Surgery w/No Lifting For 3 Months Afterwards

[crazydaycarelady]

Has anyone done anything like this? I need to have surgery but the doctor says for 3 months afterwards no lifting anything over a gallon of milk. He also recommends taking a month off after. Taking the time off sounds wonderful but I don't have a clue how I could possibly do this.

I have had 2 babies while doing dc and I took 6 weeks off with each. I just gave everyone plenty of notice and I never lost anyone over it. So its not really the 2-3 weeks off I would take that I am worried about, more the not lifting. I really could not lift or it could undue the surgery. I have plenty of babies and toddlers here.

[Familycare71]

That's the scary part of doing this job- for me at least... The only solution I see is to hire a helper for the time. The problem is I believe they would have to do the training and for and first aid- it would be hard to find someone who wants to do that for a few months...

[Blackcat31]

Could you hire an assistant for that time frame? One that could do the heavy physical work but still allow for you to be in charge each day?

Seems like a more logical solution if you are worried about losing any families due to a long closure or losing out on income if the families are ok with you being closed.

[momofsix]

I was unable to lift after open heart surgery a while back. I had to take a long time off (I think it was almost two months!) Most of the parents sent their kids to a friend of mine for that time. After I started back I had my changing pad on the floor so I wouldn't have to lift anyone for diapers. I also had everyone sleeping on the floors or a bed they could climb into so I wouldn't have to lift. It was HARD but I did get through and my parents were very understanding. I was fortunate with the ages of my dcks that it worked out well. The youngest was almost 18 months at the time.

Best wishes for your surgery and recovery. Make sure you do what you need to do to keep yourself healthy!

[mamac]

I was unable to lift after open heart surgery a while back. I had to take a long time off (I think it was almost two months!) Most of the parents sent their kids to a friend of mine for that time. After I started back I had my changing pad on the floor so I wouldn't have to lift anyone for diapers. I also had everyone sleeping on the floors or a bed they could climb into so I wouldn't have to lift. It was HARD but I did get through and my parents were very understanding. I was fortunate with the ages of my dcks that it worked out well. The youngest was almost 18 months at the time.

Best wishes for your surgery and recovery. Make sure you do what you need to do to keep yourself healthy!

That's what I did when I had my 2 surgeries.

My surgery was pre-daycare for me so I only had to deal with my 2 kids. My doctor told me the same thing. No lifting for up to 6-8 weeks. I looked at him like this ----> I asked him if he realized that I had 2 small children at home and no one that could stay with me ALL DAY to care for them. He told me to do the best I cold and to take it as easy as possible. (Turns out I was hitting the mall the day after surgery. I couldn't stay cooped up. )

I would definitely let the parents know what your limitations will be if you decide to stay open. Depending on how big/able your dck's are, you should be able to remain open while still taking care of your health.

Best wishes for your surgery. Hope you have a speedy recovery!

[kimmills]

Yes, after most of the surgeries you are not allowed to lift anything for at least 3 months depending upon the condition and it is always a good advice to follow this instruction. You can hire a helper for this time period to help you with your chores involving lifting.

[jenn]

I had a 6 week no lift surgery. I scheduled the surgery on a Thursday, took Thursday and Friday off/closed and then reopened the following week. Luckily, I had a helper that could assist that first week. After that, we did a lot of floor time. Diapers were done on the floor-really made no difference to the kids, we ate picnic style on the floor so no one had to be lifted into a high chair-the kids thought this was awesome. Everyone napped on nap mats. That was challenging with the 8 month old, but we just made it work. Good luck, hope the surgery goes well, and everything daycare related works out.

[crazydaycarelady]

Thanks! I think I could deal with it except at naptime when I put the kids into their pak-n-play. Everyone on napmats sounds like a disaster, unless I laid down on the couch. They won't get up if I can see them.

I have a lot of parents that hand me their kids in the morning. We'd have to break that habit too.

Ugh! I dread the whole thing. It's times like this that I wish I had a "real" job with benefits and could just take time off, probably still get paid, and heal up properly.

[Margarete]

See if you can find someone on summer break to come and help out for that time for at least that first month...Maybe a youth who wants some babysitting experience. At least where we are aids don't need background checks and cpr/first aid if they are under a certain amount of hours a week, and are not left alone with the children. After that check with your doctor, and your lifting limits may be increased a bit, hopefully enough for your smallest children, for that one time of day.