Carrying baby on your hip

Submitted by louiseds on November 10, 2010 - 8:59pm
Body: 

OK, here's another one to ponder.

Is carrying your baby or toddler on your hip OK for women with POP? I would think occasionally would be fine, both sides alternately would be OK if in WW posture, but habitually on one side would not be good for any mother.

But who carries a baby on their hip in WW posture? Is it possible? Does it produce or worsen symptoms? I cannot find out. I don't have a baby handy.

Hip carrying is so easy, and so widespread. Is it wise to look at this critically, or is it just too stupid to ponder the potentially negative effects of it?

Louise

fab

November 11, 2010 - 12:22am

Dear Louise

I carried my babies/toddlers on my hip. I never had much strength in my arms and the babies were heavy boned. I remember a little old lady waving her finger at me one day (she was a stranger to me). She warned me it would weaken my hips. I would stand on my right leg and push the right hip out sideways to provide a nice saddle for the children. If the baby unsettled I would rock. I had developed POP with the very first birth. 38 years down the track I broke my right hip in a very simple fall. I do not have osteoporosis. It reminded me of the old lady's prophesy. I guess I was now as old as she had been then.

As to whether WW posture would make a difference, I doubt I would have been able to provide that saddle in WW and the toddlers weight would need to have been taken largely on my arms which I could not do.

I think it is a lovely subject to bring up. It reminds me of the physical closeness of mum and bub standing there together as we chatted to the neighbors.

bad_mirror

November 11, 2010 - 12:35am

Hmmm ... Well I carry my son on my hip quite often without any effect on my POP. I believe I am in ww stance as this is just how I carry myself now. I don't thrust my hips forward or sideways in order to support him, just pull up tall and hold him close. Look at some of the "native" mom pictures posted last month -- toddler on hips and baby on back -- seems quite natural to me. Womens hips seem well designed to support birthing as well as to support toting tots.

clavicula

November 11, 2010 - 1:03am

I am a back carrier, but used the hip carry many times without affecting my POP. :)
Liv

louiseds

November 11, 2010 - 5:11am

I shall have to magic up a baby from somewhere and try it. (Fetches 11kg box of shopping that I dismantled previously into three loads to bring in from the car).

Fab, I love your desceription of thrusting your right hip out and making a little saddle for the baby. If I hold his pelvis in close to mine it would be a little like making a fork in a tree with the branches (my torso and the baby) balancing each other on both sides.

If I start off with my feet planted standing-width apart and hoik the shopping onto my right hip, my shoulders stay parallel to my feet but my left leg bends. My right hip moves over the top of my right leg and my left hip moves left, down and and back. This leaves my shoulders adn feet parallel, but my hips out of parallel to my shoulders and my feet. The bottom of my torso twists slightly to accommodate the difference in angle between hips and shoulders, but the important thing is that my chest moves forward and reinforces my lumbar curve. My weight is evenly spread over the whole foot. Our pelvis is designed to do this standing on one leg thing with the angle between shoulders and hips changing. We do it when we walk, alternately putting weight on the right then the left leg.

If the baby is further around to the front I have to move my weight onto my right heel and tuck my butt to bring the baby's weight back, over my right leg. I get uneven pull low on my abdomen on the right (obliques?) and vulva pressure. Otherwise I have to put my left arm out the back to counterbalance the baby, which gets rid of the vulval pressure but increases the muscle pull on the upper left abdomen. It is not very comfortable.

Yes, I do feel warm and fuzzy bonding with my shopping.

I think it is a sound carry, and you can check that the weight is evenly spread over your right foot and there is no vulva pressure.

Vulva pressure is the ultimate barometer of whether something is OK or not.

alemama

November 11, 2010 - 6:59am

I don't like a hip carry. And neither does my back. I either use two arms and put the baby in front of me or slide the baby around to my back. I put a bigger baby on my shoulders.
For me the hip carry is for when I am doing too many things at once. It reminds me to slow down, notice what I am doing, and make a change.
Also, I put my baby down frequently or in a pack or wrap.
If it's a situation that requires a hip carry I just do it as best I can.

granolamom

November 11, 2010 - 12:21pm

I do loads of hipcarrying. this little one of mine doesn't really care for the wrap or meitai, she will briefly tolerate a sling if its in hip carry position, but even so she tries to climb over and out of it. she likes hip carry, she likes to be moving around (read: climbing up my body like a tree) as much as possible, been this way from very early on.
no vulvar pressure, does not seem to be aggravating my POP. and I hold her this way very very often. agree with alemama, usually when I am multitasking. evenings are pretty hectic here, not really possible to slow down much.

octaviel

November 13, 2010 - 3:53pm

My 18-month old granddaughter lives with us half the week. I often find I have to carry her on my hip as she loves her Grandma and always wants to be near. I do find it affects my POP and try to keep it as short as possible, or squat on the floor/sit on my kitchen stool instead. My own children were immensely heavy babies/toddlers (21lb at six months) and I'm certain this was an early contribution to matters down below.

I can't get into posture with my granddaughter on my hip at all. If I'm in posture, there's no hip for her to sit on!

new_mamma

November 16, 2010 - 11:44am

I hip carry all the time now and I find it doesn't bother me. I used to use the moby wrap but now that my baby is so big (16 lb. 14 oz.) it pulls my uterus so low I think it'll fall out. The wrap is a no no which makes me sad because we used it all the time and my son loved it!

rectocele

March 20, 2014 - 2:31pm

Found a few posts on the subject of carrying a baby but no real positive answer. Just got my Saving the Whole Woman book and read through it but did not see anything about good POP way to carry a baby. Did I miss it?

Surviving60

March 20, 2014 - 5:06pm

Once you master the posture principles, you can adapt virtually anything to be prolapse-friendly. The best way to carry a baby is close to your chest. If you then stay in excellent WW posture, the extra weight-loading from above actually helps keep the vagina a closed, airless space, protected from the organs squishing into it. It's all about the posture. Learn that, make it a habit, and you have the key to all of this. - Surviving