Filed under: health, health and fitness, pregnancy | Tags: birthball, postnatal, postpartum, pregnancy exercise
Hi Everyone,
This is to let you know that our top selling ‘Birthball -Handbook’ is now available in an e-book version, so those of you outside the UK can enjoy the benefits too!
The book includes easy to follow pregnancy, postnatal, and advanced exercises, and a whole load of other birthball advice and instruction.
Also included are our 8 super secrets for losing your baby weight fast, and for a limited time we also have some other great bonuses, so check it out at www.birthball-handbook.com
Filed under: health, health and fitness, pregnancy | Tags: pelvic floor, pregnancy, pregnancy exercise
All women should perform pelvic floor exercises regularly, but it’s particularly important both during pregnancy and post pregnancy. Strong pelvic floor muscles can aid in childbirth, and also prevent or minimize embarrassing leaks when laughing, coughing, sneezing or lifting (stress incontinence is a billion dollar industry!). Pelvic floor exercises are also known as kegels, so if you’ve heard that name and wondered what it meant, now you know!
Your pelvic floor is made up of a sling of 3 muscles that connect the pubic bone at the front to the ’sitting bones’ at the side and the tailbone at the back. This serves as a support structure for the contents of the abdomen and pelvis, including the bowel, uterus, and bladder. The extra weight of your growing baby makes these muscles work even harder and keeping them strong can help prevent incontinence and prolapse, and also aid in the birthing process. For these reasons pelvic floor exercises should be started as early as possible in the pregnancy.
To continue reading this article and learn the best exercises click here
Mark
Filed under: health, health and fitness, pregnancy | Tags: childbed fever, childbirth, pregnancy
What is Childbed Fever?
I’d never heard of it, until I got a follow on Twitter today from Ben Palmer of Jessica’s Trust. http://twitter.com/jessicastrust
I didn’t think too much about it and I followed back, but later in the day I visited another website, that of a colleague, and I saw another link to Jessica’s Trust, so I’m intrigued and want to find out more.
Jessica Palmer
It’s now an hour later, and I’m sitting here with a heavy heart. I’ve spent that hour on Ben’s website reading about childbed fever and the unnecessary death of Jessica, a young mother of two beautiful children.
It’s absolutely tragic to think that 2 children had their mother taken away in the prime of her life. It’s tragic to think of the impact on Ben’s life and the rest of Jessica’s family. And it’s tragic to think that it could, and should have been avoided.
So what is it exactly?
Childbed fever is an infection of the womb in new mothers which can lead to septicaemia. If left untreated, infection will cause organ failure and death – even in young, fit mothers.
What is the aim of the trust:
Jessica’s Trust want every parent, doctor, and midwife to know that childbed fever is still a very real threat to a mother life.
So, can we help?
Yes we can. There are several ways to help raise awareness of Jessica’s Trust and Childbed Fever.You can,
Visit the website and learn about the Trust
Make a donation
Sign the petition
Add a banner or button to your website or facebook page
Tell everyone you know
Follow Ben on Twitter.com/jessicastrust and tweet about the Trust
All of the above 
I’m amazed that this kind of thing can still happen and we all need to make people aware of it, especially those of childbearing age. If we can stop this awful story happening to another family, then at least something good has come of it.
You can find all the symptoms at the website www.jessicastrust.org.uk
Mark
Filed under: health, health and fitness | Tags: postnatal, postpartum, pregnancy, sleep
Living with a new baby and adapting to a new routine can be challenging. A major part of that challenge is the broken sleep, or the inability to enjoy a deep and restful sleep.
Is this inevitable and something that you ‘have to live with’?
Maybe not. Karen Copeland, a top UK fitness professional and lecturer says there are several things you can do to help. You can read her article on sleep here.
Healthy Regards
Mark
Filed under: health, health and fitness | Tags: postnatal, postpartum, pregnancy, pregnancy exercise, pregnancy fitness
We all know (don’t we?) that by and large (pardon the pun) ladies who exercised during their pregnancies get back in shape that much quicker after the birth. However, with the economic climate the way it is, not everyone wants to be forking out for a gym membership.
Well that’s not a problem if you still have your birthball!
The Essential Exercise and Birthball Handbook for Pregnancy and Beyond’ tells you exactly how to tone your muscles up after baby.
It includes a ton of pictures and simple instructions of exercises you can do either with baby or without.
You also get a 20 minute DVD ‘A simple guide to Pelvic Floor and core exercises’ along with 8 super secrets for losing you baby weight fast.
And you get it all for just £9.99!
Just click on the image to find out more
Healthy Regards
Mark
Filed under: Uncategorized
Hi Everyone,
We’re now back with a new look blog, and regular informative health and fitness posts that will help you through your pregnancy and the postnatal period.
We also have some great news for you. The Miracle Box is now available in Mothercare, both online and instore, so if you haven’t got yours yet you can take a look here
If you have any pregnancy or postnatal exercise queries please leave us a comment and we’ll do our best to get them answered.
