If you’ve ever brushed off leaking when you laugh, pain during sex, or lingering constipation as “just part of being a mom,” this episode is your permission slip to stop normalizing what’s treatable.

I’m joined by a pelvic floor physical therapist who breaks down why your pelvic floor deserves attention—not just after vaginal birth, but after any pregnancy. We talk about how these muscles are essential to everyday life: from pooping and peeing to core strength, intimacy, and even your mental health.

You’ll learn:

• Why peeing a little when you sneeze isn’t something to just “deal with”

• The truth about C-sections and pelvic floor dysfunction

• How scar tissue can impact your recovery—and what to do about it

• Simple tricks to improve pooping and peeing posture (yes, even your toddler can benefit!)

• Why lifting while holding your breath can be sneaky pelvic floor sabotage

• What “power peeing” is—and why you should stop doing it

Whether you’re newly postpartum or years into motherhood, it’s never too late to prioritize this part of your health. This conversation is all about demystifying pelvic floor therapy and empowering you with proactive, shame-free strategies to feel better in your body.

???? Know better, do better—and let’s break the silence around postpartum recovery.

Check out Dr. Sara’s new book!

Floored: A Woman’s Guide To Pelvic Floor Health At Every Age And Stage The definitive guide to pelvic floor health, written by pelvic floor physical therapist and creator of the Vagina Whisperer, Dr. Sara Reardon.

⁠⁠Pre-Order Today! ⁠⁠ Save 15% with code FLOORED:15

00;00;00;06 – 00;00;18;04

Dr. Mona

Welcome to the follow up. I’m Doctor Mona, your favorite online pediatrician mom, friend, and the voice in your ear reminding you that peeing a little when you sneeze is common, but it’s not something you just have to live with. And let’s be real, if you’re listening right now, there’s a good chance you’ve done the cough, sneeze, cross your legs.

 

00;00;18;04 – 00;00;38;05

Dr. Mona

Move more times than you’d like to admit. That’s exactly why I’m sharing the snippet today with Sarah Reardon. Yes, the vagina whisperer herself and Doctor of Physical Therapy. Sarah’s new book, Floored, just launched, and it’s packed with everything you didn’t even know you needed to know about your pelvic floor. From sex and birth to pooping and peeing the right way.

 

00;00;38;08 – 00;00;58;18

Dr. Mona

It’s practical, it’s approachable, and it’s something every mom deserves to hear. So if you’ve ever wondered if it’s too late to fix your postpartum pooping problem, that’s a tongue twister. And it’s not a spoiler. Or if your kid’s antics have turned your bladder into a bouncy castle, this is for you. Sarah’s tips make pelvic health way less intimidating and a whole lot more empowering.

 

00;00;58;20 – 00;01;20;09

Dr. Mona

Make sure to hit, subscribe and download this episode because you’re going to want to come back to it. Trust me. And check out the full episode and Sarah’s book, flawed, both linked in the show notes. Now grab your coffee or your water bottle. Hydration is key. Take a deep breath. Maybe not while lifting the toddler. And let’s jump in.

 

00;01;20;11 – 00;01;46;15

Dr. Sara Reardon

You know what we think about pelvic floor as we just kind of grew up hearing about Kegel exercises. But really, these pelvic floor muscles play a role in bowel function. So you know, pooping bladder function, sexual health, reproductive health, and of course, childbirth. And so whenever there is a change in that part of our body or we notice something changing or going kind of in, in a negative direction, that’s really when we want to seek a pelvic floor physical therapist.

 

00;01;46;15 – 00;02;06;18

Dr. Sara Reardon

So if we’re talking about bladder function, if you are peeing frequently or if you are having chronic urinary tract infections, but your negative for, you know, a UTI, if you are leaking when you’re laughing or coughing or sneezing, which is really common after giving birth. Yeah, those are signs that you’d want to see a pet when you talk about pooping.

 

00;02;06;18 – 00;02;28;24

Dr. Sara Reardon

If you are constipated straining, you have hemorrhoids. Again, these are things that often occur during pregnancy and can also persist postpartum, you know, pelvic floor to help with that. If you’re having intercourse and you have pain with sex, either with insertion or deeper penetration, we help with that. And then when it comes to pregnancy and birth, it’s an area that I really focus on.

