I have to start out by saying that I have never used a postpartum girdle, but I am beginning to wish that I had .I didn't know they existed until very recently.

As I was browsing around I came across some articles on these girdles and started to read up on them a bit. Not that I am going ot need one - that particular phase of my life is well and truly over!

Still, I thought the subject may be of interest to some.

The idea is that you start to wear the girdle as soon as you can after giving birth. You then continue to wear it each day for a number of weeks.

The girdle helps to support your back and so alleviates some of the back pain associated with the immediate post natal period. This also helps to reduce the strain involved in lifting and carrying of your newborn.

However manufacturers claim, and numerous users report this to be true, that these girdles also help to get you back into shape. They say that wearing a girdle help to get the internal organs, which have been displaced by the growing baby, back to their proper place. It also compresses the uterus, encouraging it to shrink more quickly.

A number of women say that they have worn a postpartum girdle after having their babies and that they have found that they regained their flat stomach in a very short space of time.

Of course they may have got back into shape exactly the same without the girdle - who knows?

Its was interesting to note, though, that some women who were using a girdle for the first time after their second baby reported that they got back into shape more quickly than they did the first time. That does tend to lend some credibility to the usefulness of the postpartum girdle, given that it is usually far more difficult to get back into shape after second and subsequent babies.

One of the benefits of a postpartum girdle is that it can help to speed up recovery after a Cesarean section.

The girdle supports the muscles around the incision site and therefore helps to reduce pain. As this makes the wearer more mobile and active this helps to promote recovery.

Again a number of women who used a girdle after a C section have reported significant benefits from doing so.

Muscular separation happens to a high proportion of women as a result of pregnancy.

What happens is that the two sets of muscles which are normally side by side begin to separate leaving a gap in the middle.

This is caused by the increasing weight of the baby putting pressure on the muscles.

For a high proportion of women pregnancy causes abdominal muscle separation, or diastasis recti. When this happens the right and left sides of the Rectus Abdominis muscle begin to come apart . This happens due to the force exerted by the expanding uterus. Also the hormonal changes which happen during pregnancy cause connective tissue to soften.

When the muscles separate their strength is reduced and this can lead to back pain. The condition is more likely to occur where the abdominal muscles were weak prior to pregnancy.

Using a postpartum girdle may help with this problem.