Motherhood

Here are some answers to the questions I received on Instagram about pregnancy and to which I chose to answer:

Did you have a special diet during your pregnancies or pay attention to certain foods?

No, I did not follow a special diet (by diet I mean “eating routine”), and I was lucky enough to be immune to toxoplasmosis so I was allowed to eat almost everything I wanted.

For 9 months this wonderful little baby finally grows on its own, we do not have much to do in comparison to the incredible work our body is doing.

I think that during pregnancy we have to pay attention to what we eat especially during the first three months. I know that it is not always easy to eat well, but pregnancy is a good opportunity to make an effort.

A healthy diet, with a lot of vegetables and fruit and therefore vitamins and fibers will help you to avoid fatigue and constipation problems. Afterwards, as I like to say, there is no universal rule and every woman does what she can do. Pregnancy can get you hungry, then feel free to eat a big pasta plate if you feel like it.

Like many things in life, everything is a matter of balance. If you eat pasta for lunch, eat vegetables and fish for dinner for example.

A little tip that will surely give you motivation: if you have a healthy and balanced diet you also limit weight gain, and if you get to exercise more, you put all the chances on your side to quickly help you to find the line.

In early November we are launching an article on the beauty and diet routine before / during and after pregnancy!

Does breastfeeding help to find your pre-pregnancy weight and body more easily?

Very good question, and I am well situated to answer it because my twin sister and I, although we have exactly the same body and weights, have had diametrically opposite experiences.

Caroline's breastfeeding did not make her lose weight, she lost her few pounds over several months during and after breastfeeding.

As for me, I had the impression (for my two breastfeeding), to lose a kilo each time I breastfed my children, especially the first three months. Once again, each body is different and reacts differently.

As far as I’m concerned, breastfeeding empties me from the inside. Also, I eat a lot more when I’m breastfeeding than during my pregnancies.

And this is a very important point not to ignore! Breastfeeding is as much work as pregnancy, your body produces milk, is it not incredible when you think about it?

How to get in shape when you cannot go back to sport until several weeks later?

When to resume sport after childbirth? Is perineal reeducation mandatory?

How did you find your line as fast?

Here are some similar questions that will be much more developed in our next chapter in November on nutrition during / after pregnancy.

So I will not really answer these questions here, but to be honest with you, you never get something for nothing, and actually the healthy lifestyle starts on the first day of pregnancy.

Sorry for the bad news!

If you take care of your diet and practice regular physical activity, it is certain that you will recover much more easily because your body will already be in a dynamic mood.

Also keep in mind that 10-12 kilos are easier to lose than 25 and consider the fact that again, every body is different. The most important thing is to listen to your body and feel good. If you are in osmosis and fulfilled with him, you will have more facilities to eliminate these happy kilos.

It is also said that it takes 9 months to make a baby and 9 months to find your body back, let nature do, but give it a boost by taking care of your diet.

How to do / learn to love your body after pregnancy?

It is true that it is not always easy to love one's body after a pregnancy.

The belly skin that was beautiful and tense is now flabby. We are tired, we often feel dirty (probably due to bleedings, hormones, fatigue).

As I said, we will talk about fitness in our next article, however you can already do small things to feel better right out of the maternity unit: GO BACK TO THE FRONT as soon as you come home, it's not easy but if you let yourself go in the beginning, it's hard to get back on track, so here are my tips!

• Have healthy and balanced diet.
• Take a shower several times a day, cream, perfume yourself, do face masks, hair masks, from the beginning do not yield to the temptation to postpone what you can do today. If your hair is a bit greasy, do not wait two days before taking action! Your baby sleeps almost 20 hours / day in the beginning, so you have time.
• Sleep while your baby is sleeping.
• We always prepare our bags for the maternity unit months in advance, we plan everything for the baby, but unfortunately, we forget to prepare things for US for when we would be back home. Drop your old, ugly leggings in which you've been hanging around during pregnancy. The pregnancy is now behind you. Buy one or two beautiful new pajamas and not XXL (your body will not have this shape your entire life).
• Buy some comfortable cotton panties, I do not mean sexy lingerie, but just little panties which are a little presentable!

Your bedroom does not need to smell like your baby's dirty diaper, put a candle that smells good, and throw away the dirty diapers immediately!

Never forget what your body has just created, all by itself, be grateful and love it. It just gave birth. 

Did you have a separation of the abs? Did it heal itself?

Little warning, I only speak for myself here, it is nevertheless necessary to ask for an expert opinion on these questions, I am not a doctor.

Yes, the separation of the abs happens naturally during the pregnancy and also comes back naturally after the pregnancy. For me, it is perhaps what took the most time.

As I practiced Ashtanga yoga on a daily basis during my pregnancy (put link to yogi diary), it's true that I was lucky that they were back up pretty quickly. And I repeat myself all the time but I am convinced that practicing physical activity during pregnancy will help you to recover faster, there is no doubt about it.

