How To Stop Urine Leakage During Pregnancy and After Birth

Little leaks in pregnancy and after birth

You’re eight months pregnant, desperate to pee, and trying to turn the key in the stiff lock of your front door. By the time you’ve made it to the bathroom, you’ve leaked a little. Sound familiar? Many women leak urine in pregnancy and after having a baby. We look at why, and give you some simple tips for a stronger pelvic floor.

1. Leaking urine during pregnancy

Major changes are happening in your body – it’s not surprising that your urinary system is one of the things that’s affected.

During pregnancy blood volume increases progressively, causing kidneys to produce more urine – so you’ll go to the bathroom more. As your uterus expands with your growing baby it puts pressure on your bladder.

Hormones that prepare your ligaments and joints for delivery weaken the muscles that control urine flow, while constipation (common in both pregnancy and after birth) will put even more stress on your pelvic floor and bladder. This affects the support around your urinary tract, meaning little leaks are more likely.

You might need to get up once (or several times) during the night to pee. That’s because fluid retention in your legs and feet will find its way back into your bloodstream when you lie down.

2. Stress urinary incontinence during pregnancy

This is when you pee a little because there’s increased pressure on your bladder, like when you laugh, cough or sneeze. It’s pretty common, so try not to worry.

3. When I leak during pregnancy, is it always pee?

Little leaks during pregnancy are most likely urine. If you put a liner in your pants and the fluid is yellowish in color, then it’s probably pee.

Of course, if you’re at all worried that you could have amniotic fluid leakage you should contact your doctor or midwife – a quick scan will determine if everything’s as it should be.

4. Leaking urine after pregnancy

Months of pregnancy are followed by the main event – labor! By the time your baby’s ready to come into the world, your organs (including your bladder and urethra) will have moved around a lot to make room for this new life. Pelvic floor muscles (surrounding your urethra, vagina and anus) will have been stretched and pulled in all directions, so it’ll take time for things to get back into shape.

5. Can labor affect my bladder?

If your labor involved a lot of pushing, your pelvic floor will have taken the strain – you might experience light loss of bladder control for a while afterwards.

If you feel you’re the only person experiencing little leaks, remind yourself that they’re common after birth. And that your body’s doing a great job adjusting to all the changes.

6. How long will I be leaking urine for?

You might have them during the later stages of pregnancy and the first few weeks after giving birth. Or you could have the odd accident for a longer period of time.

Although little leaks are common, they can seem like a big deal. Wearing a thin liner means you won’t have to worry about accidents. Liners and Ultra Thin Pads keep you dry and protected – meaning no more walking around in wet knickers until you find time to change.

If you’re worried that something more serious is happening with your bladder, it’s worth booking an appointment with your doctor.

7. Simple tips for a stronger pelvic floor

We’ve got some simple exercises here to help strengthen your pelvic floor muscles that only take a few minutes a day. If you’ve recently giving birth it’s a good idea to start them lying down so you avoid putting any extra pressure on the pelvic area, but over time you can practice pretty much anywhere. So, next time you’re driving and you hit a red light, you know what to do!

8. Take time to pee properly

Often, when you’re busy there’s a temptation to rush bathroom visits. But even a small amount of pee left in your bladder will make you more prone to urinary infections. Always try to empty your bladder completely. Leaning forward on the toilet seat is the best position for getting rid of every last drop.

9. Increase the minutes between toilet visits

Your bladder holds less urine during late pregnancy because it’s being restricted by your baby. So after birth, it needs to get used to holding more.

You should aim to pee between 4-8 times a day, or every 4-6 hours. Typical bladder capacity is 10-17 fl oz – so if you find you’re peeing a lot less than this, try to increase the time between bathroom visits. This will help increase the amount your bladder can hold, while also exercising your pelvic floor muscles.

10. Stay well hydrated

Even if you’re finding it difficult to control your bladder, never restrict the amount of water you drink – especially if you’re breastfeeding. If you’re dehydrated your urine will be more concentrated. This can irritate the bladder and cause an urge to pee (even if your bladder is not even full).

Drinking helps digestion, eases constipation and keeps urine healthy (and make you less likely to get bladder or urinary tract infections).

