The hard part: lifting
Lifting a baby or a toddler is heavy lifting, and it pulls on exactly the stitches and muscles that need to heal. After a tummy tuck, plan for no lifting for about six weeks. After breast surgery on its own, it's usually three to four weeks, and about a month with implants. Your surgeon gives you your own date.
That means someone else lifts the children in and out of the cot, the car seat, the bath and the buggy.
Week by week
| When | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Days 1 to 3 | In hospital for one or more nights. Walking a little from the first day, bent forward. Drains in. |
| Week 1 to 2 | Home, sore and tired. A support garment and a support bra day and night. Someone with you full-time for the children. Wound checks; drains out. |
| Weeks 3 to 6 | Standing straighter and walking further. Still no lifting, no driving for most of it. Back to a desk job from about week four. |
| Week 6 on | Garment off for most people; back to most normal activities, lifting included, when the surgeon says so. |
| Months 3 to 18 | Swelling settles over months; scars fade from red towards white over 12 to 18 months. |
The help you'll need
- Someone needs to drive you home and stay with you for the first 24 hours.
- Full-time help with the children for at least the first two weeks: a partner on leave, family staying, or both
- Someone to do the lifting until about week six
- Lifts for school runs and check-ups while you can't drive
- Meals in the freezer, and what you need within reach upstairs and down
Driving
You won't drive for several weeks after a tummy tuck. One NHS hospital advises six weeks, because your reactions in an emergency may be slower. Check with your car insurer as well. After breast surgery alone, wait until wearing a seatbelt no longer hurts, usually two to three weeks.
Sleep and nights
For the first weeks you'll sleep on your back with your knees bent. Night feeds or a child who wakes and needs lifting are a job for someone else for now.
Back to work
About four to six weeks off work after a tummy tuck, at least two weeks after a breast lift on its own. If you're at home with small children full-time, that is a physical job: plan the help for the full six weeks.
Ring the clinic if
- a wound opens, smells or leaks
- you have a temperature or feel unwell
- one breast or part of the tummy swells up quickly
- a calf is painful, swollen or warm (and go to an emergency department for chest pain or breathlessness)
Questions people ask
When can I lift my child after a mummy makeover?
Plan on about six weeks after a tummy tuck, and ask your surgeon for your own date.
How long off work after a mummy makeover?
About four to six weeks, set by the tummy tuck.
When can I drive?
Not for several weeks after a tummy tuck; some hospitals advise six. Check with your insurer.
How much help will I need at home?
Full-time help with the children for at least two weeks, and someone to lift them until about week six.