The last trimester of pregnancy is a time of preparation, some common pregnancy complaints, like hip, back and pelvic pain, can be helped by wearing a maternity support belt.

Do you need a maternity belt?

Maternity Support Belts are primarily used during pregnancy to improve comfort. “The normal hormones of pregnancy release your ligaments and relax your pelvic joints.  While this is helpful for actually birthing your baby, the extra weight on the relaxed joints can cause pain in the hips, pubic bone and back.

The point of the maternity support belt is to stabilize the pelvis. It also helps if you have unhealed diastasis recti (the separation of abdominal muscles) from a previous pregnancy, which leads to hip and back pain when your belly expands, because the belt helps to pull the baby up and into the pelvis.

How do you choose a support belt?

Type of belt to choose

If you have pain in the pelvis or pubic bone try to get belt, you can wear low on your hips (some also have attachments that go right around the legs to support the perineum, like a girdle).

If you are looking for relief from back pain or just help to pull up the baby and give better support, you can get a belt that sits up a little higher on your belly.

For fabric wise if preferable to choose those more breathable and adjustable so can make you more comfort to wear in long hours and keep up your regular activities. Usually it advice to wear start from 2nd trimester onward. Di Paolo stresses that moving around, walking and exercising (at whatever intensity you and your health provider have deemed appropriate) are important for a healthy pregnancy and to improve post-partum recovery.

You may get a good Maternity Support Belt with a reasonable price from Lunavie, they provide variety of sizes to cater every mom’s needs.

Can you wear it post-delivery?

Maternity Support Belt during pregnancy are mostly a matter of personal comfort and preference, both Hydeman and Di Paolo recommend all women wear some type of belt or wrap postpartum, to promote healing of the abdominal wall. “The abdominal wall is designed to stretch, and all women will get some separation in their ab muscles,” says Di Paolo. She likens wearing a belt or wrap postpartum to wrapping an injured ankle. “It gives it some external support while the muscles regenerate.”

The concept of belly wrapping has been around for centuries and has roots in Asian and European cultures. Unlike a corset, which makes your abdominal muscles weaker, a belt will help them gain strength.

Wrapping your maternity support belt for the first eight weeks after delivery will go a long way towards helping the diastasis muscles recover, though pelvic floor exercises are still recommended. And wrapping your belly after a C-section supports your abdominal muscles as you heal from the surgery.