Say Goodbye to Back Pain: Postpartum Exercises to Relieve Breastfeeding and Co-Sleeping Strain

Relieve back pain from breastfeeding or co-sleeping with these expert postpartum exercises. Simple, effective, and perfect for new moms.

New moms often experience back pain from long hours of breastfeeding, babywearing, or co-sleeping. These cherished moments with your baby can take a toll on your shoulders and spine, but relief is within reach. My book, Movement Matters for Moms, offers simple yet powerful exercises to help relieve and prevent back pain.

Try these moves:

Hanging:

Find a sturdy ledge, ring, rope, or bar to hang from, with one or both hands. If you don't have any of these, you can place your palm high up on a wall and lean into it slightly while you rotate away from it. Vary your grip, and enjoy rotating around the grip of one hand. No need to lift your feet fully off the floor, simply enjoy opening the shoulders through hanging. Hanging is the most under-recognized yet effective way of resolving shoulder or upper back pain, so ease into it, and aim to practice some form of hanging daily for one minute.

Cat-Cow Stretch:

On hands and knees, inhale to arch your back and lift your head and tailbone, then exhale to round your spine and draw the belly in. Repeat 4-6 times.

Paint the Tunnel:

Following on from Cat-Cow on hands and knees, imagine that you are inside a tunnel, and your torso is covered with paint. Circle your torso around slowly, painting each part of the tunnel as you go: above you, the right side, below you, the left side, and each area in between. Let your head and tail follow this movement. Pause and reverse the direction you are painting. Repeat 2-3 times in each direction.

Babywearing Back Stretch:

Also called the "Lung Meridian Stretch" from Shiatsu massage, this opens the whole of your upper back and shoulders, as well as the meridian associated with the lungs. Stand with feet wide apart, toes pointing forward. Reach behind you to grab your right thumb with your left hand. Lifting the hands above you, fold at the hips and hang forward, breathing easily as you let gravity give you a soft stretch across the shoulders and outer legs. No need to keep the legs straight here. Stay as long as you feel comfortable, then lift your hands up to help return you to standing. Without releasing the thumb, make fists and push them into the back of your pelvis, as you arch backward in a gentle counter-stretch. Release, release the grip, and stand normally to rest. Repeat with the right hand grabbing the left thumb.

Half Moon Side Bend:

The Half Moon pose adapted from Bikram Yoga, opens the spine in four directions, promoting strength, endurance, and cardiovascular fitness.

Standing with feet together, extend your arms overhead with fingers interlaced and index fingers pointed upward. Imagine your arms are cozy earmuffs on your ears. Wiggle your ribs side to side a few times with your arms reaching upwards, like a snake beginning to wiggle out of its skin, as a way to ease into the half moon series.

Without bending knees or elbows, press your hips forward slightly as you place more weight in the heels to engage the glutes.

Lean to the right, growing longer on both sides as you breathe. Try to look straight ahead, as if you were sandwiched between two screens of silk. Hold for 20 seconds, taking little sips of air, and trying to lower yourself a few millimeters further. Return to center.

Repeat on the left side.

Return to centre, release the grip, relax arms by your sides, stand, and breathe.

Incorporate one or all of these exercises into your regular practice and you will soon feel the benefits. Getting proper support for your body while you are sleeping and feeding is also crucial to your comfort.