Healthy Regards
Mark
As the western world seems to plunge deeper and deeper into obesity, diabetes is just one related problem. Today in the Guardian newspaper there is an article by Ian Sample all about soaring diabetes rates and the terrible effects it can have for a pregnant woman, including stillbirth, birth defects, and miscarriage.
Happily, much of this could be avoided with a little education on sensible eating combined with exercise. To read the article click here.
Healthy Regards
Mark Hibbitts
Filed under: health
To check for diastasis recti lay on your back and raise your knees. Place your little finger in your navel and your other 3 fingers in a line toward your breastbone. Keeping your feet on the floor, lower your chin to your chest and slowly curl your head and shoulders off the floor as if you were performing a crunch. You may feel a gap appear so turn your fingers at a 90 degree angle to see how much separation you have. If the gap is more than a couple of fingers you should definitely avoid regular abdominal exercises. Instead try this one.
Lay flat on your back with your knees bent as above but fold/cross your hands over your stomach so they support your abdominals. Breathe in, and then as you slowly breathe out raise your head to your chest. Gently ‘pull’ your stomach muscles together and hold for a count of 2 then slowly lower your head to the floor. Repeat 10 times.
I hope this has been helpful to you. If you have any specific questions please ask through the ‘ask the expert’ section of lifestylexperts.
Healthy Regards
Filed under: health
Hi Everyone,
Can I exercise during my pregnancy? This is a question asked by many mums to be, as many people are still under the impression that pregnant ladies need ‘to rest’ all the time. In this post I’d like to discuss the guidelines for exercise during pregnancy and how they’ve changed over the years. In the early days there was very little research being carried out, so guidelines were very much ‘better be safe than sorry’ and I guess that was fair enough. These days however we know so much more, and staying active is most definitely the way to go.
Back in the 1950’s the recommended exercise for pregnant ladies was 1 mile of walking a day, but that should be broken down into several sessions………Phew, now don’t overdo it, you’re pregnant!!!
In the mid 80’s The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) brought out new guidelines that were a little more relaxed but still had firm criteria to follow. They determined that most aerobic activity was safe for 15 minutes duration, but heart rate should be kept to a maximum of 140bpm and body temperature to under 100.4 degrees fahrenheit.
More research was now being undertaken by Dr James Clapp and others, and in 1994 the ACOG guidelines changed yet again. This time it was determined that ‘women with uncomplicated pregnancies can exercise safely with virtually the same safeguards as non-pregnant women.’
In fact Dr Clapps research has shown that women who performed 45 minutes of weight bearing, aerobic type exercise on 5 or more days of the week throughout their pregnancy experienced improved well being, reduced constipation, reduced leg cramps and a quicker return to their pre-pregnancy weight than their non-exercising counterparts. There was also a reduced risk of gestational diabetes and pregnancy induced hypertension. Added to this, babies of exercising mums have been shown to have less body fat at birth and be less cranky, with a reduction in the instances of colic, and greater neurodevelopment in language and motor skills by the age of 5.
Another study by Dr Clapp showed that in exercising mothers labour was shortened by around a third, with 65% of those women delivering in four hours or less. Now that has to be good news!!
Obviously care has to be taken at all times and your doctor should be consulted before you undertake an antenatal exercise program. This is because there are certain relative and absolute contra-indications to exercise during pregnancy, and while you may not be sure if you have any, your doctor will. Once given the all clear to exercise use your common sense and listen to your body at all times. If in doubt call a fitness professional specialising in antenatal exercise. These can be found at www.newbornfitness.com or www.lifestylexperts.com
A list of the ACOG guidelines and the contra-indications to pregnancy can also be found at The Miracle Box website under info & advice.
Healthy Regards
Filed under: health
Hi Everyone,
Todays blog is really important for all of you wanting to tone up your waistline. I’m going to show you how to find, contract, and sustain your transverse abdominus muscles (TVA). These are deep muscles (highlighted in red in our image) that comprise part of your ‘core’, and learning to control and strengthen them is necessary not only to flatten your tummy, but also to help maintain good posture, alleviate back pain, and prevent injury.
To find your TVA, lay on your back and put your fingertips inside your hip bones, (or ASIS for those of you with knowledge of Anatomy and Physiology). Cough, and you should feel the muscles beneath your fingers twitch. That is your TVA. To contract the TVA take a deep breath in, and then breathe out and at the same time pull your belly button in towards your spine. Those of you who’ve done any pilates will have done this before, and will have heard of the term ‘navel to spine’ many times. To see this movement in all its glory, click here. (virtual image provided courtesy of www.lifestylexperts.com)
When you’ve got the hang of this, try holding it for 10 seconds while continuing to breathe. It will be tricky at first but once you’ve learned to ‘fire and sustain’ the TVA you will be able to switch it on any time you exercise, lift baby, or do anything else that requires effort.
If you have any questions on this or any other exercise issue please get in touch. I’d also welcome your comments as to whether you find this info useful, and what I can do to improve the blog. What would you like to hear? Let me know.
Healthy Regards
Mark
