Exercise during pregnancy and after birth – are you managing to get any?

Having read a recent article – explained below - I am prompted to ask local mums what they have found in the Nottingham and Derby areas to help them keep fit during pregnancy and after the baby has arrived, or how they manage to incorporate exercise, or time for them, into their daily life. Post your experiences on here or let us know what’s stopping you.

Why am I asking? The NCT’s professional journal “New Digest” has published an article this quarter introducing the NICE guidance on weight management and the impact of weight gain during pregnancy. Alongside it appears a survey conducted by an NCT member, Jo Edwards, who asked mums in her area what had made it difficult for them to exercise since having a baby and what had helped.

Mums reported that the following were barriers to postnatal exercise:

- cost and availability of gyms and classes
- cost and availability of good childcare or crèche
- postnatal health problem e.g. pelvic floor and sore joints

Some mums had managed to overcome the barriers by:

- joining pram pushing classes,
- joining walking groups
- walking on as many journeys as possible,
- cycling to work,
- sharing a personal trainer/instructor with a friend so one could exercise whilst the other exercised
- getting together with their NCT group at the swimming baths and taking turns to swim/look after the baby
- waiting until partners arrived home
- using a postnatal-specific exercise DVD

The new NICE guidelines incorporate the recommendation that a range of activities should be offered by local authorities and that these should be affordable and available at times which suit those with babies and those with older children. They should also offer childcare facilities and provision for breastfeeding.

So what works for you? Do you find local authorities offer good provision here, or have you found better elsewhere offered by other practitioners, gyms, etc?

[Nottingham NCT]