You’ve recently given birth to a healthy, beautiful baby. Everyone is showering you and your husband with congratulations, flooding the new home with charming baby gifts, and giving you lots of advice.

But when is someone going to tell you how to make your post pregnancy tummy go away? Luckily, there are several things you can do - starting as early as a day or two after giving birth.

1. Buy an abdominal support wrap like the Belly Bandit. This will help you keep everything "together," so to speak, and will give you the support your abs need, especially after a C-section.

You see, with a C-section, they have to separate the two vertical muscle bands in your abdomen to get the baby out - and many times, it stretches them for good. But with immediate help, you can get back in shape.

2. Start stretching as soon as you feel comfortable enough to do so. You need to keep your body limber, so when you are able to exercise it won’t come as a shock to your system. It’s not necessary to get crazy with the stretching. Just 15 minutes per day is fine, and take it nice and slow.

3. About six to eight weeks after you give birth, you should be able to start exercising. But I would advise you check with your doctor to make sure.

This is not going to be your usual work out. While you might be in a rush to get back in tiptop shape, what your workout is most likely to resemble is closer to physical rehabilitation than a hard abs boot camp.

So take it easy.

4. A good way to get back into the exercise groove is to check for mom-and-baby classes at your local gym or yoga center. And if you need a little time away from the baby, yoga in particular has specialized post-partum classes that are designed with your body’s changes in mind.

5. If you prefer to work out at home, when you can choose the time around your new baby’s schedule, there are plenty of post-partum exercise videos available for purchase online, and even new moms have posted their own videos on YouTube.

6. Remember, it’s not all about your abs - it’s important to lose your baby weight to keep in optimum health and feeling great. So, it’s stroller time. Take the baby for a nice long walk every day, and make sure to keep a brisk pace - get your heart pumping for at least 30 minutes per session.

Your body will bounce back after giving birth, but it needs a lot of help from you to get back to your pre-pregnancy shape and size. Your abdominal muscles have been through a lot. They are going to need special care and attention in order to rebuild them to pre-pregnancy levels.