How to Reconnect With Your Core After Kids (Postpartum Core Reconnection)

For many women, the weeks and months after pregnancy come with unexpected physical changes – especially around the core.

You might feel like your abdominal muscles aren’t “working” the way they used to. Movements that once felt natural now feel unstable. Even breathing and posture can feel different.

And yet, everywhere you turn, you’re told to do crunches, or “rebuild your abs” with traditional workouts.

The truth? For many postpartum women, the core needs reconnection before it needs resistance. And often, the first step is retraining the nervous system, not just strengthening the muscles.

Why Your Core May Feel “Disconnected” After Pregnancy

During pregnancy, the abdominal wall stretches significantly, particularly the linea alba, the connective tissue between the left and right sides of the rectus abdominis. This often leads to a condition called diastasis recti, a natural and common separation of the abdominal muscles.

Additionally, pregnancy and childbirth affect:

• Intra-abdominal pressure regulation

• Breathing mechanics

• Pelvic floor function

• Postural alignment

• Muscle recruitment patterns

Even long after birth, many women experience lingering challenges:

• Weak or delayed core activation

• Doming or coning of the abdominals during movement

• Over-reliance on the back, neck, or hip flexors

• Difficulty engaging the deep core without bearing down

• Leakage or trouble holding in urine with jumping, sneezing, coughing etc.

These aren’t just strength issues – they’re neuromuscular coordination issues.

What “Reconnecting to Your Core” Actually Means

Reconnection is about restoring proper communication between your brain and your deep stabilising muscles, primarily the transverse abdominis, pelvic floor, diaphragm, and multifidus.

This involves:

• Learning how to coordinate breath with gentle core engagement

• Activating deep muscles without compensation or pressure

• Restoring pelvic stability and postural control before loading

It’s not about flattening your abs –  it’s about retraining your body to support itself from the inside out.

Why Traditional Ab Workouts Often Miss the Mark Postpartum

Exercises like sit-ups, crunches, or aggressive planks often:

• Increase intra-abdominal pressure before your body is ready

• Encourage compensatory strategies that bypass the deep core

• Exacerbate pelvic floor symptoms or diastasis recti

• Reinforce shallow breathing patterns and rib flare

That’s why many postpartum recovery professionals now recommend a progressive, low-impact approach that focuses on restoring alignment, breath, and control before intensity or load.

Where EMS Training Can Help

For women who struggle to feel or recruit their core, especially after pregnancy, EMS (Electro Muscle Stimulation) can offer a unique advantage.

When used correctly and under professional guidance, EMS:

• Delivers gentle electrical impulses to the abdominal and deep stabilising muscles

• Enhances muscle recruitment by amplifying signals from the brain to the body

• Can be combined with breath work and posture-focused exercises to improve neuromuscular control

Rather than replacing core training, EMS serves as a supportive tool. Especially helpful for those with abdominal separation, pelvic instability, or coordination deficits.

Because EMS stimulates the muscle without increasing intra-abdominal pressure, it can be a useful way to retrain deep muscle activation in a controlled, low-load environment.

EMS can also be introduced earlier than traditional training methods, as it allows gentle stimulation of the deep core and postural muscles without requiring high load, strain, or pressure- making it a safe and effective starting point for postpartum recovery when guided by a professional.

The Core Needs Patience, Not Pressure

Postpartum recovery doesn’t follow a fixed timeline. It’s highly individual and affected by delivery type, movement history, connective tissue integrity, and hormonal recovery.

While the earlier you begin reconnecting with your core, the easier it may be to restore function and coordination, it’s never too late to start. Meaningful progress can still be made months, or even years, after pregnancy, and well into later life.

But no matter your starting point, reconnection is possible.

By focusing on:

• Breath-first movement

• Deep muscle re-education

• Gentle, progressive loading

• And tools like EMS to support engagement

…you can rebuild a core that not only looks strong, but feels stable, functional, and truly connected.

Want to know more about core activation? Read more about what it is and how you can achieve it in our blog ‘Mastering Core Activation‘