Post op recovery with a 16 month old

I was wondering if anyone else had a little one at home during recovery? I'm scheduled for surgery on April 21st and I'm not at all nervous about it other than caring for my daughter. I'll be off work for 1 1/2 weeks and my husband will be home with me the first week. I've asked my mother in law to pick her up so I don't have to lift her when I go back to work. I'm just wondering if I'll feel like getting down on the floor to change her and such? And I'll have to lift her out of bed in the morning.  Any insight or advise is greatly appreciated.  Thanks!

Congratulations on your surgery!  I didn't have a little one while I was recovering from surgery but suggest you post this question on the Pregnancy after Weight Loss Surgery forum  Good Luck to you and we look forward to your updates.

Thanks Kathy I will definitely check that out!

I will have a 2 year old at home to take care of. My dd is still in a crib, and I was hoping to keep her there until she at least tried to escape. But I will have to move her to a toddler bed ahead of my surgery since I will not be able to lift her in or out. So it is disappointing, but will have to be done. As far as changing and dressing her, I will just be taking it slow.

you will not be able to lift more than 10  lb for 6 weeks after surgery so plan on having someone around to lift her , if she can't get in and out of bed alone

 maybe try to train her so you will not need to change diapers

Thanks I never even thought of changing the bed, there's no way she could get out of her crib by herself. 

My surgeon had no issue with my lifting my kids out of their cribs once i was a few days post surgery.  He was very practical in nature and basically said something like you would be hard pressed to find a mother with young chikdren not picking them up post surgeries.  my 2 year old was around 25 lbs and my 3 year old was around 35 lbs.  Based on my experience I would see no need to transition to a toddler bed.

I had my VSG with a 23mo and a 3.5 year old.  It was totally fine.  I kept them in daycare the week I took off work.  I had surgery on Friday, released on Sunday, and I was helping with getting dressed and bedtime routines on Monday.  By Wednesday I was running errands and Thursday/Friday I went car shopping.  I'm glad I kept them in daycare - it would have been doable but challenging if I was a stay at home mom...I would have needed help at home.

My husband did all the daycare pickup & dropoff stuff until I was off the pain meds on Thursday.

I went back to work and normal working mom routine 10 days post op.  I was tired, but it was manageable.

You are limited to 8 lbs for 8 weeks, so you cannot lift her at all for a couple of months.  To do so can put you at serious risk for a hernia - requiring yet another surgery.  Do not risk it. 

• Have Grandma pitch in for sure!  I was pretty listless for a few weeks, and I wouldn't have been very attentive to a toddler.
• Getting up and down off of the floor is going to be difficult, but your daughter is big enough to climb up on the sofa to take care of business.  Have supplies all handy in a good place.
• Perhaps in the morning, your husband can remove her from her crib and put her in bed with you before he leaves, or it may be a good time to consider that toddler bed.  If so, do that now so she's well into a new routine before your surgery.

Thanks so much for the replies. My husband leaves for work at 3:30 am so I'm going to start with converting her crib to the toddler bed and get a side protector immediately. I never thought about teaching her to climb on the couch to change her! This forum is so helpful, thanks again for all the advise!