Maternal health experts have dismissed claims that women who delivered their babies through caesarean section would have a big tummy and cannot achieve a flat abdomen afterward.
They linked the size and shape of a woman’s tummy after childbirth to genetics, regardless of the mode of delivery.
In interviews with PUNCH Healthwise, the gynaecologists stated that while pregnancy impacts the size and shape of the tummy, achieving a flat tummy after childbirth was possible even after CS.
They urged women who underwent CS to desist from practices that could affect their recovery, advising that they prioritise rest, adequate sleep, and healthy diets.
Findings reveal that women who deliver their babies through caesarean section often face stigma, with some people wrongly claiming that CS prevents them from getting a flat tummy after childbirth.
This belief appears to stem from the traditional practice of tummy or womb tying after delivery, which is thought to help “expel blood and remaining dirt” so the abdomen returns to its pre-pregnancy shape.
Further findings show that many women who undergo CS are discouraged from tying their tummy because of their surgical scar.
This has fuelled the widespread misconception that not tying the tummy, rather than natural post-pregnancy body changes, is what causes CS mothers to have a bigger or sagging tummy.
However, gynaecologists advise women who deliver through CS to avoid wearing tight clothing, especially around the incision site, until the scar is healed, to reduce irritation and lower the risk of infection.
Commenting on the matter, a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, Abubakar Panti, dismissed the belief that women who undergo CS cannot achieve a flatter abdomen after childbirth.
He explained that abdominal sagging after delivery is mainly influenced by genetics, not the mode of birth, adding that both women who deliver vaginally and those who have caesarean sections can experience it.
Panti said many women wrongly assume that tying the abdomen after vaginal delivery gives them an advantage over those who deliver through surgery.
He explained that “when a woman is pregnant, the baby distends the tummy and then the skin stretches,” adding that after delivery, the skin gradually retracts, but those who end up with big tummies can link that to genetics.
The gynaecologist noted that even women who deliver naturally and tie their abdomens often still end up with sagging because heredity plays a stronger role.
“There are some people, even if they deliver by themselves, who still have that sagging tummy, no matter how they try to tie it. There are some people who have delivered through caesarean section, and they don’t have any sagging tummy issues. All these things depend on genetics,” he said.
Panti added that mild abdominal support after caesarean section is allowed but warned against the use of tight-fitting supports.
He said, “Who said that after a caesarean section you don’t apply slight support? We are not saying you should not apply support. It’s just that we are saying that you should not wear tight-fitting support.”
He reiterated that women should not blame a caesarean section for postpartum abdominal changes, stating that “The issue of tying or not tying is truly a myth. It has nothing to do with the mode of delivery. No matter how you tie, there are those that have vaginal deliveries, and they tie, and it does not prevent that sagging.”
Panti urged women to seek guidance from qualified health professionals rather than rely on myths or societal pressures surrounding childbirth and recovery.
In an earlier interview, a Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Ibadan, Oyo State, Christopher Aimakhu, stated that the recovery and outcome of a patient following a CS depends on many factors including “the reason to for the CS, was it planned or an emergency, what kind of anaesthesia was used, what was the level of skill of the surgeon, where it was done and has the patient has had a CS before, among others. This can determine the outcome.”
The don urged women who undergo CS to “have the procedures in good hospitals that have good infection control in their theatre and with the instruments and operate good sterile procedures.”
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