I had a c section 3 weeks ago and my recovery has been going well so far until yesterday. My parents stayed with me to help out until Monday but they had to leave. Yesterday was the first day that I had to get my 20 month old daughter out of the crib and in and out of the car by myself. I had stopped bleeding a week ago but after lifting her I started bleeding again. I also have a sharp pain around the left side of my incision. My DH has a wierd work schedule and leaves the house at 4.30 every morning so unfortunately he can't help. I discussed the issue of having to lift my toddler with my Dr at my 2 week check up and she said it should be fine but to just minimize it but after yesterday I am scared that I am going to do some damage if I continue. Any advice on tips for how to avoid lifting her. We have tried putting a step stool in her crib but she won't use it.
Re: Advice on lifting toddler or how to avoid it.
My mom watches DS and she had a surgery where she couldn't lift him for 6 weeks. We got her a little folding step stool that she uses for the car. She has him step up and into the car and then puts it inside the car and he steps up into his seat. We practiced it with him when we were there and we all got super excited when he did it himself and he got a treat. Now everytime he wants to do it himself. He can jump out of the carseat himself to the car floor and then out of the car by just holding my hand. We've been doing that to avoid lifting as well.
It took a little bit of training, but he is all about using his step stool for everything now. We use a booster at the table instead of a high chair and he can get in and out of that and we just transitioned him to a big boy bed too. It was all really good preparation for my c-section since my mom just went through it. I was told not to lift anything more than 10 pounds for 6-8 weeks so I don't think I would feel comfortable lifting my toddler at only 3 weeks. I would resort to having her take naps on a bed on the floor or something rather than lift in and out of the crib. I hurt myself when I was perfectly healthy lifting DS wrongly out of his crib. I'm surprised your OB said it was ok.