MUSICIAN Izzy Judd has opened up about the physical toll of having children – and called for better support for new mums.
The 39-year-old violinist revealed her pelvic floor was “not in the best place that it could be” after having three children with McFly drummer husband Harry.
Izzy Judd (pictured) has opened up about the physical toll of having children Credit: Izzy Judd
The problem means she can no longer use tampons and has had to see a specialist women’s health physiotherapist for treatment and support.
Izzy raised concerns most women “just don’t know enough” about pelvic floor health after birth, because of a lack of information and the taboos around the subject.
“I think we underestimate what our bodies have actually been through,” she said on an episode of the Mother Bodies postnatal health podcast, which is out today.
She also revealed she experienced a host of physical symptoms after having her children Lola, seven, Kit, five, and Lockie, 18 months.
“In many ways for me that it was harder than the actual birth, those early weeks that followed,” she said.
When she first became a mum, she was surprised to have heavy sweating and bleeding for weeks afterwards – symptoms which are little-known but common after birth.
Describing how she found it hard to leave her house in the early weeks, she added: “I was always sweating. My body temperature was all over the place and obviously you are still bleeding so you’re uncomfortable and sore… In the immediate aftermath, I think I wasn’t prepared for the length of time that you bleed – and I found that a little bit triggering having gone through a miscarriage.”
Having struggled with breastfeeding all three children, when establishing feeding with her youngest son Lockie in 2021 she also endured recurrent mastitis – breast tissue inflammation often caused by infection. “Mastitis is just horrendous,” she added.
The former member of electric string quartet Escala, who rose to fame on Britain’s Got Talent in 2008, explained she was also still experiencing longer-term postnatal symptoms.
She told the podcast: “I was fortunate that I physically was pretty okay after each birth – that was something I am grateful for – however, my pelvic floor is not in the best place that it could be after three children.
“There are definitely things about that which you just don’t know enough about. And we’re not looked after enough with our pelvic floor health.”
The pelvic floor is the layer of muscles and ligaments inside the pelvis which hold pelvic organs – the bladder, uterus and bowel – in place.
It can be damaged during pregnancy and childbirth or by conditions like a chronic cough or obesity, leading to symptoms such as pain, discomfort or incontinence.
Izzy said: “I’m not rushing for the loo or anything like that – I just can’t wear tampons. So that was what took me to a woman’s health physio to try to strengthen my pelvic floor.”
She added she had only got support after she sought out a specialist women’s health physio herself, pointing out that there are no standard checks for women’s pelvic floor health in the UK.
In some other countries, like France, mothers are routinely assessed and helped to rehabilitate after birth.
She called for British women to be visited by health professionals and offered more support in the early days after birth.
“[After hospital], you do suddenly feel a bit left,” she said. “Often now we don’t live close to family. We don’t have parents, aunts and brothers and sisters close by – we live very differently now. It’s not that same sort of community.
“So I just think we could do with more immediate support after baby is born, just to check our own wellbeing as well as babies’.”