Turns out my dear son is a big fatty and he's killing my back. I've been suffering for over a week now and finally sucked it up andwent to the doctor. . .he felt around and said I had badly strained neck and shoulder blade area musle strains. So I'm good and drugged up for about a week and then will have to go in for a back re-alignment! The cause? My big fatty butt, won't hold on to or help mama out son!! No kidding! I had a suspicion it might be him before going in today so I had already started making some changes in how I handled him- like I no longer cradle him ([sadashamed]) to give him the bottle but, prop him up and snuggle next to him instead. I'll have to make further adjustments if I don't want to have this pain continue. humph. He's not a snuggler to begin with and this will just about wipe out the few snuggly moments that I do have=( Oh, well I'll just have to figure something new out. Anyone else have this happen? -ren

I'm sorry Ren, I love my cuddles with my little girl! But I get it too, especially if I've done a lot of other work that stresses my neck and back, then carrying Elizabeth can be too much for me. Maybe there are other things that you could do a bit less of so that you could snuggle more with him? It's so hard, they get big so fast as it is.

This my friend, is why I continue to see my chiropractor every 2 weeks. :D I have a 20# not quite 4 month old. Whenever we are out, he is in the wrap. That could mean 3hr at a time just going shopping. But I feel the strain just from nursing the child. Sitting here on the couch, using pillows to prop us up a bit, I still feel it. It's still exhausting! My chiro gives a wicked shoulder/upper back massage then snaps me back in place. By the end of 2 weeks I'm feeling the strain and fatigue again. So the 2 week appts are working well for me :)

So, I say c-h-i-r-o-p-r-a-c-t-o-r for getting back in line and staying there. As for helping matters at home...I think you're on the right track with propping him up. Maybe to try to get more snuggly out of it you could prop him on some pillows in the floor to get him upright enough then you just snuggle in next to him. That way you could put an arm up around the pillows around him but not have all his weight to support.

HTH I so feel your pain. :giggle:

I had it with Jakob who at his 4 momth check up was 20.5 lbs and at 1 year 29.5 lbs ( he didn't walk until almost 15 months, and i was 5 months pregnant) He was bottle fed during the day from 5 months on, but fed sitting in my lap with his back against me chest.(he had major reflux issues)
i know i changed the way that i held him, so not to use the same muscles all of the time

i hope you feel better soon.