Over the past few months, I've started having neck, shoulder and back pain. It's not constant, it's more of an on and off kinda deal, but it sure gets in the way. I don't need to see the doctor to know the cause: a 25+ pound human that likes to be picked up, carried, worn on my back and breastfed. Josias actually isn't very clingy, unless he's sick, but he is a toddler and does need to be picked up and held frequently. Sometimes it's not for his comfort, but to prevent mayhem from ensuing.
My husband suffers from chronic shoulder pain, so once I started feeling poorly, I was terrified that it was the same thing. Is shoulder pain contagious? I was so sure that my posterior parts were doomed that initially I didn't even attempt yoga as a way to deal with it. After a few days, though, I decided to give it a try.
My first ailment was my upper back and shoulders. I tried several poses, including cat-cow, cobra pose and my favorite standing poses. That felt pretty good, but I wasn't out of the woods yet. Then it came to me. Dolphin pose! It worked like a charm. After about three days of incorporating the above-mentioned poses into my practice, I was good as new. Or, as a good as an almost-forty, mother of a toddler, can reasonably expect to be.
This week a new ache arrived. Neck pain. In addition to the mama duties that brought on the shoulder and back problems, I think sitting at a computer for endless hours a day contributed to the latest discomfort. Fortunately I have a private office as well as yoga-friendly (or at least tolerant) office mates, so I could practice a few poses. But, neither my body nor my intuition was giving me clues as to how to deal with this one, so I consulted the Yoga Journal website, where you are able to find poses that will help with specific problems - both physical and emotional. In addition to the usual suspects, it suggested puppy pose for neck pain. I would have tried this pose for its cute name alone, but the fact that it promised relief from neck pain had me sold. After practicing the poses recommended by Yoga Journal, I was still feeling a bit stiff, but went back to work.
It wasn't until I arrived home a few hours later that I realized the pain was totally gone! Yoga to the rescue once again! Now, if I could only get my husband into puppy pose, maybe he would feel better.
Showing posts with label breastfeeding. Show all posts
Showing posts with label breastfeeding. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
How I became a bed sharing mama
When I was newly pregnant, I began making lists. List making is a favorite personal past time. The first list was Needed Baby Items. To begin with, it was a short list: crib and stroller. I knew very little about what babies needed, but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that a crib and a stroller were essential.
So, I went about getting a crib. I researched safety ratings and recalls; I considered colors and styles. Then, I haunted the cribs section on Craigslist and found the perfect crib at the perfect price. Great! I might not be too bad at this parenting thing!
I tell this story to underscore my complete lack of knowledge regarding co-sleeping in general, and bed sharing, specifically. To my way of thinking, a baby slept in a crib in another room. End of story.
My view began to change as I did some cursory information gathering on breastfeeding. I learned that a sidecar bassinet would assist the breastfeeding relationship, in the beginning, and it seemed like a pretty sensible idea. So, again, my search began and I found a very nice Arm's Reach Co-sleeper at the consignment shop.
(Unfortunately, the bassinet didn't help the first couple months, as much as I thought it would. Even though the baby was sleeping within arm's reach, I still got up every two hours to change his diaper and breastfeed him in a chair!)
As my son got bigger and neared the age where he would outgrow the bassinet, I started experiencing anxiety about moving him to the crib in the other room. I didn't think there was anything I could do about, I just thought it was one of those things where I would have to push through the fear. I mentioned it to a few people and they confirmed my thoughts: it might not feel so good at first, but ya gotta do it. It's just the way things are done.
Luckily, in pregnancy yoga class, I had been introduced to a place called The Breastfeeding Center, and I had attended a few of its support groups for new breastfeeding moms. As the day I would need to move my baby to the crib loomed and it weighed heavily upon my mind, I heard at the support group about co-sleeping. I began to wonder, was this something I could do?
Finally, I had to do something. I started to consider bed sharing. I read books, I looked at websites, I asked other people. When I knew what I wanted to do, I asked my husband.
My husband and I often don't see eye to eye on parenting decisions. He is much more mainstream than me. I expected his resistance and had my retorts at the ready.
To my surprise, he had no objections whatsoever and thought it was normal. As it turns out, in his culture, nearly all babies sleep with their parents. That's when I learned that most people in the WORLD share this belief and practice. How did I not know this?
Well, I know it now. Bed sharing is not only essential to my breastfeeding relationship with my son, but as a mama who works full time outside the home, I would be bereft if I did not have those precious 8 hours to connect, body and soul, with my sweet baby.
That's how I became a bed sharing mama. I never could have imagined bed sharing as part of my parenting, and yet it is essential. I wonder how others came to their decisions about sleeping and parenting?
So, I went about getting a crib. I researched safety ratings and recalls; I considered colors and styles. Then, I haunted the cribs section on Craigslist and found the perfect crib at the perfect price. Great! I might not be too bad at this parenting thing!
I tell this story to underscore my complete lack of knowledge regarding co-sleeping in general, and bed sharing, specifically. To my way of thinking, a baby slept in a crib in another room. End of story.
My view began to change as I did some cursory information gathering on breastfeeding. I learned that a sidecar bassinet would assist the breastfeeding relationship, in the beginning, and it seemed like a pretty sensible idea. So, again, my search began and I found a very nice Arm's Reach Co-sleeper at the consignment shop.
(Unfortunately, the bassinet didn't help the first couple months, as much as I thought it would. Even though the baby was sleeping within arm's reach, I still got up every two hours to change his diaper and breastfeed him in a chair!)
As my son got bigger and neared the age where he would outgrow the bassinet, I started experiencing anxiety about moving him to the crib in the other room. I didn't think there was anything I could do about, I just thought it was one of those things where I would have to push through the fear. I mentioned it to a few people and they confirmed my thoughts: it might not feel so good at first, but ya gotta do it. It's just the way things are done.
Luckily, in pregnancy yoga class, I had been introduced to a place called The Breastfeeding Center, and I had attended a few of its support groups for new breastfeeding moms. As the day I would need to move my baby to the crib loomed and it weighed heavily upon my mind, I heard at the support group about co-sleeping. I began to wonder, was this something I could do?
Finally, I had to do something. I started to consider bed sharing. I read books, I looked at websites, I asked other people. When I knew what I wanted to do, I asked my husband.
My husband and I often don't see eye to eye on parenting decisions. He is much more mainstream than me. I expected his resistance and had my retorts at the ready.
To my surprise, he had no objections whatsoever and thought it was normal. As it turns out, in his culture, nearly all babies sleep with their parents. That's when I learned that most people in the WORLD share this belief and practice. How did I not know this?
Well, I know it now. Bed sharing is not only essential to my breastfeeding relationship with my son, but as a mama who works full time outside the home, I would be bereft if I did not have those precious 8 hours to connect, body and soul, with my sweet baby.
That's how I became a bed sharing mama. I never could have imagined bed sharing as part of my parenting, and yet it is essential. I wonder how others came to their decisions about sleeping and parenting?
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