Coning in pregnancy: Abdominal coning explained
Coning, or doming in pregnancy is when the midline of your stomach appears to have a tent or football shape during certain movements or exercises. When this happens, your core is not functioning optimally. During pregnancy everyone's six pack muscles (rectus abdominis) separate. This is called diastasis recti. When you experience coning it can make diastasis recti even worse.
In this article, I’ll explain everything you need to know about coning in pregnancy, how to prevent it, and the differences between coning and diastasis recti.
Coning in pregnancy: What is it?
During pregnancy, your six-pack abdominal muscles move further apart from each other to make space for a growing baby. This is known as diastasis recti. The connective tissue between your six pack muscles, called linea alba, becomes stretched and thinned.
Coning in pregnancy happens when doing certain activities. Activities can include:
Sitting up in bed
Exercises that stress your six pack muscle like sit ups, crunches, push ups or planks
Lifting something or someone heavy without bracing your core (like your kids!)
Leaning back when you stand up – this is a common pregnancy posture mistake!
What you can see during these activities is doming or coning. It looks like a triangle, tent, or dome pointing out of your belly. You may notice it all the way down your midline or more prominently in one specific area like your belly button.
The doming you see is your internal organs pushing toward the gap and against the thinned tissue between your six pack muscles. It sounds scary, but you and your baby are safe. Almost all women experience this ab separation, especially in the 2nd or 3rd trimester. While this is common, you should try to avoid coning in pregnancy.
The pressure inside your core makes diastasis recti worse which can lead to pelvic floor issues, back pain, and a mom pooch postpartum.
How to prevent coning during pregnancy?
During pregnancy it’s important to exercise and keep physically active to help you prepare for birth and motherhood and to help you get back to fitness sooner after birth. Doing the right movements when you’re pregnant is key. With a changing body, it might not be safe to do all the exercises you did pre-pregnancy – even if you can physically still do them, it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.
Pregnant women should avoid doing exercises for the rectus abdominis, also known as the six-pack muscle. Instead, the focus should be on the obliques and transverse abdominis. Training these muscles helps to strengthen the core so it can withhold the pressure from internal organs pushing out.
If you’re unsure which exercises to do and which ones not to do, follow my BUMP programme. It includes pregnancy safe workouts for each trimester. These exercises feature safe core moves and also full body workouts to help you keep your strength and fitness up during your pregnancy.
You can avoid coning by skipping adapting movements and exercises. For example, if you notice the tent-like shape when you are in a plank position, try switching to your knees or an inclined position to reduce the pressure. Swap sit-ups for bird dogs and ditch front planks for side planks.
You should also try breathing correctly to avoid coning in pregnancy. Breathing in a diaphragmatic pattern helps you manage the pressure in your abdomen during exercise. During the exercise you should breathe in deeply on the easy part. Then during the exertion, exhale and draw the belly button up, like you’re hugging the baby.
For example, in a squat, you’d inhale as you move to the squat position, then exhale and draw the belly button in as you stand.
Avoiding coning in pregnancy isn’t just in exercise. In your daily life you should think about how you can avoid this dome shape.
Stand in an upright position instead of leaning back
Roll over on your side when you move from lying down our sitting
Exhale on the lift when picking up kids or laundry to activate the core and pelvic floor
Is coning bad during pregnancy?
Coning in pregnancy is a sign that you need to modify your movements. If you train through the cone, you will increase your risk of a larger abdominal separation postpartum.
Coning isn’t necessarily painful, but it puts too much stress and pressure on the connective tissues. If this tissue (the linea alba) is stretched and damaged, it can make it harder to close the diastasis recti after having the baby, leading to a mom pooch.
What does coning look like in pregnancy?
Coning in pregnancy looks almost like a shark fin in the midline of your stomach, just above the belly button. See an example of coning in the images here. It can appear throughout the belly or in one area only like the belly button.
Coning and diastasis recti: The differences
Diastasis recti is a term for the increased distance between the rectus abdominis muscles after having a baby. Coning is a symptom of the separation.
If you train through coning in pregnancy it can make this separation worse postnatally. If you train through the coning post pregnancy, it can stop the healing process.
My pregnancy fitness program BUMP and my fitness program REBUILD are safe for those with coning in pregnancy and postpartum. I guide you through the right exercises, giving you pointers for how to avoid coning during pregnancy and after birth.
