.
Make sure to talk to your doctor or midwife before you begin any exercises to help deal with diastasis recti.
Sarah Johnson is a mom of five boys who lives and writes in Finland.
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