Swimming when pregnant – it’s great for your figure, it’s safe and best of all it’s fun! Sam Pope spoke to midwife and aquanatal teacher, Sue Tunnacliffe, about the wonders of water for pregnant women.
A bunch of pregnant women bobbing about in water?
Aquanatal classes are a safe form of exercise that most pregnant women can undertake from around 15 weeks onwards. A typical class might consist of a gentle warm-up followed by a specially designed aerobic workout in the water. This may involve swimming a few lengths or doing isolated exercises standing in the pool. A spell of exercises to help with muscular strength and endurance follows, with stretches and movements to improve flexibility. Finally, a lovely cool-down ends each session, where you can float away all your troubles and tensions with the help of a couple of strategically-places woggles! Classes are often accompanied by music Sue Tunnacliffe’s swears by Tom Jones’s Sex Bomb when getting her women to do some funky side steps!
What if I can’t swim?
You don’t need to be an Olympic swimmer to participate and ability to swim doesn’t exclude you necessarily either! Obviously you must tell your aquanatal teacher and make sure you don’t venture out of your depth!
What should I wear?
A swimsuit! Either a normal one if your bump is still quite small or a maternity one if your bump has made its presence known. You might also want to wear a sports bra underneath for additional support, as well as a pair of socks which will give you extra grip on and protection for the pool floor.
Can anyone do it?
Most pregnant women can enjoy aquanatal classes but there are a few exceptions, especially if you suffer from one of the following conditions:
- PIH (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension)
- Pre-eclampsia
- Cardiac disease
- IUGR (Intra Uterine Growth Retardation)
- A history of three or more miscarriages
- History of premature labour
- Placenta Praevia
- Unexplained vaginal bleeding
You should also consult your GP, midwife and/or aquanatal teacher in the following circumstances:
- extremely under or over-weight
- raised blood pressure prior to pregnancy
- anaemia, thyroid disease, diabetes, twins, triplets, palpitations
Benefits to mums
Joining an aquanatal class can help you physically and emotionally during your pregnancy. Physically, it increases your levels of stamina and fitness which might then help you achieve a shorter, more active labour with less chances of medical intervention.
Mentally, exercise releases fantastic feel-good endorphins that can help alleviate antenatal and postnatal depression and make you feel generally more happy, especially since you are out and about and making new friends who are in the same situation as yourself. As Sue emphasises: ‘Aquanatal classes gives pregnant mums and mums-to-be an hour to have some “me” time and enables them not to be pregnant for an hour. Strange as that may sound, once you enter the water, all that weight of pregnancy is taken away. And many women who are having trouble sleeping find that they always have a brilliant night after the class!’
Benefits to babies
‘Studies have shown that the babies of mothers who exercised moderately during pregnancy had less incidence of foetal distress and coped with labour contractions better,’ explains Sue. Add to that the fact that aquanatal exercise can give you the confidence to believe in yourself and your body’s ability, it’s no wonder that this form of exercise is fast becoming a favourite with mums around the UK.
About Sue Tunnacliffe
Sue became a midwife after becoming a mum and trained as an aquanatal instructor after qualifying in midwifery. She became interested in aquanatal when she was expecting her first baby 15 years ago. She found it fairly difficult to find out about local classes and, after completing her training, decided to try to help other mums to find classes more easily. She also wanted to tell mums just how wonderful Aquanatal is and about the benefits that it brings to pregnant and postnatal women.
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