Lifting and breathing

Body: 

Hi ladies,
today I lifted my toddler and every time I do this, I'm trying to stay in posture and breathe into my relaxed belly. Today I wondered, wether it makes a difference, how I breathe. Is it better to breathe in or out while lifting?
Any advices?
Butterfly

Forum:

Butterfly, I'm not sure about this, and don't have my book here to consult. I don't think there is any special way you need to breathe when bending and lifting.....it is more about posture and body angle and maintaining lumbar curvature and holding things close to the body. But others may want to correct me on this. I was never one to overthink the whole breathing thing, because once I learned to relax the belly once and for all, the breathing took care of itself. But some women carry more tension there, and need to give extra thought to their breathing before they can truly relax the belly and get the posture right. - Surviving

I normally breath out, then bend to lift, then in the process of lifting, breathe in. Ergonomic practice however, advises to breathe out as you lift which is of course the exact opposite and which I find counter intuitive and suspect is wrong advice (but what do I know?). If we breath out before we lift (which I do instinctively) we have an abdomen held tight to the spine. This is fine if we do not have prolapse. If the prolapse is dropped then the breathing reinforces the prolapse in this instance and of course therein lies the dilemma.
Lifting toddler does get easier with time. Do what you can as to avoiding the prolapse dropping as you lift, with the advice here to bend at the hips and hold toddler close to your body, but as your muscles grow stronger, you will find the effect on your prolapse lessens. Don't forget, or ever give up hope that this will pass because with you being so young it will. We still insist you adopt WWposture because we do not wish it to return at peri menopause (that ghost of injury past) as it has done for many of us older ladies.

I thought about the breathing, because my doc told me to do kegels and to breathe out when doing physically demanding things like lifting my toddler. And after I found this forum I forgot about that advice. But I kept in mind, that breathing and the pelvic floor is connected in some way. And I realized, that I do it automatically like you described it, Fab. I breathe in while lifting. But I didn't know if that is good or bad. Now I know, I'm doing it right. Thanks.
Thank you, too for giving me hope, that it will be better someday. Since I'm working on posture, already have felt some changes. The bulge is less bulgy :-). So I'm going on with this for the rest of my life :-). Very grateful I found this forum and for your answers.
Butterfly