Pelvic floor self-check after birth
Leaking, urgency and heaviness after birth are common enough to seem normal, and they are not something to accept — most respond well to assessment and treatment. Answer seven questions about the last few weeks to see whether to keep practising, self-manage and re-check, or ask for a referral now.
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.
1. Do you leak urine when you cough, sneeze, laugh, lift or run?
2. Do you get a sudden, urgent need to pass urine, or not make it in time?
3. Do you feel heaviness, dragging or a bulge in the vagina, especially by evening?
4. Do you have trouble holding wind or stool, or leak from the back passage?
5. Is sex, a tampon or an internal examination painful?
6. When you try to squeeze your pelvic floor, do you struggle to feel anything happen?
7. Do you have pelvic, perineal or low back pain that limits what you do?
How this works
The questions and the routing follow the NHS perinatal pelvic health postnatal self-assessment. Four symptoms route straight to a referral whenever they are present, because exercises alone rarely fix them: heaviness or a bulge, bowel or wind leakage, pain with sex, and not being able to feel a squeeze. Frequent leaking or urgency does the same.
Common questions
Is it normal to leak after having a baby?
Common, yes — about a third of women in the first year. Normal in the sense of nothing to be done, no. Pelvic floor physiotherapy is the first-line treatment and most people improve substantially.
What does a prolapse feel like?
Heaviness, dragging or a sensation of something coming down in the vagina, often worse by the end of the day or after standing. It is common after birth, it is graded and treated, and the earlier it is assessed the better.
Can I see a pelvic floor physio without a referral?
In many places yes — NHS perinatal pelvic health services and many private clinics take self-referrals. Otherwise your GP, midwife or health visitor can refer you.
Sources
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