Kegel timer

Pelvic floor exercises work when they are done regularly and relaxed fully between squeezes, which is harder than it sounds while counting. Pick a routine, press start, and follow the prompt. It runs in your browser and works with the screen off once it has started.

General information for education, not medical advice and not a diagnosis. Nothing you enter is stored. If something feels wrong, call your midwife, doctor or local emergency number.

How to do a Kegel

• Squeeze as if stopping wind and urine at the same time, then feel a lift inwards and upwards.
• Keep breathing. Holding your breath pushes down on the pelvic floor instead of lifting it.
• Relax completely between squeezes. The relax is half the exercise.
• Buttocks, thighs and tummy stay soft. If they are working, the pelvic floor probably is not.
• Stop if it hurts, and ask for a pelvic health physiotherapy referral if you cannot feel anything happening after a few weeks.

When to start after birth

Gentle pelvic floor work generally becomes comfortable around two weeks after a vaginal birth and four weeks after a caesarean in MatraBloom's model, earlier if your midwife says so, as soon as it does not hurt. Stitches are not a reason to wait — blood flow helps them heal.

How this works

The routines follow the NHS pattern: slow holds for strength and endurance, quick flicks for the reflex that catches a cough or a sneeze. Build the hold time and the number of reps gradually; a hold you cannot fully relax out of is too long.

Common questions