Many mums notice that their tummy still feels soft, domed, or oddly separated in the weeks and months after giving birth. If you have been searching diastasis recti singapore while poking at your midline, you are in good company, because this is one of the most common and least talked about parts of postpartum recovery. This guide offers general information to help you understand it and take safe first steps. It is not medical advice. Before you return to any core exercise, please see a doctor or a women’s health physiotherapist, who can assess you properly and guide your recovery.
What Diastasis Recti Is
During pregnancy, your growing baby stretches the abdominal wall. The two long bands of muscle that run down the front of your tummy, the rectus abdominis, are joined by a strip of connective tissue called the linea alba. As your bump grows, this tissue softens and widens so the muscles can move apart to make room. That is a normal, healthy adaptation.
Diastasis recti simply means those muscles have separated at the midline, with the connective tissue in between stretched and thinned. Almost every woman has some degree of separation by the end of pregnancy. For many, it narrows on its own over the weeks after birth. For others, a gap or a feeling of weakness lingers, and that is when it helps to understand what is going on and what to do about it.
Signs you might notice include a visible ridge or doming down the middle of your tummy when you sit up, a soft or hollow gap you can feel with your fingers, a persistently rounded lower belly, or a feeling that your core is weak and unsupported. Some women also notice back discomfort or a sense that their middle is not holding them together the way it used to.
A Simple Self-Check, and Why the Professional Check Matters
You can do a gentle at-home check to get a sense of things. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat. Place your fingers just above your belly button, pointing down towards your toes. Gently lift your head and shoulders a little, as if starting a small nod, and feel for a gap between the muscle bands and how deep or soft it feels. You can repeat this above and below the belly button.
This self-check is only a rough guide, not a diagnosis. A women’s health physiotherapist can assess the width and, just as importantly, the tension and function of the connective tissue, which matters more than the gap alone. They will also check your pelvic floor, since the two work together. Booking that assessment is the single most useful step you can take, because it turns guesswork into a plan made for your body.
Safe First Steps, and Movements to Avoid
The most important rule while you recover is to avoid movements that dome or bulge the belly outward along the midline. That doming is a sign the load is too much for your connective tissue right now. This means holding off on traditional sit-ups, crunches, planks, and heavy lifting until you have been assessed and cleared, and been shown how to progress safely.
In the meantime, there is plenty you can do gently, ideally under guidance:
- Focus on breathing well, letting your ribs and belly expand on the in-breath and gently drawing in on the out-breath
- Learn to engage your deep core and pelvic floor together, without holding your breath or bearing down
- Move mindfully in daily life, rolling onto your side to get up from lying rather than curling straight up
- Support your midline when you cough, sneeze, or lift your baby, by bracing gently
- Build up walking and everyday activity at a pace that feels comfortable
Because the deep core and the pelvic floor recover as a team, it is worth reading our guides to pelvic floor and postpartum recovery and recovering your body after birth alongside this one. They cover the wider picture of rebuilding strength gently in those early months.
When to Seek Help, and Being Kind to Yourself
See your doctor or a women’s health physiotherapist if you notice ongoing doming, a gap that is not improving, persistent back or pelvic pain, any bulging that appears with effort, or if you simply feel unsure how to start. There is no need to wait until something feels wrong, and an early check often speeds up recovery. If you feel low or overwhelmed by how your body has changed, that matters too, and our guide to postnatal depression and mental health points to support.
Try to be patient and gentle with yourself. Your body did something extraordinary, and recovery is not a race. Between night feeds, work, and perhaps a helper or grandparents lending a hand at home, finding even a few minutes for gentle breathing and mindful movement adds up. With the right assessment and a steady, guided approach, most women rebuild real core strength over time. Get checked, start small, avoid the doming movements, and let a professional help you find your way back to a strong, supported middle.