Breast/Bottle-Feeding Mobility Exercises
Core & Pelvic Floor Restore • 16m
With hours and hours of hunched over feeding positions, our bodies desperately need to be stretched and lengthened out! You will very quickly notice that your upper back starts to feel achey with feeding. We can fix this, though! Keeping our chest open (remember talking about this during TFM, mamas?!) and our spine mobile, we can work out the stiffness in our upper back.
These exercises are safe for c-section mamas, as well! I will label below more details on them for y'all. Timeline is different for every mom, so no worries if you don't feel like all of these work for you immediately!
- Cat/Cow: 3 sets of 5 reps--Mobility will gradually progress with these over time! We want length in our abdomen (lookin' at you, c-section mamas!) and movement in our spines!
- Open Book Stretch: 3 sets of 5 reps each side--again, mobility will gradually increase over time. Start slow and comfortable and let it build. C-section mamas, this movement may take some time before it feels okay on your incision.
- Shoulder Angels (can do this either lying down or sitting up, whichever is more comfy): 3 sets of 5-10 reps--I actually prefer alternating doing these lying down and sitting up because I feel like both offer different ranges of mobility. So see what feels best for you!
- Lat Stretch: 2-3 sets of 10-30 seconds each side--LOVE this one to offer some movement in the sides of our upper back. So necessary! C-section mamas, y'all will want to wait a bit for this one, as this position may hurt your incision for a while.
- Chest Open Chair Stretch: 3 sets of however long it feels best--C-section mamas, y'all WANT LENGTH in your abdomen, so this one is fantastic for y'all!
- Thoracic Rotation: 3 sets of 5-10 reps each side--Gradually build up to as much range of motion here as you can. This will take time, but consistency will get us there! C-section mamas, gage this one and see when it feels okay on your incision. There's no rush :)
- Band Backward Shoulder Rotation: 3 sets of 5-10 reps--like the rest of these, mobility will gradually build to full range of motion!
I suggest doing these 3 times a week. However, if you've had a long feeding session and feel like you need some movement immediately, pick an exercise or two and do it right then! These don't have to be completed as a "workout", rather just do them as it feels best.
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