so heres our problem...

[sosurreal09]

DD loves to be worn which is great and despite my back pain which i thought was normal and i had my whole life i wore her whenever she wanted...

now we have it down to about two 30 min session before naps during the day but after she wakes from her second nap she wants to be worn for 2.5+ hours until its bath time, massage, and bed...

i went to the neurologist recently and apparently all of the nerves along the thoracic portion of my spine are dead and have deteriated the surrounding muscles from trauma (aka my abusive childhood) and im only 22 y/o! so i have to go to extensive rehab and get myself better or i could be paralyzed in the future...so babywearing is suppose to be "out" KWIM? i LOVE to wear her and it breaks my heart that we have to deal with all this garbage right now but i have no choice. WWYD? i need tips please!

[Hobie]

What carrier are you using? Bjorn type carriers are know for causing lots of back pain (it sure did for me!). How old is your baby? Have you used a woven wrap? Using a propperly fitted baby carrier is actually much better on your body than carring your baby in your arms.

[K-Mom3]

I have dealt with the back problems and baby wearing dilemma. Although, I don't have a threat of paralysis, I don't think! But I do have scoliosis and I did have so much pain that I could hardly walk at the end of the day sometimes. I had to take pain killers every day. My ds was a high need baby and even if I didn't wear him, he really needed to be held a lot. I think that it was easier on my back if I could change his position a lot so that the weight wasn't always going to the same place. I usually used a ring sling so that I could move from hip to hip to middle as we needed.

I agree, a baby in arms is very difficult on the back too--the problem doesn't come from the carrier. What does the doctor say about just carrying a baby? Surely nobody would recommend that a mother never carry her baby!

If that were MY health problem, I would really try to limit the amount of time. Your child needs a healthy mother! Maybe the two 30 minute sessions and work on something else for the difficult evening. Can daddy wear the baby for some of the evening? Or you could rotate from floor play to reading books on the couch to sitting in the high chair while you do dishes, etc.

[sosurreal09]

hi! for some reason it didnt show any replies...techinal error i guess. thanks for the advice!

i only wear wraps. the ring sling KILLS ME and i would never use those baby carriers they sell!

i use a moby and a few i made. i have a couple of woven ones as well. it seems the woven actually hurt my back more..idk why.

essentially my Dr. said i cant possible take care of her by myself....im a single mom with 2 family memebers none willing to help and i wouldnt even trust them with my baby ever...so idk i have still just been wearing her. holding her in my arms definately hurts alot more than using the wrap. i think they are scared that all of my therapy will be undone by carrying the baby all day period. i dont see how i have a choice though. my daughter is very high needs and she has reflux and like a million intolerances so the poor thing has a belly ache like all of the time and shes very clingy. i think im just going to keep wearing her. i have been trying to make the evenings less time but shes not going for it. even if im sitting on the couch with her cuddling or playing with her or w/e she will not have it. she just wants to be worn so badly and how can i really deny her that? i dont even know what to do