Picking up toddler

I had my second emergency C-section 17 days ago. My toddler is almost 2 and doesn’t understand why I can’t pick up her up but can pick up the baby. It breaks my heart every time I have to tell her that I can’t pick her up. I’m lucky that my partner has till January off work so he can lift her but I just want to get back into our routine where I’m the one who puts her to bed, sees to her in the night etc. Those who have other children/toddlers when did you start picking them up again? Did you wait the recommended 6 weeks or did you go longer?
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4-5 weeks... Be very careful you can rupture your opening.... Don't do it too soon... I had my partner off until 5 weeks later also and it helped me out xx

Do not rush it. You being out 6 weeks is better than hurting yourself needing to be out longer. I know it’s hard my partner was telling me how neglected my 11 year old like I was receiving from major surgery and got preeclampsia after giving birth. I know it’s different from 11 and 2 but i literally barely left the bed and still have a hard time seeing her off to school in the morning . Don’t be hard on your self snuggle your 2yr old and the baby

I know this isn't exactly what you asked, but my midwife told me that after a few weeks the main danger of picking them up is that since your abdomen is weaker than usual your body will compensate with your back or other muscle groups and that can lead to you hurting your back etc. So to worry less about your incision opening, you can pick them up occasionally and with good form to protect the rest of your body from injury. ♥️

I start very carefully lifting my toddler 4 weeks PP.

I waited 6 weeks. I went through the same thing. I would sit on the couch and ask my toddler to sit on my lap. It was a good compromise while i healed

Ugh guys- I was so excited to find out I was pregnant again and it was quickly replaced with this guilt of a second c section and what it means for my 1.5 year old. I’m already grieving what that will be like

So ONLY my experience realizing that the vast majority has the standard time frame with very real concerns. My doctors and nurses were perfectly fine with me picking up my toddler. However, she is really small for her age and I’m not sure if that is why they were okay with it. She is 20Lbs. I also started walking very soon & was working out through out my pregnancy. The nurse said these words exactly “if it doesn’t hurt you it’s fine, pay attention to your body and allow yourself to heal but you can pick up your daughter. I started picking her up 3 days after. Again JUST me and my experience. My 2nd is now 6 weeks and I feel fine and normal currently.

I didn’t have the necessary support from my husband to not have to pick up my son so I started picking him up at around 2 weeks PP. He is almost 30lbs and I can say with confidence that is most certainly slowed down my healing time from 6 weeks to 12 weeks and needing pelvic floor therapy. I also worked out throughout my pregnancy and was up and walking very soon (as that’s a general recommendation to help recovery). Be careful with doing it even if it doesn’t hurt if you’re on pain medications because those pain medications only block pain receptors so that you DONT feel pain but that does not mean you’re not still doing damage. Let your partner and anyone else help you so you can recover quicker and not risk damaging your body long term. Don’t rush it.

I had a similar experience to @Myla, my toddler is very small for her age. Only 16lbs at 21 months. I was told it’d be fine to pick her up and carry her as long as I bent down with my knees and got her to hold onto my neck so I could use both hands to pull myself up. This is my second c-section, ive been picking her up and carrying her since 5 days pp. it’s now 8weeks pp and i have had no problems in my recovery

I’ve started cautiously lifting my almost 4yo up at 4wks pp

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