I decided to share this after a conversation with one of the mothers in my community last week. Leaking after birth is common but not normal.

We are getting pretty good at sharing our plevic health stories now. In my most recent postnatal class many of the women shared that one of the reasons for coming was to support pelvic floor function.

But what we aren’t great at talking openly about with fellow mums is how our dysfunction came to be.

When i’m looking at pelvic floor dysfunction I think of it from 3 angles. Two of which I can help with. One of which I would refer you to a super duper pelvic physio that I know!

Pelvic floor dysfunction after physical injury

Now this is common place in mothers. Either through tearing (again very normal most bodies tear when birthing often when we birth without intervention our tears are small and will naturally heal if looked after) But in a world where birth intervention is rising many women now experience significant tearing either from coached pushing or birth positions that are not right for their bodies. We also have many women experiencing episiotomy’s (cutting of the pelvic floor ) to assist the birth of your baby. A physical injury requires the support of a pelvic health physio. Always. Not just a one off look over but repeated visits to help the women heal. Feel seen. And supported.

Emotional pelvic floor dysfunction

This piece relates directly to physical injury and dysfunction. Becuase after a traumatic experience our bodies tend to freeze. It holds on. Your facia thinks it’s under threat and both the nervous system and your muscles tighten. Over time this holding on this inability to relax fully and feel safe will result in some form of pain or dysfunction in the pelvic floor or associated areas of the back and or hip. Sure we can do a bit of breathing to help. Yes we can do pelvic floor exercises. But this is where the deeper worth MATTERS! Having the massage and body work like closing the bones regularly over a period of time. Putting the body in spaces that feel safe! Allowing the nervous system and the woman it belongs to slowly soften. We have too look outside of physical therapy and exercises for muscles. We have to go DEEP! Sometimes into wounds that are not even related to child birth but stem back to childhood!

Postural pelvic floor dysfunction

This is huge so many postnatal mothers that I see perhaps 6 months after birth who maybe had a section or an intervention free birth are still developing dysfunction. No physical injury. But because our posture changes so much between maiden and mother we have to often realign. If we continue to carry our heavier baby and then return to our old life we will suffer. Pelvic floor issues related to posture can be treated with movement and of course massage. Both together is ideal.

So there you have it a whistle stop tour of pelvic floor dysfunction for mothers who are living with it.

Where does yours come from? What are you doing to support yourself and how can I help you? I would love to know.

Motherworth begins on the 2nd of October if you want to dip your toes into the deep work of healing yourself in motherhood

And if you want understand and rebuild slowly with deep connection this foundational movement programme Mother Body Reset is perfect.

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I’ve been practicing massage quietly alongside my movement work over the last 12 months.

It feels so right to me. To connect and heal women through touch is something I have always known I could do and it has taken me a while to gain the practices I need to nourish myself well so that I can share this power with more women in the North East.

In this video I explore three reasons that massage matters, just as much as movement, diet and having the support of good people. Massage or body work should be one of the main practices shared in the first year post-partum and here I tell you why!

If you live in Northumberland or Newcastle and you are in need of some pregnancy or postnatal body work I come to you! I create the safe and supportive environment you need to process all that you are transition through. I honour and witness you in the moment with so much love and compassions. You can book an appointment here: https://www.wellnesswithchloerose.com/massage.

If you live a little further away and desperately need support in your transition form maiden to mother my next “Motherworth” online container is available to book. Daily connection with women just like you through card pulls. Practices created especially for you based on your needs and access to my online library of movement classes, breath work exercises and guided meditations and relaxations just £21 for four weeks of love! I would Love to see you there! https://www.wellnesswithchloerose.com/motherworth

Footwear! It’s a huge factor in many women’s pain.

In England, especially in the North East winter and early spring are very wet and very muddy. Hello wellies and thick soled boots!

Wellies are the WORST thing you can place on your feet. They give no stability to the ankle and do not allow your foot to work through the range of movement it wants to in order to take a well balanced step!

Walking boots in most cases are the same.

Guess what summer isn’t any better either! Flip flops! Pretty sandals… They do not absorb any of the shock.

So you might find you get sore knees, or your pelvic floor dysfunction is worse when you wear these types of shoes.

