Does Breastfeeding Cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Does breastfeeding cause Carpal Tunnel Syndrome?  Certain positions and postures can cause pain in your hands and wrists. Let’s look at an example and see possible answers.

I recently answered a plea for help from a new mom who is struggling with very painful Carpal Tunnel Syndrome in one wrist.

She believes it was brought on by breastfeeding and carrying her heavy new baby and a heavy 3 year old. She was given a steroid injection in the wrist. The pain subsided almost overnight but

the clinician told her she would probably need another injection in 6 months time.   (She could have been sent to physical therapy but apparently wasn’t.)

At night the burning pain wakes her. She spends most of the night crying with her hand in a bowl of warm water which seems to give some relief.

She has tried every position possible in bed.  She used a wrist splint which helped for a while but doesn’t any longer. Pain killers have no effect at all (and especially when you are breast-feeding, that’s something you’d rather avoid, anyway.)

She said the most frightening part is when the pain and numbness is at its maximum and she cannot pick up her baby or feed her. The pain often becomes unbearable in the middle of feeding and so she  cuts her feedings short. (That is a clue–it happens during feedings.)

She is totally fatigued from lack of sleep and pain and wondered what to do.

Here are the suggestions I gave to her:

First of all, it’s important to know that the cause of your pain is not in your wrist–that is only where your symptoms are.

1.  Prop your nursing baby on one or two pillows that are high enough so you will not have to hold or lean.

2.  Check if you hike your shoulder up.  Hiking your shoulder can aggravate the muscles in your neck that can cause pain in your hand.  It also aggravates the nerves in your neck that send sensations to your hand.  If you do notice that you are hiking your shoulder, make it a point to let it go down.

3.  Massage your arm or get someone to massage your whole arm and the muscles in your upper chest near your collar bone and arm.  A professional massage therapist can make a huge difference. Those same places are good areas to apply cold or ice, also.  Heat may help to relax the muscles in those areas but the rule of thumb is ice for nervy pain.

4.  While you might get relief now from an injection that is only a short term solution.  It won’t help the long term problem.  The root of your pain is in your lower arm, upper arm, chest, neck or upper back or many of those areas.

Muscles press on nerves and both muscles and nerves can cause carpal tunnel symptoms.  Posture can play a big part in carpal tunnel pain, too.

And there is a lot more information about causes and natural relief here at Carpal Tunnel Pain Relief Now.  Look under the category ‘Causes’ and ‘Massage’ and ‘Self-Help.’

If you can figure out the causes of your carpal tunnel symptoms and eliminate them you will have a happier breast-feeding experience and you will have natural relief for your carpal tunnel pain, too.