Diastasis Recti Exercises After Birth: What to Do and What to Avoid

If you have just found a soft gap running down the middle of your tummy, the first thing to know is that it is extremely common and usually improves without anything dramatic. The second is that the exercises that help are quieter than most people expect: breathing, gentle deep squeezes and learning to move without straining, long before anything that looks like an ab workout.

This guide covers the exercises NHS teams give for separated stomach muscles after birth, the order to try them in, the moves to leave for later, and what the research can and cannot promise. If you want to understand what diastasis recti is and how to check for it first, start with our guide to the postpartum belly and diastasis recti.

First: does your gap need exercises at all?

During pregnancy the two long muscles down the front of your tummy are pushed apart to make room. The NHS describes a separation of about 2 finger widths as common, and says it will usually go back to normal by the time your baby is 8 weeks old.

It is also common for it to take longer. In a Norwegian study that followed 300 first-time mothers, 60% had diastasis recti at 6 weeks after birth, 45.4% at 6 months and 32.6% at 12 months. So a gap at six weeks is normal, and a gap at six months is not unusual either; it just means it is worth getting it looked at rather than guessing.

The exercises below are safe starting points for most people either way. They are also the same foundations that pelvic floor recovery and a return to exercise are built on, so none of the time is wasted.

What exercise can and cannot do

It is worth being honest about the evidence, because a lot of online programmes promise to close the gap. A 2021 systematic review of seven randomised trials, involving 381 women, found very low-quality evidence that training the deep stomach muscle (the transversus abdominis) reduced the gap, by about 0.6 cm on average. The evidence for curl-up training was also very low quality, and pelvic floor training on its own was not shown to be more effective than doing very little.

Research has also shifted what physiotherapists pay attention to. A 2016 ultrasound study found that when women with diastasis recti did an ordinary curl-up, the gap narrowed but the connective tissue in the middle distorted. When they switched on the deep stomach muscle first, the tissue stayed more stable. The practical takeaway is that the width of the gap is not the whole story: a tummy that can hold tension and handle load matters as much as one that measures narrower.

So the aim of the exercises is not to force the gap shut. It is to rebuild control from the inside out, so your tummy copes with lifting a car seat, carrying a toddler or, later, a proper workout.

Diastasis recti exercises, in the order to try them

Move to the next exercise only when the one before feels easy and controlled. If anything hurts, or you see a ridge or dome pushing up along the middle of your tummy, go back a step.

1. Breathing with a long out-breath

Lie on your back with your knees bent, or sit supported. Put your hands on your lower ribs. Breathe in through your nose and let your ribs widen into your hands, then breathe out slowly and fully. This is the rhythm every other exercise uses: effort happens on the out-breath. MatraBloom offers breathing from the first day of any plan for the same reason.

2. Deep stomach squeeze, lying on your side

This is the exercise the NHS gives for separated stomach muscles. Lie on your side with your knees slightly bent. As you breathe out, gently draw in the lower part of your stomach like a corset, narrowing your waistline, and squeeze your pelvic floor at the same time. Hold for a count of 10, breathing normally, and repeat up to 10 times.

If 10 seconds is too long at first, start shorter. One NHS hospital leaflet begins with a three-second hold, repeated 8 to 10 times, three times a day, and builds up from there. Side-lying is often easiest in the early weeks, especially after a caesarean.

3. Pelvic floor squeezes

The pelvic floor and the deep stomach muscles work as a team, which is why the NHS pairs them. The NHS suggests building up to 10 repeats of each pelvic floor exercise, at least 3 times a day. Our pelvic floor guide covers how to find the right muscles and the difference between long and short squeezes.

4. Pelvic tilts

Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat. As you breathe out, gently flatten your lower back towards the floor by tilting your pelvis, then relax. One NHS hospital leaflet suggests five repetitions, breathing throughout. MatraBloom adds pelvic tilts from week 2 after a vaginal birth and week 4 after a caesarean.

5. Heel slides

From the same position, switch on your deep stomach muscle as you breathe out and slowly slide one heel away along the floor until the leg is nearly straight, then slide it back. Keep your lower back and tummy still; if the middle of your tummy domes, make the slide shorter. Alternate legs.