 

00;02;28;24 – 00;02;50;12

Dr. Sara Reardon

And you can have pelvic floor issues all across your lifespan. But I think our bodies go through such a huge transformation during pregnancy and postpartum, and we are not getting the tools or resources to really help women recover from that. And so during pregnancy, you know, these muscles stretch and lengthen and can often get weak, even not just your pelvic floor, your abdominal muscles as well.

 

00;02;50;14 – 00;02;59;07

Dr. Sara Reardon

And then the act of childbirth can mean a cesarean section or a vaginal birth, where you may have some tearing and scar tissue, and then you just go home.

 

00;02;59;15 – 00;03;00;23

Dr. Mona

And there’s no guidance.

 

00;03;00;23 – 00;03;14;08

Dr. Sara Reardon

On how to recover or return to sex or exercise or even picking up your kids or returning to work. So we really help women kind of rehabilitate and either strengthen their muscles or work on their scar tissue, or strengthen their core after having a baby as well.

 

00;03;14;11 – 00;03;33;18

Dr. Mona

Well, that’s kind of how I think I first found you. I remember seeing one of your posts about scar mobilization after a C-section, and that’s not something that was told to me after having actually a very traumatic delivery. And also repeat surgery into that same scar. So I had a lot of scar tissue and I loved it. I remember watching it and I’m like, this is amazing.

 

00;03;33;18 – 00;03;45;15

Dr. Mona

But like you said, it’s just so important. And do you feel like it is more of a useful thing when there are issues? Or do you feel like you do have clients or patients that come before issues begin?

 

00;03;45;18 – 00;04;04;21

Dr. Sara Reardon

Both. You know, so I think definitely if you are experiencing issues and this can be at any stage, this can be pre-conception postpartum, going into menopause with aging, you always want to seek help for those, particularly from a pelvic floor therapist, before going on to just surgeries or medication. And sometimes it works hand in hand with those other interventions.

 

00;04;04;21 – 00;04;23;05

Dr. Sara Reardon

But, you know, I think in that older generation of my mom, my mom’s generation, they just were kind of told to deal with it. And that’s not how it has to be. I do see a lot of women who come in, even pre-conception or before their second baby or third baby, and they’re like, you know what? I just want to make sure everything’s okay down there.

 

00;04;23;09 – 00;04;40;14

Dr. Sara Reardon

And I really compare pelvic floor PT. It’s like, you know, we go to the dentist twice a year to make sure that our oral hygiene is great. If we have a couple things we need to tweak, we can make some changes. If we have a cavity, we can get it fixed. And then you go home, practice those new habits, and then you come back in six months.

 

00;04;40;17 – 00;04;56;23

Dr. Sara Reardon

I don’t see why we’re not doing that for our pelvic floor, which is such an important part of our day to day lives. So my vision and dream for pelvic floor PT is that it really is just part of wellness and health care, and we’re not just seeing people after the damage is done.

 

00;04;56;25 – 00;05;17;15

Dr. Mona

Oh, absolutely. And you brought up all the examples like chronic YouTube is leaking, pooping, constipation issues, intercourse. That is painful. And you said it already that I think a lot of times we just attribute this to being normal. Like I just got to deal with it and okay, listen, like constipation, we know postpartum it can be to some degree, but we need to figure out, well, how are you relaxing your muscles?

 

00;05;17;16 – 00;05;48;27

Dr. Mona

Is there some strategy. And again your account and what you teach is so valuable because of the prop there is proper ways. You know, one thing I did learn from you was about your comment about power peeing. Like how a lot of women will just kind of pee really, really fast and she’ll probably get into. But all of these things, these terminologies that you’re like, wow, a lot of women are probably doing this and they don’t realize that it doesn’t have to be this way, that maybe you can do things a different way to your pelvic floor, but get the tips and strategies you need so that you’re not dealing with something like painful sex

 

00;05;48;27 – 00;05;58;22

Dr. Mona

or constipation. That’s chronic. I mean, these kind of things can really be harmful, like in terms of just your mental health, your physical health, and there are ways to help it. You know, I love that.

 

00;05;58;25 – 00;06;15;08

Dr. Sara Reardon

No, I agree, and I think that’s one of the things that we don’t really think about. They’re like, oh, these are just like little issues and it’ll go away or I can deal with it. But what ends up happening is that if we don’t attend to them, they end up really affecting our quality of life. I mean, after having kids, it is hard enough to be intimate and have sex with your partner.