I’m not proposing you stop wearing your shoes (although we are lucky now that trainers are very “in”)

You can do things like this before and after to shell your body realign. This is great when paired with the exercise I shared a couple of weeks back too!

If this works for you I would love to know. If it feels odd also tell me! I want to help you wear your pretty shoes this summer without the horrific ache the next day!

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This is advanced but it works! loading the abductors and working the adductors. This is for you if you carry a baby on one side. Have constant pain in your right lower ribs and or hip and or have pelvic floor pain.

If it’s too much check out the video I link in the text as it will be an easier starting point.

Pelvic girdle pain in no joke. It is a thing both in pregnancy and after birth. In the UK the standard advice of kegals is way below par. We can do better! This is my storey along with a few tips to help you in your way!

PS these tips will work if you had your baby 5 months 5 years or 15 years ago. Post partum is for life!

My first year as a mother with a baby earth side felt like a continuation of the unravelling that began in my pregnancy. You can find out more about my pregnancy hereMy first pregnancy story .

I expected to be tired, but I didn’t anticipate how tired. And also how much sleep deprivation ruins not just your brain function but also how impacts the whole system. I could no longer make a plan, decide on anything or exercise in the way I once had.

I felt a grief at the loss of my job, I missed my old life.

I also loved all that this new little human was teaching me… It is through his guidance I now have the career I have. He truly is my teacher, and his sister has given me some other life lessons I didn’t know I needed!

This video is a story, I share about exercising whilst breastfeeding and my experience of over supply and milk that upset my little boys tummy as a result of the higher intensity movement I was doing. (This is NOT medical advice) but it is my experience and when I googled it 5 years ago I couldn’t find any research or anyone sharing a similar occurrence. If this was true for you too then do let me know! We need more stories like this to shape the way we hold women after birth and guide them to return to movement.

The third stage of labour - coached pushing and the importance of witnessing the mother in her feelings about her birth story.

My first birth was a transformative experience but it took almost 18 months for that transformation to even begin let alone land.

With this birth I would not be doing the job that I am doing today. I would not have studied the 3rd stage of labour. I would not know how important the placenta is both physiologically and energetically.

I would also not understand the difference between coached pushing and waiting for the urge to push. (Which I was able to do in my second birth) Profound pieces of a birth puzzle that make all the difference in terms of how a woman feels about her labour.

Just because your labour on on paper was intervention free doesn’t mean that you feel it went well. And this is so important for everyone to understand.

I hope the video brings reassurance for some of you. Useful tips for others, and if you feel you have questions after reading this then please let me know! I want to help you.

Pregnancy is life changing. My first pregnancy led me to the work I do now. Pre and postnatal movement, bio mechanics and massage. If it wasn’t for this first pregnancy, the extreme lows I wouldn’t be doing this today. I felt so lost and so alone. I didn’t know what exercise was safe. I didn’t understand how I could bleed in early pregnancy yet still birth a healthy baby. I didn’t realise the pregnancy nausea could be so debilitating. And I certainly didn’t realise that how I felt about my baby could just impact how I birthed and indeed the little human that landed on my arms!

Using voice and being visible has been fundamental as I finally land into motherhood with confidence and self trust.

This has been a 7 year journey for me.

I am here to talk about the physical body, how gentle movements can realign and completely transform how you feel.

I also want to support you in feeling safe. In your body, in your mind. In your intuition.

In short, I am a yoga teacher, personal trainer specialising in bio mechanics and pelvic floor dysfunction. I am also a massage therapist. I believe that we cannot separate the physical and teh emotional. They sit in one body and if we are going to feel better whether the goal is a physical one - like feeling stronger. Or an energetic / emotional one like feel less burnt out. We have to address the two.

I am going to show up for you here in writing. These pieces will be sharing my personal experuiances and help you to feel seen in the chaos and joy that motherhood is.

But I will also be here in video, sharing the practical things that I do to hold myself, to heal my pelvic floor dysfunction. My bulging lumbar disc and complete overwhelm and burn out.

I am always learning you are my inspiration.

Welcome.

You are my inspiration so please do reach out I would love to hear from you. What do you need right now? A hug, a bath, to feel safe? I would honestly love to know.