Lifting 10 mth old by hands

MadPatrick

My daughter started walking at 9 mths and 1 week. Since then I have started holding her hands above her head and running with her taking the occasional step or holding her hands and letting her jump up and down, prolonging the up time, resulting in heavier than usual landing.

My wife has suggested that this will probably have a long term negative effect on her shoulders, ankles and knees, I however would suggest that if anything, it might make her stronger.

What say you??

Zambia

Jo Frosts book says not to swing them by the hands. However I dont know of any cases.

Lola92

I generally try to avoid it if at all possible with my daughter. When I need to lift her I do so with my hands on the side of her chest/underarms.

pwurple

Lifting her up by her hands is it? I heard somewhere that it can cause an injury.. Elbow dislocation is it? Can't recall. Anyway, we don't do it mainly because once she started walking she didn't want anyone picking her up at all, especially by the hands. Have to sneak up behind her and get an arm around her waist to get her into the bath.

Or do you mean you are helping her balance by her arms over her head? That's normal I'd say.

Lumbarda

I read recently that you shouldn't swing infants/toddlers by the arms as their joints can be very easily dislocated. Our 20 month old loves walking holding our hands and being swung along every so often but we've stopped doing it since reading that (we still swing her but now I put one hand under her armpit for extra support).

gingernut79

i'll hold my hands up and say that I lifted my nearly 3 year old daughter up by her hands, cant quite remember how, but obviously I did something to her, she was whimpering away for a good while, was all set to go to the out of hours GP and all of a sudden she was grand again. When I looked it up it was called Nanny's elbow, or nursery elbow ... something like that. Needless to say, we pick up under the arms now. lesson learned.

Macailz

Obviously depends on the baby and how he\she reacts to it. My oldest boy is 5, and I always lifted him by the hands, he's quite wirey and loved it. I'm not sure if its because I lifted and swing him but he has really impressive grip now and can easily hold his own body weight, he can actually do a few pull ups too.

My nephew on the other hand hated it, would often moan if I tried it with him. And as you would expect, cannot hold his own body weight.

as for long term effects I'm really not sure, but apparently it was done to me when I was a child and I have no issues

Lola92

I got my shoulder dislocated at 18months old because my dad tried to lift me by the hands onto a bed. It does happen

edellc

Dont do it, it can and will cause her elbow to dislocate, I was holding my little fellas hand going up the stairs when he decided to chuck himself backwards down them I just wasnt quick enough and only had him by the hand and there was a big pop and he howled, a quick visit to a&e and the nurse popped it back in but did get a telling off from the doctor.....not impressed as he has climbed stairs so many times just holding my hand and never done that it was just a freak accident, nurse says it happens all the time

However I now hold his arm going up the stairs and not his hand and never above his head giving him a chance to pull away and do that again...It was so upsetting

Davidth88

I may be wrong , but the way the OP describes it he is using the child's hands to help them balance when standing up

I don't see any harm in that , I am open to correction .

edellc

there is a difference with helping your child stand up and balance and holding her arm above her head while walking/running, you can hold your childs hand and not hold it so high as with it held high there is a chance of the elbow getting dislocated

believe me was mortified with the doctor in a&e when he was telling me and showing me

Fatscally

Did you know that babies can hold their own weight when they're born? This allows them to stay attached to their mothers hair.

I think if you hold a baby by it's hands and swing it around violently like you're trying to keep water in a bucket then you will do some harm. If you're gentle then I think your baby will be fine.

I often swing my lil girl by the ankles for fun and spacial awareness orientation exercises. I was strictly warned that this would make her ADHD. A year later she got a note from the creche praising her abilities to learn.

I think common sense is the key here.

Zambia

Fatscally wrote: »

I often swing my lil girl by the ankles for fun and spacial awareness orientation exercises.

Takes the "Not enough room to swing a cat in here" a bit far

From the OP post it does seem like for a very small amount of time the childs weight may be supported by their hands.