Carrying baby car seats could injure new mums, experts warn

By Amy Gladwell BBC News

Who saw the recent article about carrying car seats and how potentially they can cause problems for post natal mums?

Yes I agree that they are heavy and awkward to carry  but please don’t let this article stop you from your daily activities of going out and about with your baby.  It is unrealistic to expect mums not lift or carry, we spend most of our days doing just those activities.   I think the article suggests that the car seat was the cause of the mum’s prolapse.  If we have a look at all the research about 50% of mums who have a vaginal delivery will have a degree of prolapse.  For the majority however, they are totally unaware and do not have any symptoms at all.  For some the symptoms may change depending on their activities or time of the day.

What we need to take from this article is the importance of preparing for birth and our post natal period.  Ensuring that we are strengthening correctly and lifting correctly. How we lift is so important, making sure we are using our breathe and engaging our pelvic floor muscle as we lift is important. Bracing and holding our breathe can cause increased pressure down through our pelvic floor.

If you are pregnant or have recently had a baby I would really recommend seeing a womens health physiotherapist who can advise you on lifting because you are going to be doing a lot of it for quite a few years.  I know that I shouldn’t but I still lift my 7 year old, but I do it correctly and know that it is not putting any pressure through my pelvic floor.