Benefits of Mindful Movement while Caring For Baby
You've had a baby, your body is recovering and sore, you're sleep deprived, you're trying to figure out feeding...
So what now?
The best way to take care of your baby is to take care of yourself.
What do I mean by this?
After birth we are recovering from hormone changes, weakened muscles, possible birth injury, cesarean restrictions and much more. Your recovery is highly influenced by many factors, such as daily habits, posture and movement patterns during regular activity.
While you are healing you're asking your body to work in a weakened state, which can cause altered posture, body mechanics and movement patterns. These alterations can cause soreness, pain, and long term changes to the soft tissue and joints, especially in your pelvis and spine.
Being more mindful of how you are moving and holding yourself while healing from birth will aid in your recovery and help you take care of baby.
I've created a list for you to better understand the importance of being aware while taking care of baby.
BENEFITS OF GOOD BODY MECHANICS WITH BABY
You can prevent undue muscle soreness
You can prevent back (upper, mid and lower) and pelvic pain
You sleep better
Your muscles and soft tissue are less strained
Your joints move in proper position and with more ease
You put less pressure into the pelvis preventing pelvic floor dysfunction...like peeing your pants and prolapse!
You provide better nutrition to your muscles, soft tissue and joints for healing
You set yourself up for life long positive pelvic and spine health
You allow your muscles to work when they are meant to and rest when they are meant to
You are more mindful of your body
You can safely get back to the activities you love
You improve your nutritious movement (coined by Katy Bowen)
You reduce your risk of post partum depression
You reduce your risk of spine or pelvic injury
YOU JUST FEEL BETTER!!!
So there you have it, a list of benefits to paying attention to your posture and how you move your body while taking care of baby. I'm sure there are so many more benefits, so if you think of more let me know!!!
It is so important to start early to establish good movement habits rather than needing to change bad ones that are already causing pain and dysfunction.
Check out this video for a quick tip on lifting baby!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwsFaVPH8w8
All of us can use a little help, so reach out, as for it. After birth it's hard for many of us to feel what our bodies are doing, our body awareness is reduced, our body may not be responding the way we anticipate or we're just too tired. So having another person who is trained in postnatal body mechanics watch your movement patterns and posture can be a game changer!