How to Minimize Repetitive Stress Injuries From Carrying a Baby

The early months as a baby grows can be hard on a parent’s muscles, because none of that “weight lifting” is guided by the strengthening — or the safety — of the parent.

'When one of my children was a baby — maybe the first one — I remember someone offering a cheerful piece of workout advice: You start by lifting this 8-pound-or-so weight, and then little by little, in infinitesimal daily increases, you’ll work up to lifting a 10-pound, 15-pound, 20-pound weight — and that’s parenthood for you! A terrific workout — you’ll both be in great shape by the time you have a 1-year-old.

But those early months as that baby grows and gains weight can be pretty hard on a parent’s muscles, because none of that “weight lifting” is actually guided by the strengthening — or the safety — of the parent. And mothers in the postpartum stage are especially vulnerable to injury, because hormonal changes in pregnancy have left the ligaments and joints looser.

Certainly, “repetitive stress” (like “terrific workout”) sounds like a metaphor for parenting and for family life in general, but it’s decidedly only a partial metaphor. Still you can very literally get injured, and physical therapists do warn that it’s important to be especially careful during those months of lifting, dressing, diapering, carrying and car-seating your ever-imperceptibly heavier bundle of joy.

A recent survival guide for the fourth trimester, that is, for the postpartum body after the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth, emphasized the importance of core strength. The postpartum body is different, and differently vulnerable, and it’s not just a matter of residual extra pregnancy weight. “You’re not the same as an overweight woman working out,” said Dr. Karen Sutton, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Stamford, Conn. “Your body is completely changed.”'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/13/well/how-to-minimize-repetitive-stress-injuries-from-carrying-a-baby.html?