Carrying around older children while pregnant

[camprunner]

I am barely pregnant (still need to confirm my very faint bfp). I have a child that is almost 5 but is under 35 lbs. She's our youngest right now and we still carry her around quite a bit. Is there a point due to pregnancy that I should stop? I was told several times when I was pregnant with her to stop carrying around her older sister who was two but they weren't doctors and she was only two so I ignored them even though she didn't weigh much less than the child I'm asking about now..

[MaerynPearl]

Unless you have a medical problem arise... no there's really no point in stopping carrying a child under 50lbs. (and above 50lbs its really just something I would talk to the doctor about making sure you do correctly... since carrying a child over 50lbs probably has something to do with them having a medical issue so stopping isn't really an option)

It may tire you out faster being pregnant... but is no more harmful than carrying your groceries or a box weighing the same.

[lillymonster]

I carry my 33 pound 3 year old a lot.

The only issue I hesitate is I had hemorrhoid surgery a few weeks ago and I really shouldn't be lifting anything like that, but I try to be careful.

I am 24 weeks, so far baby is kicking and fine

[mommy2maya]

I don't think there is any real reason short of complications, but you couldn't pay me enough to carry my almost five year old around short of her falling and getting hurt.

[lyterae]

I'm 17 weeks and still occasionally carrying my 45 lb 4 year old. Only when absolutely necessary though (fell asleep in the car,etc) , it simply isn't comfortable and quite frankly she's heavy.

[DanielleT]

I carry my 31lbs 2 year old around quite often and as long as your comfortable with no medical reason not too, i too say go ahead BUT listen to your body if it gets too much you might want to avoid it as much as possible

[MyFullHouse]

I carry my 3yo around all the time. He was about 35lbs a few months ago. I *don't* carry him on the stairs though. At 26wk, my center of gravity is shifted enough, tyvm.

I would not carry my 45lb child, but she's 7, so that's irrelevant.

[2goingon2]

I carry my 36 lb 3 year old on my right hip and my 26 lb 19 month old on my left hip...coming up the stairs. This isn't every morning as it just plain wears me out (25 weeks pregnant) but no problems so far. They both also get carried down to bed and lifted into the van.

You just need to make sure you are using proper lift and carry techniques.

[AZgirl2207]

I choose to carry my 2 1/2 year old (30 pounds) as little as possible. Partly because he doesn't hang on in the least and it's exhausting. Mostly, I'm trying to give him some freedom and responsibility (and I don't want to carry him AND a baby bucket in a few months). He knows to hold onto the side of the grocery cart in the parking lot, he can walk from the car into the house by himself, etc.

Additionally, my chiro can always tell when I've been carrying DS alot. She says that it throws my alignment way off, which in turn can cause a poor position in utero for Baby Sister.

[nia82]

There is no way around carrying DS (33lbish). It is necessary and for short periods, but frankly, if he is scared or needs comfort, he needs mama's arms. Unless I develop some sort of complication, I will not give up on carrying DS!

My family is already pestering me about not carrying him as it is sooooo dangerous...

[etsdtm99]

i carry, occasionally, my 27lb 2 yr old.. but my 4 yr old is 40+ lbs and i can not carry her.. until 30-something weeks i could lift her into a shopping cart but i can't even do that now without pulling a ligament or something .. its pretty obvious to me that she is too heavy.. so i think it will be obvious if your lifting too much

[fyrwmn]

i still wear 15mo old ds, 21 ish lbs, in a front carry in the mei tai when we go shopping. i'm just shy of 32 wks along. so far, it's still comfortable. i did try to do a back carry, but couldn't get him adjusted right. i do lift 4.5 yr old dd, 38lbs, into the shopping cart, but other than that i don't carry her...mainly because i'm usually carrying ds and also because she's just way too tall.

[Quinalla]

Unless you have a specific medical reason, you certainly can carry your child around if you feel up to it. Later in pregnancy, I might worry about balance on stairs and the like as my balance really is thrown off by the extra weight. Just lift with your legs if at all possible, squat to get them from the ground, but that is good advice in general for anyone

[NicksWife2004]

I carried both of my girls (as well as other heavy stuff) during this pregnancy and my last pregnancy. I never had any issues! I think as long as you're not at risk for PTL and lifting correctly you'll be fine.

