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granolamom
July 31, 2008 - 6:43pm
Permalink
nursing and posture
personally, I have been unable to sit in WW posture in a glider. I don't remember how old your baby is? when my little guy was an infant I'd try to lie down to nurse. but with other little ones afoot, that's probably not a viable option most of the time.
second best, I've found, was to sit cross legged against a wall and nurse that way.
but really, its ok to get comfy (ie, bad posture) while nursing. if you are in good posture the rest of the time, it won't ruin anything. enjoy the nursing, is what I say!
with 3 under 6, its no surprise you ache to sit down! sit when you can, but try to stay out of the glider and off the sofa. sitting on the floor is good, and I also found that crawling around on hands and knees feels good on the low back. that's how I pick up the toys these days.
once you gain some flexibility/strength, it will be easier and will come more naturally.
louiseds
July 31, 2008 - 9:41pm
Permalink
Sitting
Hi Katygal
Gmom has given you very sound advice. You really do need to be comfy when nursing, so I would suggest another thing you could do is put a small pillow in the lumbar curve in the glider. When baby is very young your body is pretty loose, and I would think your body needs as much support as it can get. Nursing Moms spend a lot of time sitting, if you can't lie down. I used to find I was most comfy sitting in a quite vertical, high-back lounge chair with a couple of squashy cushions in my lumbar region. It just felt better, as I had lower back pain post partum with all my babies. The other thing you could try for variety is sitting on an ottoman/footstool/low chair edge. Also a big pillow under baby on your lap will lift baby up so you can get him/her at nipple height so s/he can get attached properly, facing the breast directly.
Another thing for fighting back pain was the discovery that I could change nappies sitting at the change table for the first few months. I had one of those old-fashioned folding change tables sitting permanently in the family room. I would sit on a dining chair with my legs straddling the X of the table, with baby held close, so I could get close in and maintain good posture, then lower baby down onto the table. When This reduced my postpartum lower back pain considerably after all three births.
One of the hard things about babies is that we spend a lot of time in this hunched-over, protecting, nurturing, upper body posture. The muscles in the shoulder/chest area can get very tight. It is good a few times a day to reverse that. Do lots of walking and wing-flapping with your arms, even in a confined space. Lie backwards over an exercise ball and relax there for 20 seconds (OH YEAH, SURE!!), put hands on the architraves of a door frame with your feet not quite in the doorway and stretch your body forwards into the doorway. This will really open up the shoulders. Do this with hands high as you can, then low as you can. Hang a horizontal bar from a tree or whatever you have, and hang freely by both hands for as long as is comfortable, bending your knees so the weight of your body is on your hands. This is a great upper spine stretcher. There are other exercises you can do for this too.
The back pain you are having may be just your pelvis and lower spine being a bit unstable still (how old is baby?) but if your posture has been slouchy for a long time it will take some adjustment, maybe a few days, weeks, or longer. Just do it bit by bit, longer each day, and listen to what your body is telling you. The ballet workout in Saving the Wholewoman, edition 2 will help your muscles to adjust and get stronger and more stable.
BTW, the lower abs always need to be relaxed, except if you are bracing them to lift or carry something. It is a matter of allowing your pelvic organs some space to rest in for as much time as you can allow them to. If your lower abs are contracted, that space will disappear and your organs will shift back and down.
Good luck.
Louise