 

00;06;15;08 – 00;06;32;28

Dr. Sara Reardon

But if it’s painful, you definitely end up avoiding it. And that’s another kind of barrier or speed bump for turning to intimacy. If you love to exercise. And it’s we read all of these studies about how it’s great for mental health and postpartum depression, but if you’re picking your pants, you don’t want to go to that workout class or go for a run.

 

00;06;33;01 – 00;06;54;21

Dr. Sara Reardon

And so, you know, I have a mom who, like, could not lift up her baby for the first three months because her back pain was so bad. And so we don’t see those really invisible kind of experiences for women and moms. And I think one of the things that I’m really passionate about is like, it’s not normalizing these problems, but it’s normalizing the conversation around these problems because we don’t talk about them because they’re embarrassing.

 

00;06;54;23 – 00;07;13;06

Dr. Sara Reardon

But I think if we say, like, hey, this can totally happen and this can help improve your quality of life, help you get back to exercise, help you get back to work. So I think it helps in a lot of arenas outside of just your pelvic floor and peeing and pooping. It really does kind of have ripple effects into the other arenas of our life.

 

00;07;13;08 – 00;07;33;28

Dr. Mona

Absolutely. And I did already mentioned this already about C-sections. Like, I think one of the misconceptions I’ve heard is that, oh, well, if you deliver via C-section, your pelvic floor is intact because you didn’t deliver via vaginal delivery. But I know that obviously C-section vaginal doesn’t really matter. You may want to see one. So what would you say to those C-section moms who are like, I probably don’t need it?

 

00;07;33;28 – 00;07;37;29

Dr. Mona

Why would there be an impact? Or why would they want to see a pelvic floor PT?

 

00;07;38;02 – 00;07;58;00

Dr. Sara Reardon

Absolutely. So pregnancy itself affects your pelvic floor. So if you have been pregnant, if you have carried a baby, your pelvic floor muscles are typically weaker. They’re lengthened. You may experience constipation or urinary leakage or prolapse. And those are all signs that your pelvic floor isn’t functioning the way that we want it to. And that is just during pregnancy.

 

00;07;58;03 – 00;08;19;02

Dr. Sara Reardon

And then after a C-section. I mean, you’ve had major abdominal surgery, your core muscles are affected and your core and your pelvic floor work together. And oftentimes the caesarean scar can be restricted or tight. Or we’re read a lot about like a cesarean shelf so that scar tissue restriction can cause abdominal pain, constipation, incomplete bladder emptying and actually C-section.

 

00;08;19;02 – 00;08;36;26

Dr. Sara Reardon

Moms have a higher risk of pain with sex and even a vaginal birth mom. And so I think it’s like we don’t always connect those puzzle pieces because we think of these parts of a body as so separate, but they’re really so integrated. If you’re listening to this and you are like, oh, my kids are 5 or 10 and I don’t, it’s too late for me.

 

00;08;36;26 – 00;08;46;14

Dr. Sara Reardon

It’s never too late to start working on this. And there’s a lot of benefits to doing it earlier. But if it’s later in the years, like there’s always improvements that you can make.

 

00;08;46;17 – 00;09;04;13

Dr. Mona

We could possibly do a whole episode on this question, but I want to do I want to ask you this in terms of your top tips on pooping and peeing and how to do this in the right way to protect the pelvic floor. Because like I said already, I learned through your account all these things and I’m like, oh my gosh, this makes total sense.

 

00;09;04;13 – 00;09;12;16

Dr. Mona

Absolutely. What are we doing? So if you can just again keep it short because I know we could talk for hours on it would be maybe your top tips on for both of those things.

 

00;09;12;18 – 00;09;30;27

Dr. Sara Reardon

Absolutely. And this is what I love teaching parents because then we can teach our kids. Like I teach my kids how to poop properly. So let’s talk about pooping. So the first thing for pooping is that I recommend for everyone to get a little squatty potty or a stool to put it under their feet while they’re pooping. The best position to relax for a movement is squatting.

