Read on to find out
Don’t freak out, but your pelvic floor is already going through a strain that will reach fever pitch during childbirth.
If you’re a total newbie to pregnancy, your pelvic floor is a network of muscles that stretch from the pubic bone at the front to the end of the backbone. You can feel the muscles if you try to stop the flow of urine. Strengthen the muscles by sitting comfortably and squeezing them up to 15 times in a row.
Your pelvic floor muscles might be weak if you leak urine after coughing, sneezing or any strain, known as ‘stress incontinence’. But you’ll be pleased to know you can try to avoid this by strengthening the muscles through exercise.
Even if you’re not suffering from stress incontinence at the moment, the NHS recommends pelvic floor exercises throughout pregnancy.
Watch our Top Tip film on pelvic floor exercises below from personal trainer Natasha Brown.
Nicola Dawson
May 30, 2015
Thank you Natasha – I’m in my 2nd trimester and have already started to feel the benefit of doing my pelvic floor exercises! I do them each day when I put my make up on and when I take it off again at night – that advice was fab! Thank you :)