Handle with care

Lifting or restraining babies and toddlers can result in injury, writes Helen O’Callaghan.

SHE does it every day — holds a baby on her hip with one hand and cleans the counter-top or stirs a saucepan with the other.

Over time, this postural change can lead to pain and muscle spasm in the lower back or gluteal muscles. If you add to this a second child — a two-year-old pleading to be lifted too — the multi-tasking mum creates even more problems for herself.