Photo by s5.favim.com
There are so many things that I never considered about parenting before Eve arrived. One of them is what I shall name Repetitive Baby Strain (aka Repetitive Strain Injury)!
My wrists started hurting a bit over a week ago and now the right hand wrist is so painful that even brushing my teeth makes it hurt. My left wrist is slightly better but they both hurt to bend.
I adore my little bundle of joy, but as she starts to get heavier I'm guessing it's putting strain on my tendons, ligaments and muscles. The veins running from my thumb through my wrists on both hands are inflamed as I can see them bulging out a bit.
I've been trying to pick Eve up more carefully, but I guess it's just one of those things. It's inevitable that lifting her so many times a day would cause some kind of wear and tear.
I found an article about such pains online and thought I would share it in case others of you were experiencing something similar, even if it's in a different area of the body. I always knew about back and neck pain from carrying, lifting and feeding the baby, but never thought of wrist pain...
During writing this I've just found out that this is actually an ailment known as 'Mother's Wrist', or in America 'Mommy's Thumb' - apparently you can relieve the pain by massaging towards the elbow, doing warm and cool wrist baths, icing, or having a cortisone injection to relieve the pain. I think I'll go with some ibuprofen gel on it in the first instance along with trying to hold her differently and see how we go. Massaging and icing sounds good too.
It does say on the following link not to leave it as it can worsen quickly.
Five ways to ease the pain:
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