Postpartum Posture: Lifting, Carrying, Feeding and Settling your Baby without the Pain

Lifting your baby out of the cot. Carrying them to the car. Settling in for a feed. These are the moments new mothers do dozens of times a day, and they're the moments that should be savoured. Too often, though, pain gets in the way.

The postpartum body is doing an enormous amount of work while it heals, and the repetitive nature of newborn care can place real strain on your neck, back, wrists and elbows. The good news is that most of these injuries are preventable once you understand why they happen and how to move through your daily routine with better support.

Why your body is more vulnerable in the postpartum period

During pregnancy, the hormone relaxin helps loosen the ligaments of the pelvis to create space for your growing baby and to prepare the body for birth. Relaxin and other pregnancy hormones don't switch off the moment you deliver. Research shows joint laxity increases across pregnancy and persists into the postpartum period (Schauberger et al., 1996; Dehghan et al., 2014). Exactly how much of this is driven by relaxin itself is still debated in the literature, but the practical effect is well documented: many mothers find their joints, including the smaller ligaments of the hands and wrists, are more prone to strain in the months after birth (Chauhan and Tadi, 2022).

For most new mums, though, it's not hormones alone doing the damage. It's repetitive overload: the same lifting, carrying and feeding movements performed dozens of times a day, week after week, often in positions that place awkward load through the neck, back and wrists (Vincent and Hocking, 2013; Khama et al., 2025).

Common injuries in the postpartum period

Some of the most common musculoskeletal complaints we see in new mothers include:

• Neck and shoulder tension, which can progress to tension headaches. Sustained, forward-flexed postures during feeding are strongly linked to shoulder, neck and upper back pain in breastfeeding mothers (Aburub et al., 2022).

• Back pain, often from leaning over a cot or bassinet, or twisting to place your baby into the car seat. Back and shoulder complaints are among the most frequently reported physical symptoms in the first months after birth, particularly for first-time mothers (Cooklin et al., 2015; Iwata et al., 2018).

• Wrist injuries, including repetitive strain, De Quervain's tenosynovitis (sometimes called ‘mummy thumb’) and injury to the triangular fibrocartilage complex (TFCC). De Quervain's is strikingly common in new mothers. One study found almost 60% of postpartum women reported pain on the thumb side of the wrist, largely attributed to repetitive lifting and the awkward wrist postures used to support a baby's head (Sit et al., 2017; Daglan et al., 2024; Khama et al., 2025).

• Lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow), from overuse of the forearm muscles during repeated lifting and carrying (Borg-Stein and Dugan, 2007).

  
  

Protecting your body while you care for your baby

Support your feeding position. Use pillows to bring your baby up to you, rather than hunching forward to reach down to them. If you're feeding on the couch, a pillow behind your lower back helps keep your spine supported too, since poor postural support during feeding is one of the most consistent contributors to neck and upper back pain in nursing mothers (Aburub et al., 2022).

Keep your wrists neutral. When lifting, carrying or holding for long periods, try to keep your wrists in a straight line rather than bending or deviating to the side. This reduces load through the tendons most affected by De Quervain's and other overuse injuries (Khama et al., 2025).

Mind your standing posture. When standing and carrying your baby, avoid locking out your knees or arching your lower back to compensate for their weight. Instead, soften your knees slightly and gently engage your core.

Practise your hip hinge. Getting your baby in and out of the cot, bassinet or car seat involves a lot of forward bending. Learning to hinge from your hips, with a neutral spine, rather than rounding through your back, protects your lower back while your core is healing and rebuilding strength.

Bonus tips

• See your chiropractor, massage therapist or acupuncturist for support in reducing pain and aiding your recovery.

• If you're planning a pregnancy, don't overlook strengthening your wrists, shoulders and forearms beforehand, as it can help build resilience for the repetitive demands ahead.

  
  

When to get support

You shouldn't have to push through pain to care for your baby. Our team includes chiropractors trained in pregnancy and postpartum care, and we take a holistic approach to helping you move, lift and feed with less strain. Get in touch with our friendly team today to make an appointment and start feeling more like yourself again.

References:

Aburub, A., Darabseh, M.Z., Alsharman, A., Hegazy, M.M. and Hunter, S.M. (2022) 'Nursing mothers' experiences of musculoskeletal pain attributed to poor posture during breastfeeding: a mixed methods study', Breastfeeding Medicine, 17(11), pp. 926–931.

Borg-Stein, J. and Dugan, S.A. (2007) 'Musculoskeletal disorders of pregnancy, delivery and postpartum', Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America, 18(3), pp. 459–476.

Chauhan, G. and Tadi, P. (2022) Physiology, postpartum changes. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.

Cooklin, A.R., Amir, L.H., Jarman, J., Cullinane, M. and Donath, S.M. (2015) 'Maternal physical health symptoms in the first 8 weeks postpartum among primiparous Australian women', Birth, 42(3), pp. 254–260.

Daglan, E., Morgan, S., Yechezkel, M., Rutenberg, T.F., Shemesh, S., Iordache, S.D. and Kadar, A. (2024) 'Risk factors associated with de Quervain tenosynovitis in postpartum women', Hand, 19(4), pp. 643–647.

Dehghan, F., Haerian, B.S., Muniandy, S., Yusof, A., Dragoo, J.L. and Salleh, N. (2014) 'The effect of relaxin on the musculoskeletal system', Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports, 24(4), pp. e220–e229.

Iwata, H., Mori, E., Maehara, K., Sakajo, A., Aoki, K. and Tamakoshi, K. (2018) 'Shoulder stiffness, back pain, and wrist pain: are older primiparas more vulnerable?', International Journal of Nursing Practice, 24(S1), e12654.

Khama, C., Ciccarelli, M., Brayshaw, J., Hatfield, M. and Tran, T. (2025) '‘I couldn't change his nappy’: new mothers' experiences of De Quervain's tendinosis and its impact on occupational performance', Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 72(2), pp. 1–14.

Schauberger, C.W., Rooney, B.L., Goldsmith, L., Shenton, D., Silva, P.D. and Schaper, A. (1996) 'Peripheral joint laxity increases in pregnancy but does not correlate with serum relaxin levels', American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 174(2), pp. 667–671.

Sit, R.W.S., Tam, W-H., Chan, D.C.C., Yip, B.H.K., Tam, L.W.Y., Chow, L.L.Y. and Wong, S.Y.S. (2017) 'A pilot cross-sectional study of postpartum wrist pain in an urban Chinese population: its prevalence and risk factors', Pain Physician, 20(5), pp. E711–E719.

Vincent, R. and Hocking, C. (2013) 'Factors that might give rise to musculoskeletal disorders when mothers lift children in the home', Physiotherapy Research International, 18(2), pp. 81–90.