Post-birth recovery doesn't run to a timetable. It doesn't finish because someone signed you off, and it doesn't care how many weeks postpartum you are. So, we've partnered with Mère + Me for six weeks of postnatal Pilates, built around the mother rather than the baby.
The sessions offer gentle movement, led by a teacher who specialises in postnatal Pilates. Every mum taking part receives Lola&Lykke support wear for the days in between. The mums taking part will tell us honestly what helped, what didn't, and what recovery actually looks like once the six-week check is long behind them.
You go to your six-week check, and someone asks how you're feeling. For some mums, that’s the end of the formal check-in. You may leave the appointment with a body that is still recovering and plenty of questions.
And your recovery may not always be straightforward. Six weeks becomes six months becomes a year, and some mums are still avoiding certain movements, still not sure what's normal, still unsure of the best way forward.
For some mums, going back to exercise isn’t straightforward. The options may be a gym that isn’t designed around postnatal recovery, or a class where you're the only one who might need to stop and feed halfway through.
So Mère + Me Built the Thing That Was Missing
Mère + Me’s postnatal Pilates blocks run for six weeks, in a room full of other mums at a similar stage. Babies are welcome. You can stop when you need to.
It is not a bounce-back programme. There is no before and after. It's six weeks of paying attention to your own body again, in a room where you are the focus.
Farrah teaches the sessions. She specialises in postnatal Pilates and is a mum herself. She adapts her teaching to her students, which means you will move at your own pace and stop when you need to. The sessions take place at Body By Me Pilates, a dedicated Pilates studio in Cockfosters.
Photography: Mère + Me
Why We Partnered With Mère + Me
Here's the thing about postnatal recovery. An hour a week of exercise is wonderful, but it isn't the whole story. The other 167 hours are where you're carrying a car seat, standing at the kettle at 4 am, hunched over a feed or lifting a baby out of a cot.
When Mère + Me approached us about their classes, what mattered wasn’t simply putting our products into a Pilates class. We believe in supporting small, local mum communities, and we value Mère + Me’s honest, mother-first approach. There’s no pressure to bounce back. The focus is on giving mums practical support during recovery and the space to move at their own pace.
That’s why we’re the postpartum recovery partner for Mère + Me’s six-week Pilates course.
The Core Restore Postpartum Support Band
Our Core Restore Postpartum Support Band was developed in collaboration with Finnish maternity physiotherapists. It's designed to give adjustable compression around the abdomen, lower back and pelvis, with two independently adjustable straps so you can set your own level of support, and enough adjustment in the panels to keep using it as your body changes. It's suitable after a caesarean as well as a vaginal birth. It's latex-free and breathable enough to wear under clothes.
What it isn't is shapewear. It is not there to flatten you back into who you were before.
Whether it's right for you, and when to start wearing it, is worth a conversation with your midwife, GP or physiotherapist. We can tell you what it's designed to do. We can't tell you what your body needs.
The Postpartum Support Underwear
Our Postpartum Support Underwear is designed for everyday wear. It offers gentle compression and is designed to stay in place under clothes, so it can be worn comfortably throughout the day.
Every mum who attends the six-week Pilates block will receive the Core Restore Postpartum Support Band and the Postpartum Support Underwear two-pack. That’s over £120 of postpartum support products, included with the block.
The Bit That Lasts Longer Than Anyone Tells You
It’s something Mère + Me sees in these rooms often. Mums who are six months or a year postpartum, sometimes more, who still don't feel properly connected through their middle, and who have never had anyone explain why.
Abdominal separation after birth is common. Some mums arrive knowing exactly what theirs is and what they've been told about it. Plenty have never been assessed at all, and have simply been living with it.
Mère + Me don't assess or treat abdominal separation. If this is something you're dealing with, they recommend speaking to a women's health physiotherapist. What Mère + Me’s Pilates blocks do offer is six weeks of movement at your own pace, in a room where nobody is watching you, alongside whatever your own clinician has advised.
We're Finding Out Whether It Actually Helps
We want to understand how the support wear works for mums using it in everyday life, and what we can learn from their experience. Their honest feedback throughout the six weeks will help us understand what they found useful, what they didn't and where we could do better.
Once the block is complete, we'll share what we've learned in a follow-up article, because the only people who can tell you how postpartum support wear feels are the women wearing it.
Come as You Are
To attend Mère + Me’s Pilates blocks, you don't need to be fit or have done Pilates previously. You don't need to have your baby sleeping through, or a plan for what you want from the classes.
You need to be past your six-week sign-off, whether that was a fortnight ago or two years ago. Beyond that, the hour is yours to use at your own pace.
Some mums arrive and barely speak to each other in the first week. But by week three, they're swapping numbers in the car park. That's the part Mère + Me can't put in a class description, and it's part of the reason small, local mum communities like this matter.
The Barre and Mat Fusion block starts on 17 September at Hadley Wood. Six weeks, small group, babies welcome, and the Lola&Lykke recovery kit is included with every place.
You can find out more about Mère + Me’s events and upcoming postnatal Pilates blocks on their website. Once the block is complete, we'll share what we've learned from the mums taking part in a follow-up article.
