Sweet little babies! Adorable and tiny and curious, but notoriously not great at getting places on their own. Despite their small size, growing babies can become quite the load to constantly lift and carry around, so it’s important to make sure you keep yourself safe to avoid injury while you live life with your little one! Below are 3 easy tips to reduce strain through your spine and hips while lifting and holding your kiddo.
1. Breathe!
It may seem overly simple, but as a physical therapist, I spend a lot of my time cuing people to “exhale with exertion.” Pay attention next time you get up from the floor, or lift baby out of the carseat: if you notice that you do a big sigh at the end of the movement, you were holding your breath to get through it. Breathing out as you lift your little one can help to improve your ability to brace with your core muscles, which will give your spine a nice, supportive hug. Additionally, breathing out as you lift will improve your pressure management through your abdomen, which can help to reduce strain through the pelvic floor and limit incontinence or prolapse symptoms.
2. Lift with your legs
Rounding and twisting your spine to reach down for baby will put repeated strain on those joints and can lead to a lot of back pain for caregivers. Learning to hinge from your hips while maintaining a neutral spine can save you a lot of discomfort, and as an added benefit, it should give you a bit of a leg workout. Instead of repeatedly working your comparatively-smaller spinal muscles, make your much-bigger glutes and quads do more work!
Now, sometimes we have to get into less-than-ideal positions to lift or lower babies (lookin’ at you, carseats and cribs!), and that’s ok! Do your best to keep your spine neutral, and help yourself out where you can. Make sure baby’s mattress is at an appropriate height in the crib so you don’t need to do any extra bending and reaching, and if baby can pull to stand, let them! If back pain is something you’ve chronically struggled with, you may also want to consider a carseat that swivels to avoid those awkward car transfers.
3. Vary how you hold your baby
Humans are creatures of habit, and we often have a preferred side to put baby on. Constantly standing with your weight shifted heavily to one leg, plus the weight of a baby on that same hip, will put a lot of repeated strain through those joints in the spine, pelvis, and hips. It will likely feel very weird at first, but practice holding and carrying baby on your opposite side when you can to, quite literally, balance you out a bit more. You can also switch it up by holding baby in the center of your chest. Baby carriers can be great supports for this, while allowing the glorious luxury of having two free hands. Make sure to follow the wearing instructions to keep baby higher on your chest to avoid straining your low back. And with baby in the center, try not to let your hips drift forward, which can also create unnecessary strain through the spine. Think about breathing out as you try to “stack” your ribs over your pelvis for a more neutral spinal alignment.
When talking about physically managing a baby, a common theme for caregivers is good strength through the hips, legs, and core. If you are finding that you’re struggling with lifting and carrying your little one, or if you’re already dealing with fatigue, pain, or incontinence with these activities, reach out to your local physical therapist to help or call Action Potential directly at 484-841-6154.