Hernia surgery while kids are little?
Has anyone out there considered or had hernia surgery while having and infant or toddler? I have a peri-umbilical hernia that got worse during my last pregnancy, and I so want to have it fixed (it looks like my belly button has a nose! bleh!), but I feel like the recovery is totally unfeasible while having an infant and a toddler. From what I've read, you're not supposed to lift more than 10lb for 4-6 weeks, which I know would be impractical for me having a 3 month old and a 3 year old. But when I think about when I won't be constantly picking up one kiddo or the other, that's like 4 years down the road. I feel stuck and would love some advice from anyone who has been in a similar situation. Thank you!
Feb 8, 2023
Parent Replies
HI, my husband had hernia surgery when our kiddo was 2.5 months old. They told him not to lift 10lbs or more for 2 weeks. It was ridiculously hard for him to be out of commission for a couple weeks, esp as I was still recovering from c-section and our baby was colicky and really hard. But after a few days, he was able to do some non-baby chores while I focused on baby. He started lifting the baby before the 2 week period ended, and he didn't have problems. That said, his arms are very strong and probably did a lot of the work, whereas I use my core a lot more to lift. Do you have anyone to help you after the surgery? Maybe you have a spouse/partner who could take a week off (see FMLA rules that require time off to care for family member or maybe there is some parental leave left?) or a local family member or could hire some help during the day. I'd recommend either doing it right away (before that 3 mo old gets any bigger) or getting someone to help out for a couple weeks. And just try to avoid picking up the 3 yr old for the 2 weeks after (which is hard, I know... even though they can walk and supposedly not need picking up, they totally do because they don't exactly cooperate with everything....). Good luck!
Hello! My husband was diagnosed with a hernia a couple years before our daughter was born. We decided to wait until she was 5 and he had his surgery about a month ago, in part because of picking her up, in part because of improvements in hernia mesh and the failure issues they used to see 10-15 years ago, and in part because of having good insurance right now. Our daughter was old enough to understand that daddy won't be picking her up or jumping around with her for a month, so it has worked out well. Having said that, you can imagine that C-section recovering is a similar timeline and women are faced with this situation frequently, and I bet there are women with some great tips on churning through the weeks in your current situation, if you've got some backup from a spouse and/or friends/family nearby! My husband's surgery was laparoscopic and used a mesh, FWIW, and his recover (fingers crossed) has been uneventful. But you do have to take the recover rules pretty seriously :)
Hi Sarah, I had a hernia from my first pregnancy that I had surgery to fix when my baby was about 10 months old and my older daughter was 3.5. My hernia was pretty mild, but still required surgery. My doctor gave the same recommendation of not lifting more than 10 lbs, but said that she said I could lift the baby as long as long as the pain was minimal. The first few days (basically a week) were rough and I wasn't able to lift anything more than the baby. My parents came into town for a week to help out with the kids. After that I was pretty able to parent and told my older daughter in advance I wasn't able to pick her up for a few weeks. We read Richard Scary's story about Dr. Dog, Abby bunny and her tonsils so that helped her visualize about surgery and she ended up being very interested in the whole process. If you have support the first week or two I think you'd be fine. Good luck!