4mo pp, achey & stiff... anybody else?

[Aufilia]

My son is 4 months old. Ever since he was born I have been so stiff and achey. My back aches, my ankles and feet are stiff, and my knees are stiff. When I sit down on the floor for a few minutes, I am stiff when I try to get up. When I get out of the rocker, I wobble. When I try to crouch to put him in his swing, I often feel like I'm going to fall over getting down or up. My feet hurt a lot. Seriously, I feel like I've suddenly become a little old woman.

I do spend hours a day nursing in the rocker, but I did the same with my daughter and was not so sore and stiff. I take a multivitamin and vitamin D (4000 IU as prescribed by my midwife) daily, and often take calcium or iron supplements. I joined a stroller exercise group 2 months ago and go to exercise when I can, but that hasn't seemed to help much. I saw a chiropractor for several weeks.

I didn't feel like this after my daughter was born; I don't even think I felt this stiff and achey while I was pregnant!

Does anybody else feel like this postpartum? Does anybody know what might help? I haven't seen my midwife because I'm not 100% sure this is postpartum-related...

[rzberrymom]

Originally Posted by Aufilia

My son is 4 months old. Ever since he was born I have been so stiff and achey. My back aches, my ankles and feet are stiff, and my knees are stiff. When I sit down on the floor for a few minutes, I am stiff when I try to get up. When I get out of the rocker, I wobble. When I try to crouch to put him in his swing, I often feel like I'm going to fall over getting down or up. My feet hurt a lot. Seriously, I feel like I've suddenly become a little old woman.

Geez, this describes me pretty much exactly!?? My DD is 3 1/2 months, and I've been feeling like an old woman all of a sudden too. The foot pain is the worst (and I didn't have any foot pain during pregnancy), but I'm incredibly achey and stiff too (and we have brand new fabulous mattresses!)

[phoebemommy]

I would recommend keep working on the nutrition and exercise, and consider things beyond chiropractic like cranial sacral therapy, accupuncture, etc. I got so run down after my son was born and had to just keep trying different things to figure out what was wrong and what worked to fix it.

[Kelly1101]

My knees were AWFUL. It was painful even bending them for a while. I have no idea why. I didn't do anything in particular, it just eventually went away, by the time I was 5-6 months pp or so.

[rzberrymom]

I happened to have an appointment with my doctor today, and I asked her about my postpartum achey-ness, stiffness and sore feet. She said that progesterone plummets after a birth and that it props up the thyroid. There was also something about adrenal glands being taxed postpartum, and that also having an effect on the thyroid. And she said a problem with the thyroid can cause that kind of stiffness and aches, so she did a blood test to check it. I'll let you know if I find out anything.

[Aufilia]

Interesting! I *think* my midwife checked my thyroid levels at my 6-weeks-postpartum appointment but I'd have to check. I'm glad I'm not the only one with the issue but I'm sorry nobody has any definitive answers...

[smpayne]

When my ds#1 was 9mo old, I broke my leg skiing (plus torn ligaments). The physical therapist told me that it takes a woman's body at least 18mos for the muscles & bones to return to pre-pregnancy states. It's not just the pelvic areas that are affected(everything relaxes for birth). Had I not been only 9mo pp, I probably would not have broken my leg or torn my ligaments (imo: probably wouldn't have had such a bad fall either).

Very likely, there are multiple factors that could be involved. Definitely have doctor run some blood test.