How to Alleviate Back Pain During Pregnancy

Unfortunately, back pain during pregnancy, particularly lower back pain, is pretty common. But there are some things you can do to alleviate the pain.

During pregnancy, hip joints can become misaligned due to increased pressure caused by the pregnancy weight. This misalignment can cause back pain. Maternity support belts can help to keep your body properly aligned during pregnancy by taking some of the weight off your pelvis. They also help you to maintain good posture, which can help decrease back pain.

It’s particularly important to wear a maternity support belt during your second and third trimesters, which is when you’ll have the most weight gain.

Postpartum support belts help support your back and alleviate back pain after pregnancy.

In addition to maternity support belts and postpartum support belts, there are a variety of other maternity garments that can help to minimize back pain during pregnancy. These include maternity pantyhose, maternity support girdles, and maternity underwear. Garments are sized according to your pre-pregnancy dress size.

Aside from wearing a maternity support garment, other things you can do to alleviate back pain during pregnancy include exercising regularly, maintaining good posture, lying on your side, or soaking in a hot tub.

How Important are Support Garments While Pregnant?

You may not think you need maternity back support during your pregnancy, but you might want to consider this. Pregnancy weight can put a lot of pressure on your back and pelvis, which not only leads to back pain, but also to misalignment of joints. Once those joints get out of whack, it’s tough to get them to realign.  Especially during the final months of pregnancy when the baby is nearly at full weight, the strain on your back and joints can become not only uncomfortable, but painful.  Medium support belts and strong support belts are highly recommended to help alleviate this strain.

Maternity garments can take some of the pressure off your pelvis, which will ease the stress on your back and hip joints. A good pregnancy support belt will also keep you from slouching, which is a leading cause of back pain during pregnancy.

In addition to keeping your body aligned and minimizing back pain, maternity support garments can help take some of the pressure off your bladder, decrease leg swelling and varicosities, provide added support during exercise, and prevent premature contractions.  To help prevent leg swelling and varicose veins, you might want to consider maternity support hose as well.

Pregnancy garments come in a variety of styles, including maternity belts, postpartum support belts, pregnancy girdles, maternity support stockings, maternity pantyhose, and maternity underwear.

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Because your breasts will continue to grow and change shape throughout your pregnancy, you may be having a tough time choosing a pregnancy bra. The following tips can help you to choose the best pregnancy bra for each stage of your pregnancy.

You’ll want to start looking for your first pregnancy bra when you’re about 4 to 5 months pregnant, or whenever your bra starts to feel tight.

When choosing a bra for pregnancy, look for comfortable fabrics without irritating seams, and avoid underwires.

When choosing a pregnancy bra size, you’ll need to take two measurements. The first is band size; the second is cup size.

To determine band size, measure around your body directly under your breasts. Round the measurement up to the nearest whole number. For example, if the tape measure reads 31 ½, round up to 32.

To determine cup size, measure around your body at the fullest part of your breasts. Then subtract your band size from that number. For example, if the tape measure reads 35 and your band size is 32, your number would be 3. Using the chart below, your cup size would be C. Therefore, your pregnancy bra size would be 34C.

You may be tempted to cut costs by buying an oversized pregnancy bra so you won’t have to replace it as your pregnancy progresses, but trying to stick to one size bra during pregnancy isn’t going to cut it. You’ll only be sacrificing comfort and irritating breasts that are probably already tender. Instead of buying a bra that’s too large, consider a pregnancy bra with adjustable cups or adjustable fasteners.

Because your breasts will continue to grow throughout your pregnancy, you’ll probably need to buy new maternity bras two or three times before giving birth.

Nursing Your Baby in Public

We all know that public breastfeeding can be a contentious issue. But no matter which side you’re on, when your baby’s hungry, it’s not going to matter where you are. With a little preparation, you can make breastfeeding easier, whether in public or in private.  After all, breastfeeding is the healthiest way to feed your baby.

Nursing covers are a discreet way of publicly feeding your breastfeeding baby. A good breastfeeding cover is large enough to completely cover the entire chest and the baby, yet flexible enough so that you can still make eye contact with the baby. It can also double as a sun shade or blanket.

Breastfeeding clothes are an absolute must for nursing mothers, not only when breastfeeding in public, but also for use in private. Nursing tops and breastfeeding bras provide much needed breast support, yet allow for quick and easy access to the breasts for nursing.

The dreaded pregnancy weight. Now that you’ve had your baby, you’re probably wondering how to rid yourself of those excess pounds. Most likely, you’ve already tried crunches, sit-ups, and all those other abdominal exercises that are part of the post-pregnancy workout.

Postpartum support, such as a post-natal girdle, is key to firming your body and tightening that postpartum belly. A postpartum compression girdle or a postpartum support belt will also help reduce or eliminate stretch marks.

If diet, exercise, and postpartum compression aren’t enough to get your body back into shape, you may want to consider a mommy makeover. A mommy makeover, also known as body sculpting, is plastic surgery to help restore your body to its pre-pregnancy shape. Your postpartum cosmetic surgery options include tummy tuck, liposuction, breast augmentation, breast lift, or a combination of procedures.

No matter which surgery you choose, you’ll want to wear a compression garment during your plastic surgery recovery. There are a variety of tummy tuck support garments, liposuction support garments, and breast surgery support garments to choose from.

Abdominal Girdle By ContourMD Maternity

The big day is almost here! Just before the baby is born is the time that most moms-to-be start thinking about how they’re going to get back their pre-pregnancy shape once the baby arrives.

You’ve probably already been wearing a maternity support garment throughout your pregnancy to decrease back pain, leg swelling and varicosities; improve your circulation; and to relieve pressure on your bladder. Now it’s time to think about investing in a postpartum garment.

Post-pregnancy support garments can help firm your belly and reduce swelling after pregnancy.
Postpartum tummy support can also help reduce or eliminate stretch marks.

After pregnancy support garments, such as postpartum compression girdles or postpartum abdominal panties, help to hold in the tummy, giving you a slimmer look. Because they are generally seamless, they’re not only comfortable, but they’re also easily hidden under clothing.

Contour Pregnancy/Nursing Tank

It’s not always easy being a mom. Trying to juggle multiple tasks while caring for an infant can leave you exhausted by the end of the day. And if you’re also breastfeeding, it can really be a hassle trying to maneuver an every day shirt and bra every time you need to feed your baby. Some quality, affordable nursing tops can help make that aspect of mothering just a little bit easier.

A nursing top is a shirt that provides easy access for breastfeeding. Nursing tops also provide breast support, and many can double as nursing bras. Most come with adjustable straps and are made from comfortable fabrics, such as cotton, spandex and lycra.

Although tank tops are very popular these days, they’re very difficult to nurse in. Nursing tank tops are cheap nursing tops that come in a variety of styles that make breastfeeding easy. Some of these have easy access openings and others come in drop down styles.

You can buy nursing tank tops and nursing shirts at ContourMD.com – check out our new Maternity category.