please help, my back is in so much pain

[MoonMum]

I cannot sleep anymore at night because my back hurts so bad. i am 3 months postpartum. the pain is in the middle of my back, the ribs on both sides.Today I tried a different matrass, no improvement. Every nightly diaper change (about 6 times) becomes a major undertaking because moving is so painful. When I am up it still hurts, even deep breathing hurts, but not as bad as when i am lying down. has anyone experienced something like this?

[Marnica]

Have you gone to a chiropractor? If not I would go ASAP!

[Violet2]

A massage therapist too! The problem with early motherhood is it is nowhere near ergonomic so you have your original issue and then are exacerbating it with all the nursing baby holding/wearing etc...

Find a position that is pain free for you and use it as often as possible--seriously, hours a day is great. Pain free means you've broken the pain signal and are giving everything a chance to let go of the pain.

I would also add a hot pack and then tag team Ibuprofen and Tylenol---take 1, wait and hour or 2 and take the other, repeat as needed.

If it helps, here's a massage therapist's thoughts on back pain.

As for bfing, look into the my brestfriend pillow over the boppy as it is more ergonomic and less stressful on your body.

I hope you feel better! Back pain sucks!

V

[MoonMum]

Great ideas. No money for the chiropractor or massage though. Maybe a new matrass would be better as there is hardly a position which is not painful when I LAY down. I am using pillows to breastfeed. but it is cumbersome and yes, I sit C-curved sometimes. Most of the time my LO nurses in the babycarrier upright. The problem is that he actually mostly nurses at night because his teeth coming in during the day bother him. So hard for me as it's hard to lay down for a long time... but he likes to nurse so much lying next to me in my arm at night.
I was thinking about pain meds but read too much controversy about it to be really cpomfy with it... I read that one mom said that a baby died because of the codeine in the tylenol his bf mother took... she says codeine is in all #'s of tylenol, not only #3. Then i read bad things about advil, some moms say it's a nono during bf...

[SandyMom]

You've had some good suggestions. A nursing pillow really helped me PP, as well as being conscious of the way I carried my babes. If you use a sling remember to switch shoulders often etc.
I never felt comfortable using painkillers while bf-ing. There are some natural ways to treat back pain.
I hope you find some relief soon - it's no fun being in pain and not getting enough sleep!

[Violet2]

Massage therapy schools usually have inexpensive student massages. Some massage therapists will accept barter too.

And I was talking about plain old Tylenol, not anything with narcotics like Codeine!

Hot packs will help with the pain immensely. We use them all the time here for our necks and backs.

V

[MoonMum]

Thank you all. Great ideas. I got a realization from the link to the natural ways to treat back pain. Homeopathy! I wasn't thinking that way, but now I think that it might also be aggravated by some suppressed emotions which now subconsciously surface as we will live with a visitor soon and I have some fears about that. So I hope to try Natrum muriaticum soon.

[kjbrown92]

If you're having actual back spasms, heat will aggravate it. Ice is the way to go in that case.

Regular OTC tylenol does not have codeine in it.

I have back problems, and the doctors said never to nurse laying down. It twists your back, which sounds like the pain you're describing. I sat in a good rocking chair with a boppy at night (and he had allergies, so I was sometimes up 10-12 times a night). That stopped my back spasms.

[ASusan]

Yeah, nursing lying down is all I did for 1.5 years - and it probably didn't help my back one bit - although it was great for sleep.

Put a pillow between your knees while you sleep (on your side).

Get a back brace - mine was $50 and worth every penny. I wear it only while I am awake. It wraps tightly around my midsection and helps me hold my back in position, because my core/abdominal muscles are SHOT. If I had started this at a few months post-partum, I may not be in the position I am in
now.

Make sure your carrier isn't aggrevating your back. I have an Ergo, and it, too, was worth every penny. Not sure it wasn't aggrevating my back somewhat, though.

I wear an amber bracelet, originally purchased as a teething bracelet. It helps so much, that when I remove it for a shower and forget to put it back on, my back hurts within 18-24 hours.

Rolfing also helped me, but that's not for the budget conscious. I did think it was better than massage, however.

Take/eat omega-3, as it is anti-inflamatory.

Do pilates or other exercises for your core strength. I thought since I lost my baby belly/weight easily, I had nothing to worry about. I was wrong.

[MoonMum]

oops, I just took a warm bath with the LO... it helps temporarily but the pain comes back. Anyhow, the warm bath was good for nursing. I'll have to try the cold packs too. I do have back spasms and the pain is in the middle section and the ribs. I could imagine it could come from the lying down nursing as it hurts most when lying down. Weird, we just started lying down nursing 2 months ago... to bad, i really love it and LO does too. Maybe we have to reconsider. Or would a back brace worn at night prevent the twisting of the spine? Back brace sounds interesting in any case.
I wear a amber nursing necklace since a couple of days...no relief yet, maybe it's too small. Good idea though. My LO wears a teething necklace, he has a hard time teething.
I tried mother-baby pilates but can hardly do any of the exercises, too much pain in the back! (Although I am convinced it would help my back if I could get my abdominal muscels in shape...
pillow between legs sounds like a good idea.. used to do that during pregnancy.
My carrier is a babyhawk although I carry the LO also on my arms through the house.
Rocking chair at night sounds sweet.
Thanks for all the input!