[AFWife]

Don't they say that you can continue whatever activity you were doing before pregnancy? Don't take up weight lifting or anything...but if you're used to carrying your child I'd continue until my HCP told me otherwise!

[Stitches]

I still carry my 30 lbs toddler when I need to and I'm 32 weeks. The nice part about her being 2 now is that I've noticed since I got pregnant that her need to be carried has naturally decreased at the same time my ability to carry her has too. It helps to have them meet you half way, for instance if she gets up on the couch first it's less of a lift. I'm thinking my newborn is going to feel like a feather in comparison.

[MegBoz]

Originally Posted by 2goingon2

You just need to make sure you are using proper lift and carry techniques.

Exactly.
One of my MWs - a CNM, was very robotically going through the standard info at my "OB intake" apt (first apt for this pregnancy.) She said, "Don't lift anything over 25#"
& I actually laughed out loud at her.

I said, "My son's about 34# & I just wore him on my back for an hour hike in the woods this past Sunday. I do, let me think, 65# with bent-over barbell rows, and 75# for my bench presses, and I squat well over 100#...."

She just said, "You did all of that with your last pregnancy, right?"

Yup!

"Oh, well, I think it's fine."

Not sure why they would even HAVE that "don't lift anything over 25#" statement in there. The only guess I can venture is that for people who are totally unfit & not tuned into their bodies and not aware of proper lifting technique, they don't want them to hurt themselves. DH would call this an "LCD" - Lowest Common Denominator thing - i.e. tell everyone a rule so that the lowest common denominator in the population will be safe. (Instead of saying "Use common sense.")

Well, the truth is, exercising through your pregnancy is not only safe, but it's great for your health AND the health of the baby. & strength training (including lifting heavy stuff, like kids!) is just another form of exercise (THE BEST form in my certified-personal-trainer opinion! but I digress.)

I also agree with the advice on being cautious on stairs IF you have balance issues. But, again, to me that is common sense - NOT a hard and fast "rule." & I personally never had any balance issues whatsoever anyway - still rocking the 'half moon' pose when I taught my yoga classes at 36W.

I just think it's really important to remember, on the whole, that being pregnant isn't like being ill or handicapped in any way. Vigorous physical activity isn't necessarily incompatible with pregnancy.

Originally Posted by AFWife

Don't they say that you can continue whatever activity you were doing before pregnancy? Don't take up weight lifting or anything...but if you're used to carrying your child I'd continue until my HCP told me otherwise!

and if my HCP told me not to carry around my child, unless there was some specific issue with my pregnancy, I'd look for another HCP. (Ha, or I'd laugh at her, as I did with my MW.)

I've heard that often before - even among my fellow fitness instructors, "Don't do any exercise you didn't do before pregnancy." Honestly, I can't see how that is evidence-based advice in the least. As a personal trainer, I would set up a plan for a PG mama to ease into it gradually, be really cautious about listening to her body, but I wouldn't tell her, "Well, if you didn't lift weights before, we can't do it now." There's just no reason to restrict yourself like that.
Sure, it's not the best time to train to run marathons if you never did any distance running at all, but that's not to say you can't try running altogether if it's something you never did before.

Again, exercise in pregnancy is not only healthy, but extremely beneficial to mama & to baby too. There really are very few restrictions to that statement. Surprisingly few!

[camprunner]

Thanks so much for the replies. I'm sure I'll have to wean her off being carried as we get closer to having a new little one that needs to be carried but for now she's still "the baby" and so small and we enjoy having her close.

[marybethorama]

My first child weighed well over 35 lbs (at not even 2 yo) when I was pregnant with my second, and I carried him all through the pregnancy.

[saoirse2007]

I carried ds, 35...on my back or on my shoulders (belly too big for hip carry...lol) right until they day I gave birth at 41 wks...I carried him on my back and dd on my front after that

It is def what you are used to and comfortable with