How to Get Back on the Bike after Having a Baby
My first ride back after giving birth was essentially a jailbreak. My daughter had been born with apnea and an abnormal heartbeat, needed a course of antibiotics within hours of being born, and soon after developed jaundice. She spent long hours blindfolded in a plastic box, wired up to monitors, and baking under what we tried to lightheartedly call the “French fry” light. I stayed with her that week, slowly coming undone by the stress of the white walls and unanswered questions and unknowns, while my husband visited before and after work. On the fifth or sixth day (it’s a blur) he brought me a kit, helmet, and cycling shoes. The bike was on the car outside. We told the nurses we’d be back in an hour and went for a ride through the park just down the road.
It was just a pedal along a cinder path, but it was one of the best rides of my life. I guess, technically, I was supposed to wait five or six weeks, but no one told me that. I don’t think they suspected I’d hop back on a bike that week, either. But I had no stitches, cramping, complications, or really much bleeding—and zero discomfort. I felt like myself… albeit a heavier version of myself. Most importantly, I was able to feel sunshine on my skin and wind on my face and reconnect with the strong woman inside who needed to keep her strength and faith through this trying time. My daughter got better and was discharged shortly thereafter; I resumed riding (with a lot of tag-teaming and grandmother assistance) as time and energy allowed.
But like pregnancy and childbirth itself, everyone’s story is different. There are no hard and fast rules for when a woman can resume riding after having a baby, says Dr. Mary Jane Minkin, clinical professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive services at Yale School of Medicine. “After six weeks you can do just about anything. What you can do that first six weeks is another thing. If you had an uncomplicated vaginal delivery, you can do some light exercise, like go for a walk, when you get home from the hospital,” she says. Getting on a bike? “That involves sitting on some tissues that could be pretty sensitive. Of course if you’ve had some complications or a C-section, that needs to be factored into the equation as well. You really need to let your body be your guide.”
Here's what you should know at every step of the way.
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Give Yourself Time to Heal
There’s a reason everything that’s really hard and painful in life is compared to childbirth. Expect your body to be at least a little (and maybe a lot) worked by the whole thing. If you had a vaginal delivery, at a minimum, your uterus will be swollen. You might have had an episiotomy and/or tearing and stitches. Some women’s abdominal muscles separate. Your joints will still be fairly loose. You’ll be carrying extra weight. And your milk will come in, which may have you reaching for a second sports bra—just because.
All this takes healing and adjustment time, and you want that healing process well on its way before you start pushing yourself on the bike. “The big concern is your uterus,” says Minkin. After labor, the placenta separates from the uterus, exposing blood vessels that bleed into the uterus. After you deliver the placenta, your uterus keeps contracting to squeeze off the exposed blood vessels. For the next few days, as your uterus continues to shrink, you continue to discharge the excess tissue and blood (together known as lochia). That discharge should get considerably lighter during the first week and resolve completely in two to four weeks.
“The main concern is that pushing yourself too hard, too soon, slows down that process and causes you to bleed more,” says Minkin. “Your uterus is a good guide. If you’re doing too much, you’ll bleed more. If you bleed more, you need to slow down and rest more.”
Of course, you also have to be comfortable sitting on a bike seat, which may take a few weeks if you’ve had an episiotomy or tear and stitches. “I had stitches and was sitting on pillows for the first week or so, so a bike seat wasn’t going to happen,” says Briana Heintzelman, 23, of Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, who waited about five weeks to get back on her bike after giving birth to her son five months ago.
If you’ve had a C-section, you can expect the healing time to be longer. “You definitely need to give yourself several weeks for your abdominal incision to heal up,” Minkin says: Otherwise, you risk ripping the incision open. Plus, you’re going to be in too much discomfort to ride.
“Having your stomach muscles cut is awful,” says Christie Weismantel, 32, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who had an emergency C-section with her first child. “I couldn’t even walk up and down the stairs or lift anything heavier than my daughter for the first week. Then I could gradually start taking walks. You don’t realize how much you use your stomach muscles for every little thing until they hurt every time you move. I started to feel more like myself after about three or four weeks, but it was eight weeks until I could get back on my bike. My first ride back was a very slow mountain bike ride.”
Some women also develop a separation in their abdominal muscles called a diastasis recti during pregnancy that lingers after the baby is born. Though Minkin says it’s not too concerning when it comes to cycling, taking it easy for a few weeks so you don’t put undue pressure on your healing abdominals is good advice.
You 2.0: Like Yourself, But Different
Once you’re good to go, you may be tempted to really get out there—only to find that you’re, um, slow. That shouldn’t surprise you if you really think about it, but it may be frustrating nonetheless.
“Once I started feeling like myself, I thought I should be totally back to normal and should be able to train as hard as I want,” says Heintzelman. “I went out and did a local grass crit and I couldn’t believe how slow I was! Everyone was like, it’s been two months since you gave birth. It’s alright.” They were right: It was alright. Three months later, Heintzelman would get third place in a local cyclocross race.
Weismantel was okay with being slow on those early rides back. What she didn’t anticipate was feeling scared. “The October before I got pregnant I had a bad crash and smashed my helmet and broke my arm in three places,” she says. “Now that I was back riding, I had to overcome this fear that it wasn’t just me I was worrying about anymore. If something happened, I also had my daughter to worry about. I had to go really slow and ease into it. But once I relaxed it was a relief… I felt like a kid in a candy store being back on my bike and having fun.”
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For many new moms, their newly resumed rides aren’t just limited by how they feel, but also by the fact that they’re on call for a growing, hungry baby. “The biggest barrier for me at this point is that I’m still breast feeding,” says Heintzelman. “That is really hard. Staying hydrated is a daily battle, so I have water bottles everywhere throughout the house to remind me to drink. It also takes a lot of planning and organization for cyclocross races because I want to make sure he’s fed before I line up!” Heintzelman has taken to feeding her baby while she warms up on the trainer. “It looks pretty funny, but that’s how I make it work.” She also has some pumped milk on hand in case he gets hungry while she’s on course.
Finding the 25th Hour in the Day
Just when you think you’re too old to play tag… you have a baby. And for a while, it feels like tag is all you play—at least in terms of childcare responsibilities. “My husband and I both ride, so we figured out a routine of alternating our rides throughout the week,” says Weismantel. “We each ride one or two days during the week and get a long ride on the weekend.”
No longer able to ride with her husband and eager for company, Weismantel rode with a friend on Mondays and found a women’s mountain biking group to ride with on Wednesdays. “It was just what I needed to be challenged and pushed and encouraged to do things I wouldn’t do by myself,” she says.
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Heintzelman and her partner also split their free time. “It’s hard to find time, because Nick rides, too. But it’s nice that he rides, because he understands that it’s a priority to me. I’m not a homebody. I don’t like to be home all day. So when he comes home, it’s out the door for me! I love my baby to death, but you need your own time and there’s no better place than the bike to have some time to yourself.”
Finally, remember this is a time of massive change and adjustment—and often serious sleep deprivation—all while your body is healing. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t find the time to ride… or if you don’t want to ride.
“Exercise is fabulous and I recommend it for everyone. But at this time in your life, you need to prioritize your rest,” says Minkin. “If you’re tired and you have some time and have to choose between sleep or exercise, choose the sleep! Your bike will always be there when you’re ready to ride again.”
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