Bending and stretching in pregnancy!

[Thesilentone]

Hi everyone,
I was almost horrified to read an email set to my young (20 year old) cousin who is just 14 weeks pregnant from a fellow pregnant girl of the same age. Advising her not to bend or stretch during her pregnancy as the baby will come away from the wall inside!!
I have a son on 7 years and appreciate that bending is difficult and should come from the knees and so on.. but from this statement of the baby coming away from the wall, I am beginning to wonder how on earth women have ever managed to carry on normal lives whilst pregnant! The advice my cousin has been given is to give up her job as a Beauty Therapist and go on benefits ( FURIOUS does not comprehend how I feel about this!) However my main issue is not to rant about benefits and so on but is to ask.. Can anyone advise me on this whole baby coming away from the inside wall business... my cousin is going out of her mind!! And driving me to the bring of frustration! Thank you x :-) x

[lozzylou]

i have never heard this so i would love to know the answer to. i have 2 boys and when i was pregnant with my second baby i had my 1st to care for who was only 10 months when second baby was born. i carried on with play groups, going to the gym and generally being an energetic person and it never done me or my babies any harm. my sil on the other hand, give up work stayed in bed for the first 14 weeks of her pregnancy ( no joke ) and miscarried at 16 weeks due to natural causes. i believe you are the mother and you know yourself how far you can push yourself.
i had to give up work at 13 weeks but that was due to medical problems. my advice for your niece would be to carry on with life, stop sking and drinking eat healthy and just enjoy being pregnant. the more you sit about the longer the pregnancy will seem to go on.
good luck to her x

[lozzylou]

sorry that should have been stop smoking not stop sking lol

[redcrx]

thats appalling! what a thing to tell everyone.

It does happen that the placenta can come away in very few pregnancies, but this is often towards end of pregnancy and has nothing to do with bending and stretching.

Its perfectly safe to continue working, even being on her feet, well into pregnancy unless there are medical reasons why not to.

Just tell you cousin to be aware of how to lift and carry objects as the muscles and ligaments in her body will be softer when pregnant as she can hurt herself, though baby is usually well tucked up and safe.

give up and go on benefits?!, disgusting! whats the world coming to!?

[natalie_1982]

It's probably one of those scare mongering emails; I would tell her to show it to and speak to her midwife to put her mind at rest x

[Velvetee]

If she has concerns. she should consult her care provider or midwife, they are the professionals, who will know the correct answers. It's worrying that such a person, who is going to be a mother, is giving out such peculiar advice.

I wouldn't think Stretching and bending will detach the foetus, if anything it will just feel awkward and uncomfortable, especially bending, so getting in a squatting pisition would be more comfortable than bending from the waist.

[Thesilentone]

Thank you all for replying I will show my cousin the responses. I know I worked until almost the bitter end during my pregnancy and had no problems at all but as my son is now 7 I thought it would be best to ask the advice of others.
Thank you all again xx

[shaunzy]

what a silly thing to tell someone, ive been told by my midwife to keep exercising like normal just make sure i dont do anything too strenuous. i dont smoke, i used to have a drink now and again but ive totally stopped that. apart from that, ive just carried on as normal

[B00]

Good grief, what balonny!

women have been giving birth for thousands of years, I'm sure one or two of them stretched or bent down at some point during their pregnancy!

Honestly, where do folk get their "advice" from?

[yogasun]

Ridiculous. As a Yoga teacher of long standing I can confirm that stretching exercises are in fact beneficial (Why else have Yoga for Pregnancy classes?!) and with the odd contraindication I have had loads of women at all stages of pregnancy in my classes who went on to full term to have bouncing babies.

The placenta does NOT come away from the uterus because of bending and stretching! It's a rare complication of the latter stages of pregnancy as redcrx says.

[Thesilentone]

Thank you for the advice. I may advise her myself to go to yoga. I hate to say it but it seems that some people see pregnancy as an illness when infact its the most natural thing in the world as my grandmother would put it!
I was horrified to read the email about the baby coming away from the wall and feel so much happier giving my cousin better educated avice.
Thank you all for taking teh time to reply to me and help me out I really appreciate it xx

[onlyme26]

??? the baby coming away? just think when the baby starts moving and kicking and exploring!! lol i very much doubt a bit of bending and stretching could do anything!! the baby is well padded!! lol what a silly email!!

yeah just show her the responses! lol xx