Lifting during pregnancy

[Dogsmom]

I'm 9 weeks pregnant and have a job that involves lifting every day (dog groomer, I work on my own) and wondered how safe it is?

I have no problem with small breeds but a gsd or labrador can weigh up to 35kg and I don't want to do any damage, on the NHS website it says lifting is fine but I don't suppose they imagine pregnant women lifting heavy animals.

It depends on your pregnancy I would say, if you're having a good pregnancy - no bleeding etc. it should be okay if you are sensible and listen to your body. Likely to get harder as the pregnancy progresses though as your bump will effect your centre of gravity and get in the way!

With DD I was horse riding until 7 months then but had to stop despite feeling fine as couldn't work round my bump! This time around I'm carrying DD (admittedly only 14kg!) and won't be able to just stop picking her up.

I'd suggest discussing with your midwife, hopefully she will be helpful.

I think it's to do with all your muscles and ligaments loosening up so its easier to do yourself an injury. I would think as long as you're careful when you lift (obviously you're very experienced) you will be fine. Might start getting harder as your bump gets bigger.

Listen to your body, if its telling you you're lifting too much then you'll know about it I'm sure... my friend is a nursery assistant and was lifting babies and toddlers up until a couple of weeks before she was due. She wore a support belt to help but she didnt struggle. her pregnancy was very smooth though and she had no problems. I agree with PogoBob too, have a chat with your midwife and she can advise you properly :)

I work in a warehouse and my job usually involves lots and lots of lifting - nothing too heavy but lots of repetition.

When I notified work they said I could carry on as normal for as long as I felt able to do, but did seriously warn me about over-doing it, but I think this could be for their insurance/liability as a company. I'm not very far along (12 weeks) but finding it difficult. Sammyleh is spot on, your body will let you know when its had enough. I'm more prone to breaking/dropping things, or getting horrendous aches in my pelvis if I push myself too hard, and there are certain products I will not go near as they weigh over 20kg. So I'm sort of admin-only now.

Is there any way you could minimize the need to lift? Could the dogs jump to the surface you put them on, or could you find a stool to use as a step? (sorry if these are stupid suggestions!)

When lifting heavy objects your stomach muscles tense aswell putting pressure on the womb, obviously the further along you the greater the risk of your cervix opening to soon causing early labour which is potentially dangerous to your baby

I regularly lift 20kg sacks. My friend who is a GP did exactly the same while she was pregnant and said it was fine....

Lifting wont harm the baby, the issue is that you are more likely to injure yourself because you have more relaxine (?spelling?) hormone especially in the 1st tirmester

My job involves heavy lifting, but IMO if you were doing it regularly before hand it's okay to continue when you're pregnant (like with most activities) just listen to your body and don't do anything that you feel is straining your body. I find that any UNUSUAL activities give me back ache (crouching down to de-ice the freezer for e.g.) , but continuing to do what I normally do at work, even though its heavy, is fine

also, work places are over cautious about lifting advice IMO, my work are really hot on pregnant women not lifting, but have NO policy on pregnant women going into isolation rooms where people have MRSA, shingles, noro, suspected swine flu etc. They're also crap at letting pregnant workers know when a patient is radioactive etc

Personally I do the lifting and put my foot down about the iso rooms as they could actually hurt the BABY and if I go too far with lifting at worst I'll get a bit achey!

All I can add is that a friend who worked as an ambulance driver and was frequently lifting people. She was oblidged to tell her work as soon as she was pregnant and was moved to an office role. This was quite early on, before she had announced her pregnancy to friends and family. Lifting people is different from lifting dogs though!