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5 Tips To Stop Urine Leakage During Exercise or Workout

Leaks During Exercise

Exercise is supposed to be a way to stay healthy and make you feel good (gotta love those endorphins!), but for many women it can be a source of anxiety and embarrassment. Incontinence is common in women of all ages, and about 27% of women who play sports non-competitively report urinary leakage during exercise. Many women who have issues with leaks accept it as a part of life – up to 30% of these women modify the way they play or quit exercising entirely. 

But you shouldn’t have to quit something you enjoy just because you have leaks. Talking to your health care provider is the first step in regaining control, but in the meantime, here’s a little more information about leaks during exercise and five simple tips to help you avoid them while staying fit.

Exercise And Stress Urinary Incontinence

Stress urinary incontinence, the type of incontinence that most often causes leaks during exercise, is characterized by involuntary leakage of urine because of activity like coughing, jumping, or lifting that increases pressure in your abdomen. Exercise, particularly high impact sports like basketball and running, also has this effect, which can put pressure on your bladder and urethra. 

Your pelvic floor – responsible for supporting your pelvic organs – should usually help keep your bladder sphincter closed. However, if it’s weak or damaged your pelvic floor doesn’t function as well and some urine might leak out. However, there are steps you can take to prevent leaks – not just manage the symptoms with pads and dark clothing:

1. Kegels – A Woman’s Most Essential Exercise

Kegel exercise is the #1 doctor recommended treatment for solving and preventing bladder leaks. Just like your other muscles, your pelvic floor needs exercise too! From ensuring a healthy pregnancy and childbirth to maintaining control over the bladder, the pelvic floor is one of a woman’s most important muscle groups.  As with any exercise it’s important to use the right technique – if you have questions or are worried that you’re doing it incorrectly your doctor can help you perfect your form.  

A good set of weighted Kegel exercisers can also help make your routine more effective – just like a set of dumbbells helps you build strength in your arms. So while toning up your thighs and derriere might make you look and feel good, integrating Kegel exercises into your daily routine will help your pelvic floor stay strong and effective throughout your lifetime.

2. Visit The Ladies Room Before Exercise

This might seem like common sense – but paying attention to your bladder and stopping by the toilet just before you start (or even during) your fitness routine can make a big difference in controlling leaks. Sometimes a weak pelvic floor or other bladder conditions can make it hard to know if you’ve emptied your bladder fully.  

To make sure you’re getting as much urine out as you can, try double voiding: urinate until it feels like you are done, stand up, and sit down to urinate again. Just remember to stay hydrated during exercise – limiting your water intake during exercise is not only unpleasant but also dangerous for your health.

3. Don’t Hold Your Breath

There are many things you can do to protect your pelvic floor during exercise, but one of the most important is to BREATHE. Holding your breath when lifting or sprinting increases the intra-abdominal pressure and makes leaks more likely and can weaken your pelvic floor muscles.

4. Go Low Impact (For A Little While)

While you’re working with your doctor to strengthen your pelvic floor, it might be worth it to take a break from high intensity and high impact exercise. Sports and exercise that involves a lot of running or jumping – which means jarring and bouncing your bladder and pelvic floor – are more likely to cause leaks. Try out swimming or yoga, which have smoother, lower impact movements and can put less strain on your bladder and pelvic floor. Don’t quit your fitness routine, just try something new for a bit while you gain control of your leaks.

5. Lose Weight

Women with a higher BMI are more likely to have issues with leaks during exercise. That extra weight adds pressure to your bladder and urethra, and can increase the strain on your pelvic floor. Keep up with your training goals – don’t give up just because of your leaks – losing the weight will help them. You can also discuss nutrition and diet with your doctor to give you that extra boost towards a healthy weight.

Leaks are not something you have to live with – not in your daily life and not during exercise. You don’t have to give up the health and happiness that comes with exercise just to avoid leaks. It might take a little bit more work and some adjustment, but with advice and treatment from your doctor you can get back to all of the activities you love.

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How to stop bladder leakage when sneezing or coughing

Abdominal pressure caused by sneezing, coughing, vomiting, jumping, or weight lifting, can cause urine leakage and pelvic organ prolapse (can be identified as a heavy feeling in the vagina) in women that have a weakened pelvic floor. In this blog post we give you recommendations and techniques to avoid leakage when coughing and sneezing. This way you can protect your body and pelvic area.

