Parenting, as many parents will tell you, is far from being all fun and games. In fact, the more appropriate idiom to describe parenting is something like “blood, sweat, and tears.” Bringing children into the world and raising them is a beautiful thing for many people — but it would be a bold-faced lie to say that there aren’t some painful aspects of the experience.
And one of the most painful things of all? Traveling with your little one.
Now, it’s not their fault, but babies can be extraordinarily difficult to travel with, no matter the mode of transportation. Seriously, have you ever tried flying with a young child?
Spoiler Alert: it’s not so fun.
Even if you’re just driving to the grocery store or the zoo, getting the baby ready to go (and fitting every little thing you might need for ANY scenario into a diaper bag) can still be a huge ordeal. Even the part that seems like it would be the glorious home stretch can be a literal pain: getting the baby into the car.
As many parents know, the best way to transport your newborn from the house to the car AND make sure they’re traveling safely is the dreaded car seat. We love car seats for keeping our families safe, but carrying these bulky things around with a baby inside is surprisingly difficult.
Doing this day in and day out — which you definitely are if you’re a stay-at-home parent — can gradually start to wear on your body. In particular, you can start to feel chronic pain in your back, shoulders, and even your legs.
Well, YouTube has brought us a wonderful gift from a family of chiropractors to help ease your parenting pains! Bridge Family Chiro gives us a fabulous tip on how to carry a packed car seat without setting yourself up for years of achy joints.
For starters, think about how you carry your baby’s car seat now. Odds are you loop your arm through the carrier’s handle and allow the full weight of it to sit on the inside of your elbow, right?
Unfortunately, this go-to technique is the source of back and shoulder pain for many parents. As soon as you hold the carrier in the wrong way, you’re putting serious strain on your upper back, shoulders, and even your hips. And if you’re going to be out running errands with this strain, you’re only going to damage your body that much further.
The good news is that there’s a simple solution that will help ease your bodily pains and make carrying this seat ten times easier! It doesn’t require a special type of car seat or any fancy attachment — in fact, you loop your arm through the handle as you would normally. However, one small adjustment to the way you’re holding the carrier, and everything changes.
Make sure to watch the quick video below to see how this pain-free technique is done.