Sneeze Pee: How this mama stopped it during her second pregnancy

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Sneeze pee and the pelvic floor

For years I've studied movement. For years before my first pregnancy and throughout both my pregnancies, I've worked to integrate movement into my life. Usually I feel pretty good and do lots of movement throughout the day. During my first pregnancy, my pelvic floor did great during pregnancy and after delivery (and that was despite a huge tear from the birth).

​Skip forward a couple years.

About halfway through my second pregnancy, I started experiencing what is commonly referred to as "sneeze pee." What is that? When you sneeze, just a little bit of pee comes out. It is embarrassing, annoying, and just no fun.

​Is this just a fact of life with pregnancy?

​I felt scared about my body’s capabilities. I felt worried that a weakened pelvic floor, sneeze pee, and other problems were “just what happens with a second pregnancy.”

I had to talk myself out of that mindset, and I rejected the idea of being resigned to having no control over helping and strengthening my pregnant body.

Over my years of study and thousands of hours of client work, I have helped many people recover pelvic floor integrity and eliminate sneeze pee and other pelvic floor dysfunctions from their lives. I know from experience that it has little to do with the number of pregnancies, and that it has so much more to do with function.

How would I help someone experiencing sneeze pee?

​Once I talked myself out of a fearful and self-despairing mindset, I thought about what I would assign someone to do who was in this situation.

I realized that I had stopped doing as many of my stretches, exercises, integrated movements, and walks that I usually did. My family and I had moved several times during this second pregnancy. At the time we had a toddler and very ancient dog, both of whom demanded my attention. On top of these stresses, I was also feeling rundown by the sheer day-to-day exhaustion of pregnancy.

I realized that if someone came to me with similar problems and concerns, I would work on how they could integrate movement into their daily life. So, I needed to find ways to put more movements back into my own life!

Simple movements to strengthen the pelvic floor

Luckily for me, I was in the process of making Mama Moves Cards, and this became a huge “ah-ha” moment for me. So I figured out what to do:

I could assign myself a few cards to put up around the house and focus on doing those movements as many times a day as possible. 

To as much as possible, I assigned myself 6 cards:

1. Card #4 Lower body alignment (to encourage a neutral pelvis)
2. Card #5 Calf stretch
3. Card #6 Hamstring stretch
4. Card #8 Seated figure 4 stretch
5. Card #7 Hip flexor stretch (a basic lunge)
6. Card #13 Recruit your glute

I often only did these movements once per day, but sometimes I did one or more of them multiple times. I also started walking a little more.

The end result​​

 ​So what happened?

​Within 10 days my sneeze pee dysfunction was gone.
By doing these movements and figuring out how to help my own pregnant body was a great reminder of how powerful my work is and why I do it. It gave me so much gratitude to be able to help myself.

It also gave me an extra boost to finish the cards so that I could assign them to clients and provide a useful tool for all mamas!

If you are experiencing problems such as sneeze pee, you don't have to just accept it as a fact of life. You can find movements that strengthen your body and  help you deal with the stresses and problems of pregnancy.

I could do it... and you can too!