Having pain while lifting baby
Having a new baby can be wonderful and glorious, but straight talk - it is DEMANDING! (they are pretty demanding too :)
You’re exhausted. Sleep-deprived. Healing. Bleeding. Nipples are cracked. And then you’re also taking care of this human, that for being so tiny and cute, still weighs a LOT! And you’re holding them for hours on end, sometimes day AND night!
There is absolutely a big transition that happens as a new parent where it takes your body time to adjust to the loads and demands of caring for and carrying your baby/babies. But what happens if you still stay sore after that initial adjustment period?
Here are 3 practical tips for you to incorporate - and remember - if general tips don’t work for you, seek professional help!
When lifting your baby out of the crib, hinge from your hips first. Hinge means bend.Stick your butt out and bend over pivoting around your hip joint. What about bending your spine? Well, it’s completely okay and normal to bend your back to pick up your baby. Unless you’re 6’ tall, it’s next to impossible to avoid bending your back anyway! But when you then go to lift baby up, try to use your HIPS (i.e., your butt) to stand up.
Another thing is to keep your wrists neutral. What does this mean? So imagine you have a really full cup of coffee (or tea, or whatever delicious beverage you love, including water). You don’t want to spill a drop. Letting your wrists go floppy would mean you spill. So you keep your wrists NEUTRAL and hold the cup in a way that it doesn’t spill. When you go to reach your baby, practice the SAME thing! Don’t grab baby with super floppy wrists. Try to keep them closer to neutral to prevent your wrist and thumb tendons from being overstretched while you lift. If you’re super strong you can get away doing it however you want, but if you’re already tweaking your wrists from all the baby-caring, try keeping those wrists neutral.
Unclench your butt, anus, pelvic floor. Relax your abs. I know this all sounds counter-intuitive, but hear me out. What do we do when we’re stressed with baby’s cries? CLENCH. What do we do when we’re exhausted and trying to make it through the day? CLENCH. Toddler meltdown? CLENCH. Oops we peed a little when we weren’t supposed to? CLENCH. Our pelvic floor seems “loose" and “weak”? CLENCH! So all this subconscious clenching due to stress, fatigue, fear or just a bad habit, can really result in pain and discomfort across our lower backs and hips.
And of course, getting strong is always going to be one of the best solutions rather than always having to worry about the perfect technique or perfect breath strategy. When your muscles are stronger and your joints are more mobile, you can tolerate more. Simple!
Here are 3 amazing exercises to practice so it’s easier for you to lift baby out of the crib or floor!
Hip hinges or deadlifts (e.g. Romanian deadlifts)
Cat-cows
Wrist curls
Hop over on my Instagram account and you’ll see tons of video demos of these exercises! And please - if you found this helpful or if you have any questions - let me know! I’ll keep up my Blog anyway, because it’s fun to write, but it’s always MUCH nicer to know that it’s being read! :)