 

00;09;30;27 – 00;09;48;18

Dr. Sara Reardon

So if you’ve ever been to Asia or you’ve been camping, people squat over the ground and that helps your pelvic floor muscles relax so that you can empty better for pooping. But if we’re sitting on a Western toilet, that’s really hard to do. So putting a stool under your feet kind of elevates your knees, and that helps you get into more of a squatting position.

 

00;09;48;21 – 00;10;08;17

Dr. Sara Reardon

And then when you go to poop, instead of holding your breath, I recommend that you exhale like you’re blowing out a bunch of birthday candles. Or if you have a little kiddo who’s constipated, get one of those little swirly straws and then have them blow through the straw because that makes them not hold their breath. If you hold your breath, you actually end up tightening your muscles more, which makes it harder to poop.

 

00;10;08;19 – 00;10;35;29

Dr. Sara Reardon

So if you bear down and kind of push out and you exhale through the straw like you’re blowing out birthday candles, that can help empty better without straining for peeing. One of the biggest things, as you mentioned, moms tend to push when they pee, and it’s because we are always in a hurry. We also sometimes hover over a toilet seat, so I know that sometimes toilets can be icky, but I really recommend sitting on the toilet seat instead of hovering or squatting over it.

 

00;10;35;29 – 00;10;55;14

Dr. Sara Reardon

So, you know, bring your white or fanny whites or layer the toilet paper down, but sitting relaxes your pelvic floor much better. And then you don’t need to push when you pee. When you’re pooping, you can push a little bit. But when you’re peeing, all you need to do is sit and chill and breathe. Yeah, and your bladder is actually a muscle that pushes the urine out for you.

 

00;10;55;16 – 00;11;17;16

Dr. Sara Reardon

If you’re pushing your pee out, you’re tensing your muscles, which makes it harder to empty, and you’re weakening your pelvic floor. So we see people who have never given birth and actually have pelvic floor weakness because they push when they pee. So sit, chill, let your bladder empty, don’t push, don’t power. Pee is what I call it. And then just to get those last few drops out, you just kind of wiggle your hips forward and backwards.

 

00;11;17;22 – 00;11;32;10

Dr. Sara Reardon

Sometimes you stand up, sit down again, see if a couple more drops come out, and then you get up and walk away. So those are the two things I’m like, everybody had to figure out something. You know, those would be the two things. And the last one after giving birth, I really tell people to exhale when they’re lifting.

 

00;11;32;10 – 00;11;40;13

Dr. Sara Reardon

So if you are lifting a stroller or a kiddo or you’re in the gym lifting weights, don’t hold your breath. Exhale as you’re lifting. That will put less pressure on your pelvic floor.

 

00;11;40;15 – 00;11;59;03

Dr. Mona

I mean, all of this sounds so simple, but so many people don’t do it. And the stool, the squatting, all of that relaxing, all of that stuff makes a huge difference. So it doesn’t cycle right. We know with constipation, if you keep tightening and you withhold poop, it just means more constipation. So this stuff is so useful for children as well.

 

00;11;59;06 – 00;12;06;08

Dr. Mona

I even have a potty training course, which I talk about all this relaxing of the pelvic floor for children. So I love that you’re bringing this into your platform as well.

 

00;12;06;11 – 00;12;20;25

Dr. Sara Reardon

Now that’s perfect. And that’s a thing. If we know better than we can teach our kids better, you know, and I think we see these issues really start arising really early with women. And so and then it can sometimes get worse during pregnancy and postpartum. And we just don’t know better. So I think obviously if we know better we can do better.

 

00;12;20;25 – 00;12;33;11

Dr. Sara Reardon

And my goal is that we don’t all end up with pelvic floor issues down the line. I really think that there’s a lot that we can do proactively to prevent them, and then to also treat them.

 

00;12;33;13 – 00;12;54;23

Dr. Mona

And that’s your follow up. Just a small dose of the real relatable and eye opening conversations we love to have here. If you smiled, nodded, or had an moment, go ahead and download, follow and share this episode with a friend. Let’s grow this village together for more everyday parenting wins and real talk. Hang out with us on Instagram at the PedsDocTalk podcast.

 

00;12;55;00 – 00;13;10;14

Dr. Mona

Want more? Dive into the full episode and more at PedsDocTalk.com. Because parenting is better with support. And remember, consistency is key. Humor is medicine and follow ups are everything. I’m Doctor Mona. See you next time for your next dose.