1. Do I damage my pelvic floor when I cough?

Chronic coughing and sneezing can lead to a damaged pelvic floor over time. However, if your pelvic floor is already weakened, you may already present symptoms such as urinary (stress) incontinence, in the form of sudden leakage when coughing or sneezing. This can be both a perplexing and embarrassing experience for women. A sneeze can happen anywhere and at any time, but no one wants to live in constant fear of peeing themselves in public. That, or having to wear a pad or diaper as a preventative measure.

When you cough or sneeze, the heavy feeling in the vagina or urinary leakage, occurs due to the sudden abdominal pressure that is exerted and directed towards your pelvic area through the diaphragm and abdominal muscles.

First of all, this is not your fault, and you are not doing anything wrong. The movement of pressure is the natural movement of the muscles before sneezing, coughing, or lifting weight. It can also occur when you vomit or have nausea.

The problem is, that the pelvic floor may be weak, and receiving this pressure, only weakens it further. Therefore, it is important that this area receives minimal impact during these bouts of sudden pressure.

2. What to do to protect your pelvic floor and avoid leakage

For these situations, here are two very simple ways to improve and protect your pelvic floor : 
a. Do not hold back. If you need to sneeze or cough, do not try to contain it. 
b. Let the pressure out through the mouth. If you contain it, all that pressure will stay internal and affects the pelvic area which only proves to further damage your pelvic floor.
c. Anticipate. Before sneezing, lifting weight, or if you feel nauseous… 
d. Contract the muscles as follows, that will help you protect your inner pelvic organs: Contract your abdomen by firmly directing your navel back into your body. 

Thus, you avoid the pressure that is otherwise automatically directed to the pelvic area.

Strongly contract your pelvic floor moments before the time of sudden pressure. If you do not already know how to do this refer back to this post.

These habits will help to protect the pelvic organs (uterus, bladder and rectum) and prevent urine leakage and pelvic organ prolapse. You can also find this information on how to protect yourself in the Bwom app’s custom plans.

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How to stop bladder leakage when running

Leaking while running? Pro tips to run without worry

Coughing, sneezing and exercise all get blamed for unwanted bladder leaks. But stress incontinence isn't something you have to live with. An expert explains.

No one (over the age of 12) really wants to talk about what happens behind bathroom doors. So when you pee a little (or a lot) while exercising, it's embarrassing.

Leaking, also known as urinary stress incontinence is, at most, whispered about in the context of mom groups. And at worst, it's either tolerated or considered grounds for avoiding healthy activities that can trigger it.

That special underwear has been developed to absorb bladder leaks is evidence of just how common a problem it is. And while both pregnancy and childbirth can be triggers, it's not just a mom problem. One study found that 45% of female athletes experienced some symptoms — and 76% of those surveyed hadn't given birth.

So what causes it — and what, other than donning a pair of ultra absorbent undies, can a person do? Heather A. Dunfee, a physical therapist in the Mayo Clinic Healthy Living Program and certified Pregnancy and Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist, sheds some light on the issue.

1. Start with your breathing

"Many people think leaking while running is just caused by a weak pelvic floor and they need to do more Kegels to strengthen it," says Dunfee. "That could play a role, but it's usually about a flawed system versus a single muscle issue."

The pelvic floor is one part of the muscle system that makes up your "deep core," Dunfee explains. Think of it as the bottom of a canister that provides stability and support for your internal organs and urinary and bowel function. The top of the canister is your diaphragm, and around the sides are abdominal muscles.

Ideally when you breathe in, your diaphragm and pelvic floor both relax downward and your ribs and belly expand outward. When you breathe out, they naturally draw up and in. That healthy range of motion is important because it helps to absorb impact and manage pressure. If you grip your abs or squeeze your pelvic floor to try to prevent leaking, you can actually make it worse, warns Dunfee.

If you do have weakness in your pelvic floor, doing lots of Kegel exercises alone isn't the answer. Practicing how to coordinate your breathing with a Kegel contraction can help: Inhale, relax and expand, then exhale, contract and lift the pelvic floor while drawing in the abs.

2. Perfect your running form

For runners, good alignment can help your core to better absorb impact, preventing leaks. For example, a slight forward lean helps to put your deep core "canister" in the best alignment to do its job. Think about stacking your rib cage over your pelvis, something that comes naturally when running uphill.