I also know that midwives who offer perineal re-education (we can start six weeks after delivery) can also offer abdominal rehabilitation.

In any case, yes, you’ll have to wait a bit. But once you get the GO, go for abs!

Any specific care to advise us or types of massages during pregnancy?

During my pregnancy, I did yoga every day to tone, stretch, sweat, breathe.

I also did the "palpé-roulé" (the famous cellu M6-LGP endermologie), to fight against cellulite and heavy legs, obviously provided by a specialist. I did it every 10 days on my legs and my butt, obviously never on the belly.

And I was getting a relaxing massage every 2 weeks.

This is our moment, let's take advantage of it! And there are exceptional results if you keep a balanced diet and a physical activity.

Do you have a schedule for breastfeeding, or do you write down a schedule?

No, no other schedule than the baby's. I never wrote in a notebook the nursery hours of my daughters. Nature and our body are much smarter than us, they think and act for us so let them do it!

I try to do with my common sense and instinct, I never woke them up because I wanted to feed them. If they were sleeping, it is because they needed it at that time, it often happened to them to take naps of 4 or 5 hours.

Again, listen to yourself and listen to your baby, learn to read his needs, we do not always do everything perfectly, but the goal is to try and learn and to learn, we have to be wrong sometimes.

How are you doing to keep beautiful hair, I'm losing all of mine it's crazy...

Don’t be fooled, I lose handles of hair since June. It's just starting to slow down in the last few weeks.

For my first daughter, I did not experience that. For Panda, I started losing them when she was five months old, sometimes I have nightmares about it, it’s so impressive.

I would say that I probably lost half of my hair mass in a few months.

The good news is that it will re-grow, so do not panic it's NORMAL.

There are dietary supplements that can help, for my part I did not take anything because I hate to take medicines even if they contain natural assets. And above all I try to accept what happens, I tell myself that if it needed to fall, I let it do so.

How does one find a balance to this new life? is it the baby that adapts or the parents?

This is a very important question and it is not easy to answer it because unfortunately there is no quick fix, but I would say we can still prepare the ground!

When I was pregnant with my first daughter, Ellis, we agreed with my husband that we wanted our children to adapt to our rhythm and that we would not change ours for them. Of course, adapting it a bit, but that meant that a child would never be an excuse for us to get away from what we have always loved: traveling, being just the two of us, working, working out and above all having fun.

From the beginning, we took Ellis everywhere with us: to Australia and Thailand when she was only three months old, at drinks, during which she slept wisely in her stroller, in a nutshell everywhere, we wanted her to be "all-terrain". She has been, and she still is.

In November 2017, I was six months pregnant with Panda, we went on a five-week world tour with Onur and Ellis, who was then 3.5 years old, we did not take any babysitter, we made her sleep in her stroller at night when we were dining outside.

Children adapt to everything, you just have to start talking to them and make them be aware of what’s going on very early. On the plane, for example, we told her that if she slept for a few hours now she would be ok to have dinner with us in this great Thai restaurant when we were going to land and if, on the other hand, she did not sleep, she would be tired and in a bad mood. It worked, in five minutes she was sleeping.

The power of words and communication is infinite.

We do the same thing with Panda.

Let's not forget that our couple has an essential role in our new family life but also in our lives as women. Taking care of your family is also taking care of your husband. Plan as soon as you can have a romantic dinner, a movie night, whatever you like to do!

What are your tips for combining lack of sleep and good mood?

I can almost say that I never felt sleepy because it is the first three months that are finally the most difficult. In fact, I slept when my daughters were sleeping.

If Panda woke up at 11 pm, then 2 am, then 5 am by going to bed at 8.30 pm, I went to bed with her. Same thing during the day, I had naps at the same time as she once a day. When we return to work it is less obvious, but as I said, ask your husband to help you so you can go to bed early!

If you sleep "well" you will be in a good mood.

Did breastfeeding disgust you before you were a mom? Because I'm really embarrassed...

I NEVER thought about breastfeeding before I started breastfeeding.

But no, it's clearly not something that disgusts me.

Maybe this can help you: are more disgusted by breast milk or by milk that comes from a cow that you never saw?

Do you have any tricks when one of two breasts is out of order?

Yes yes!

So you have to be aware of the fact that there is always one breast that produces more than the other. Even if it produces less, do not put it aside!

When you breastfeed, I suggest you to give first the lowest breast to your baby to make sure it is well stimulated, do not let it become lazy!

Once this breast is well emptied go to the other one. If your baby does not empty that breast, you can pump what's left and freeze it.

Try as much as you can to have both breasts "empty" after each feeding.

Remember that the more you stimulate, the more you increase your production chances!

Feel free to take Fénugrec pills, it really produces miracles in terms of lactation!