3 tips to prevent postpartum back pain

I talk a lot about postpartum back pain in the early days and weeks of motherhood on this blog.

As a DO, I used to see new moms complaining about their back every single day in my practice. While a myriad of different causes can contribute to the onset of back pain, it’s usually the same “bad habits” that cause it. 

And the good news is, all of this is preventable.

In this blog post, I’ll show you 3 very simple and easy changes to avoid and prevent postpartum back pain.

prevent postpartum back pain
Leslie Abraham

By Leslie Abraham

Table of Contents

Tip #1: Improve your posture:

I know you might have heard about this already. But good posture never gets old! This is the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle. 

As for postpartum back pain, the posture changes happening during pregnancy over the course of 9 months can definitely put you at a higher risk. While baby is getting ready, your uterus is growing up and forward, creating some pulling forces on the different ligaments around it. This will play on the curves in your back and put you at a higher risk to suffer from postpartum back pain:

  • Your lower back curve is increasing, making your lower back arching even more
  • Your upper back curve is in turn increasing, also reacting to the growth of your breast tissue
  • Your shoulders are rounding forward
  • Your chin in going forward and your neck curve is increasing
postpartum back pain prevention

After giving birth, whether you’re breastfeeding or bottle feeding, feeding baby can be a bit harsh on your back. It’s hard to get to a comfortable position. 

A few changes, like shown on the picture below, can go a long way. You want to be aware of this sooner rather than later. This can go a long way when trying to prevent postpartum back pain.

prevent postpartum back pain

Lastly, you want to test for diastasis recti. You can head over to this blog post where I show you, step-by-step, how to self-test to know if you have diastasis recti. 

One of the symptoms associated with diastasis recti is chronic postpartum back pain, and especially lower back pain.

If you do have diastasis recti, posture should be at the heart of your preoccupation, way before trying to strengthen your core back by doing abdominal exercises. 

To address diastasis recti there is no magic formula. It’s all about:

  • correcting your posture, 
  • learning how to breathe properly while engaging your deep core muscles and your pelvic floor muscles,
  • completing your pelvic floor recovery.

At the same time, you need to address any muscle weakness. Let me explain. When one is showing bad posture habits, like we all do, it’s usually because some muscles get turned on and others are not. 

When we work on posture, we usually teach these muscles to get turned on again. We do this with gentle exercises.

For instance, most new moms show a posture with their shoulders rounded forward. It’s really common. In their postpartum recovery plan, I always include some gentle muscle strengthening exercises targeting the muscles between their shoulder blades and the back of their shoulders (the external rotators).

By doing this, you improve your posture and act to address and or prevent postpartum back pain.

postpartum back pain exercise

So how can you do all that?

The very first step is to re-learn how to breathe. Then, you want to work on deep core – pelvic floor connection. This is a mandatory step. Otherwise abdominal and pelvic floor recovery just won’t happen and you might be at a greater risk of suffering from urinary incontinence, chronic back pain, intercourse pain and prolapse later on in your life. 

You can check out this blog post, where I show you how to properly breathe.

And this one, to find 10 exercises to help you address postpartum back pain.

Tip #2: Thrive on a healthy and balanced diet - say no to FAD diets

Postpartum diet shouldn’t be about restricting calories and trying to lose weight fast. Your body has greater needs to support your recovery and most of all tissue healing. 

If you’re breastfeeding, your needs are even greater.

Moreover, pregnancy can leave you depleted from certain nutrients and vitamins. And this needs to be addressed postpartum. A depleted mom has greater risk of feeling:

  • Overwhelmed by exhaustion
  • Like she can’t remember a thing, what we call “mom brain”
  • Anxious and depressed – however postpartum depression can have other causes as well
  • Doubtful, losing self-confidence and self-esteem

On top of this, not getting a nutritious and healthy diet can also mess up your bowel movement, leaving you with chronic constipation, belly aches, bloating, abdominal distension etc.

When this is happening, it creates some inflammation in your bowel, creating in turn some pulling action on the sack and ligaments around them. In turn, this will pull on your lower back – especially the very lower part- and can even create one sided type of pains and/or sciatica like pains. 

You can understand how this could trigger some postpartum back pain.

This is something very common. This is why getting enough fibers, and the right nutrients to support your new body needs is of high importance. 

Recently I did a blog post giving you some tips to support your postpartum diet and help you lose weight safely.

Tip #3: Develop better sleep habits:

I know, easier said than done. BUT, I see lots of moms trying to do it all early postpartum, and that goes at a cost: your sleep.

postpartum back pain

You see how sleep deprivation can play on your whole postpartum recovery, and even on your milk quality and supply if you breastfeed.

One of the best pieces of advice that can be given to you is to sleep when baby sleeps. Take it very seriously. It’s not time to tidy the house or clean for hours. Try to sleep too. Especially when early postpartum. 

Lack of sleep is definitely correlated to postpartum back pain too. The difficulty to process foods can create difficulty to generate energy but also to process the right nutrients to heal and support your postpartum body.

This can put you at a higher risk of developing chronic postpartum back pain.

Ask for help: your partner, a family member or a friend. Instead of coming to see the baby only, maybe ask to come a bit earlier and help you do the house tasks so that you can still sleep a bit while they sip on a cup of coffee and wait for you and baby to wake up and enjoy time with you both!

Set healthy boundaries: everybody wants to come to see baby! I mean everybody! Set boundaries, ask for some help in return.

To help decreasing anxiety, spray some lavender essential oil on your pillow case, or diffuse some in your bedroom before sleep. 

A supplementation in Magnesium can also help to improve your sleep quality, decrease anxiety and brain fog and improve bowel movement!

Try to set your own bed routine. Once baby is growing up and you get to develop a bed routine for her, develop your own:

  • Set an alarm for when it’s time to go to bed
  • Limit screen exposition before sleep
  • Avoid late night snacks, especially the sweet ones
  • Find what works for you!

Bonus Tip: Add more movement to your day:

Yes, yes and yes! Motherhood is messy, and it’s hard to find the time to move more. It’s all about developing new habits. Take an honest look at your day. When could you fit more movement?

  • Maybe doing 10 squats when you’re warming up the milk bottle. 
  • Or do some breathing-deep core activation when breastfeeding baby.
  • Making a habit of going outside and walking 30 minutes on a stroller walk.
  • Doing postpartum recovery sessions twice a week

It doesn’t have to be a crazy workout.

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About Leslie Abraham
She is the founder and owner of Bonjour Baby, and the creator of the prenatal and postpartum Bonjour Baby online courses. Leslie is a prenatal and pediatrics Osteopath DO (France), certified pre and postnatal personal trainer and women health coach. She has devoted more than 10 years of her career to help woman be ready for birth and recover from it in the following months and years.
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Bottom line, it’s absolutely not about changing everything, it’s about adding more: nutritious diet, nutritious movement, nutritious sleep habits, more of what makes YOU feel good!

If you need some help to start your postpartum recovery, I offer a free consultation where we could talk about it and dive more into what you need to do to start feeling better, more energized and more confident.  You can schedule your call by clicking here

Disclaimer: Bonjour Baby strongly recommends that you consult with your physician before beginning and enrolling in any exercise program, even if you are in good physical condition, not suffering from any complications, and able to participate in the exercise.
Bonjour Baby is not a licensed medical care provider and represents that it has no expertise in diagnosing, examining, or treating medical conditions of any kind or in determining the effect of any specific exercise on a medical condition.

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