More tips from Dunfee:

• Eyes at the horizon. Look out about 20 feet ahead with your neck long, chin gently tucked.
• Don't overstride. Think about propelling yourself from your glutes rather than pulling through your hip flexors in the fronts of your thighs. You should land with your foot underneath you.
• No chicken wings. Swing arms forward and back rather than side to side.
• Land like a 'whisper.' If you hear pounding, see what you can do to soften your steps. Landing in the middle or front of your foot instead of your heel reduces the force by about half.

3. Strengthen your hips and glutes

"The pelvic floor is a helper muscle, and it loves to take over and help stabilize the body when your hips or glute muscles aren't doing their job," says Dunfee. But the pelvic floor will easily fatigue and stop working correctly.

If weakness in these areas is a problem, exercises such as squats, lunges, dead lifts, bridges and hip thrusts can all help. For runners, focus on single-leg exercises whenever you can since running is a single-leg dynamic activity.

4. Work up slowly over time

Once you get a feel for the correct breathing pattern and alignment, it can take time to build up your endurance. Rather than keep running no matter what, try alternating running and walking (walk when you notice you're not maintaining the right form or breathing).

For a more intense workout that won't derail your progress, try running up hills and walking down. "Hills are great because they force the body into a position of rib cage over pelvis and untucks the bum," says Dunfee. Walking downhill is a good option, though, since it's high impact.

5. Still struggling? Get help from a professional

There are lots of possible reasons your pelvic floor might not be functioning the right way, and surprisingly overly tight muscles are actually more common than weakness, Dunfee says. A pelvic floor physical therapist has special training in pinpointing the cause of this type of dysfunction and can tailor a program that can help.

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10 ways to stop bladder leakage

For many people with urinary incontinence, the following self-help tips and lifestyle changes are enough to relieve symptoms. 

Here are 10 tips to help you stop urine leaks naturally ;

1. Do daily pelvic floor exercises
Pelvic floor exercises can be effective at reducing leaks, but it's important to do them properly. Find out how to do pelvic floor exercises.
You may have to do pelvic floor exercises for 3 months before you see any benefits.

2. Stop smoking
If you smoke, you put yourself at risk of incontinence, because coughing puts strain on your pelvic floor muscles.

3. Do the right exercises
High-impact exercise and sit-ups put pressure on your pelvic floor muscles and can increase leaks.
To strengthen your pelvic floor to relieve symptoms, replace high-impact exercises, such as jogging and aerobics, with strengthening exercise, such as pilates.
Pilates strengthens your core muscles, which is beneficial for stress incontinence.

4. Avoid lifting
Lifting puts strain on your pelvic floor muscles, so avoid it whenever you can.
When you do need to lift something, such as picking up children or shopping bags, tighten your pelvic floor muscles before and during the lift.

5. Lose excess weight
Being overweight can weaken your pelvic floor muscles and cause incontinence because of the pressure of fatty tissue on your bladder.
Your symptoms may improve, and could go away completely, if you lose any excess weight.
Use the healthy weight calculator to check you're a healthy weight for your height.

6. Treat constipation promptly
Straining to poo weakens your pelvic floor muscles and makes urinary incontinence worse. Never ignore the urge to poo. If you have constipation, it may help to change your diet and lifestyle. Eating more fibre and exercising more can help. It may also help if you change the way you sit and use your muscles to empty your bowels. A specialist physiotherapist can advise you on this.

7. Cut down on caffeine
Caffeine irritates the bladder and can make incontinence worse. Coffee has the biggest effect, so stop drinking it or switch to decaffeinated coffee.
Fizzy drinks, tea, green tea, energy drinks and hot chocolate also contain caffeine, so cut down on these too and replace them with water and herbal or fruit teas.

8. Cut down on alcohol
Alcohol is a diuretic, which makes you urinate more often. Cutting down may help incontinence symptoms.

9. Drink plenty of water
Drink 6 to 8 glasses of fluid a day (but no more) unless your doctor advises you otherwise. Many people with urinary incontinence avoid drinking fluids, as they feel it causes more problems. However, limiting your fluid intake makes incontinence worse, because it reduces your bladder's capacity. Not drinking enough fluid can also cause constipation or make it worse.

10. Eat the right foods
Avoid spicy and acidic foods, such as curries and citrus fruits, as they can irritate the bladder and make leaks and other incontinence symptoms worse.

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