6. The same squeeze, sitting and standing

Once the squeeze is easy lying down, practise it sitting and standing, then use it in daily life: before you lift the baby, before you stand up from a chair, before you cough or sneeze. This is where most of the real-world benefit comes from, and it is the step people most often skip.

7. Getting in and out of bed without straining

Sitting straight up from lying down is a small crunch done several times a day. The NHS hospital guidance is to tighten your stomach muscles before you move, roll onto your side and use your arms to push yourself up to sitting. To stand, draw in your lower tummy, lean forward and push up. This matters even more after a caesarean.

Diastasis recti exercises to avoid, for now

The NHS says to try to avoid sit-ups, planks and high-impact exercise to start with, and also to avoid straining on the toilet and heavy lifting. Cleveland Clinic's list of exercises to avoid with diastasis recti is longer:

• Crunches and sit-ups.
• Planks and push-ups.
• Downward dog and boat pose.
• Double leg lifts and scissors.
• Any movement that makes your tummy bulge outwards.

The last point is the one to remember, because it works for every exercise, including ones not on any list. If you see a ridge or dome along the middle of your tummy while you move, that exercise is too much for your tummy right now. Make it easier, or leave it and come back in a few weeks. None of these moves are banned forever; they are later steps.

After a C-section

A caesarean means the tummy has a wound to heal as well as muscles that have been stretched apart, so the timeline is later. The exercises themselves are the same: breathing, the deep stomach squeeze, pelvic floor work and careful movement. What changes is how quickly you progress.

• Support your scar with a hand or a small pillow when you cough, sneeze or laugh.
• Always get in and out of bed by rolling onto your side first.
• Expect the harder exercises to come later. MatraBloom holds direct core work until week 12 after a caesarean, compared with week 8 after a vaginal birth.
• Belly binders can make the first days more comfortable, but Cleveland Clinic says they cannot heal diastasis recti or strengthen your core.

Our C-section recovery exercises guide goes through the full week-by-week timeline after a caesarean.

A simple progression, week by week

Everyone recovers at a different pace, so treat this as a sequence rather than a schedule. After a caesarean, expect each stage to come a little later.

• The first two weeks: breathing, the side-lying deep stomach squeeze, pelvic floor squeezes, rolling to get out of bed and short, frequent walks.
• Around weeks 2 to 6: add pelvic tilts and heel slides, and start practising the squeeze sitting and standing.
• Around weeks 6 to 8: your postnatal check is a good time to ask the GP to look at your tummy gap and to mention any leaking, heaviness or back pain.
• From around week 8 (week 12 after a caesarean): harder core exercises can begin, but only if your tummy does not dome during them. This is also when MatraBloom starts offering direct core work.
• Beyond 12 weeks: build up gradually towards the moves on the avoid list, checking for doming each time.

When to see a physiotherapist

The NHS says that if the gap is still obvious 8 weeks after the birth, you should contact the GP, as you may be at risk of back problems. One NHS hospital leaflet notes that a small diastasis usually recovers within four to eight weeks, while a larger one may take six to twelve months and needs input from a specialist physiotherapist.

• A gap that is still obvious at 8 weeks.
• Back pain, or a feeling that your tummy cannot support you.
• A painful, hard or growing lump near your belly button, which should be checked for a hernia.
• Leaking urine, or a heavy or dragging feeling in your pelvis.

A pelvic health physiotherapist can measure the gap, watch how your tummy behaves when you move and give you exercises matched to you, which is something no article can do.

How MatraBloom fits in

Most of this recovery comes down to doing the right small thing at the right week. MatraBloom builds each day's session from how many weeks it has been since birth and whether you had a caesarean: breathing from day one, pelvic floor work from week 2 (week 4 after a caesarean), and direct core exercises only from week 8 (week 12 after a caesarean). It never offers crunches in week three because you felt good that morning.

Frequently asked questions

Core work that waits for the right week

MatraBloom holds direct core exercises back until week 8 after a vaginal birth and week 12 after a caesarean, and fills the weeks before with the breathing, pelvic floor and mobility work that comes first.

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