From conception to birth, pregnancy is a miraculous and life-changing event. If you've recently given birth, you know that your body undergoes immense changes throughout the process. Once your little one finally arrives, it will take time for your body to adjust after so much physical change. For example, many women experience urinary incontinence after childbirth. Luckily, there are many treatments available to help with the condition.
What Is Urinary Incontinence?
There are several different types of urinary incontinence; however, they all carry the same general symptoms. Involuntary or accidental urine leakage from the bladder characterizes incontinence. The condition ranges in severity, depending on the cause. Some will experience a complete loss of control of the bladder, while others will deal with small leakages.
Types of urinary incontinence include:
Stress incontinence
Urge incontinence
Overflow incontinence
Functional incontinence
Mixed incontinence
While various factors influence incontinence, such as sex, age, and mental function, many women experience bladder weakness during pregnancy and after childbirth. The most common type of incontinence experienced postpartum is stress incontinence. With stress incontinence, pressure on the bladder when you sneeze, cough, laugh, or exercise may be challenging to control, resulting in urine leakage.
How Childbirth Can Cause Incontinence
During pregnancy, your body produces hormones that stretch the muscles and tissue of the pelvic floor. After a vaginal birth, the pelvic floor muscles may remain stretched and weakened for an extended period. Weak pelvic floor muscles make it more challenging to control bladder function, thus resulting in involuntary urine leaks.
How common is urinary incontinence after childbirth? While most women will experience some incontinence throughout pregnancy due to pressure on their pelvic floor, a few factors impact your risk for postpartum incontinence.
Risk for Postpartum Incontinence
You're not alone–incontinence after giving birth is very common. One-third of women will experience incontinence during postpartum. However, your body mass index, age, genetics, lifestyle factors, and delivery method can all influence your risk for postpartum incontinence. While incontinence is frustrating and annoying, many treatments are available to help your body recover.
Treatments for Postpartum Incontinence
If you are navigating urinary incontinence after childbirth, there are many things you can do to move toward recovery. These methods include minor lifestyle changes or the help of a pelvic floor trainer to bolster your bladder control.
Diet and Exercise
Certain food and drink can irritate the bladder, exacerbating symptoms of incontinence. Reduce your intake of coffee, soda, and citrusy or spicy foods. It is also important to focus on reintroducing an exercise routine, as losing pregnancy weight can help with incontinence.
Physical Therapy
Pelvic floor physical therapy and exercises help strengthen your muscles after childbirth. You may work with a therapist who will give you specific activities based on your individual needs. Many women are familiar with Kegels, intentional repetitive contracting of the pelvic floor muscles. Like a pelvic floor trainer, Kegels will improve your bladder control. They can also enhance sexual pleasure.
Bladder Training
There are various ways to implement bladder training. You may designate scheduled urination times, gradually increasing the period between bathroom breaks. Another type of bladder training includes waiting a specified time after you feel the urge to urinate. Slowly increasing the time you wait will improve your ability to control your bladder, thus improving your incontinence.
A Pelvic Floor Trainer
There are many different types of trainers, but they all have the same purpose: to exercise your pelvic floor muscles and improve control of your bladder. You may try a sophisticated device that uses electrical stimulation for urinary incontinence, such as our product, Dr. Jane's Incontinence Treatment Stimulator.
How Our Incontinence Stimulator Works
Dr. Jane's Incontinence Treatment Stimulator is a high-quality device using the latest technology to help you regain control of your bladder and your life. No more running to the bathroom in the middle of the night or dealing with embarrassing leakages. Electrical stimulation for urinary incontinence exercises your pelvic floor muscles with no effort, helping you regain strength in your body after giving birth.
How to Use Our Incontinence Stimulator
Using our pelvic floor trainer is effortless–all you have to do is sit back and relax. In no time, you'll be carefree and able to enjoy precious time with your little one.
Sit Back and Relax
Before using your stimulator, find a comfortable place to sit or lie down. This is your time to relax and recover. You may enjoy a book, your favorite TV show, or quiet meditation.
Position the Trainer
Now that you're relaxed and ready for some downtime, it's time to get the trainer into position. Carefully insert the Vagi-Comfort adapter into your vagina. It shouldn't be painful or uncomfortable.
Turn It On and Adjust the Settings
Turn on your ITS and choose the program that fits your incontinence needs. Now, you'll adjust the intensity. Your vaginal muscles should contract naturally, with zero effort or discomfort on your part.
Let Your ITS Do the Work and Repeat
Now let Dr. Jane's ITS do the work. Each session should last approximately 30 minutes. While everyone's needs are different, we recommend a 3-month training program for optimal results; however, you may notice changes in your bladder control within just a few weeks. Use your trainer almost daily throughout your training as you recover from giving birth.
Take Back Control of Your Body With Dr. Jane
If you've wondered 'how common is urinary incontinence after childbirth?', we're glad you're here. Welcoming a child into the world is a beautiful change demonstrating your body's strength and power, but it can be frustrating to deal with the aftermath. If you've been dealing with urinary incontinence after childbirth, you're not alone and don't need to deal with this forever. With a bit of help from Dr. Jane's Incontinence Treatment Stimulator, you'll be back in control of your body in no time.