Post-op day-8 caring for toddlers after Breast Augmentation. Any suggestions?

Thank you for
being proactive with your question!

Please do ask your surgeon on what they recommend with
regards to caring for your children.

Recovery should
not be rushed nor underestimated and taking good care of yourself to ensure
your body has sufficient time to heal and look its best is essential. As
a patient, you must diligently follow your surgeon’s instructions and their instructions
should take precedence over everything you read here.

Since you have small children, it would be great to have
your spouse, friends or neighbors to help you out as much as possible. Indeed,
you'll find it difficult to lift them up and carry them, not to mention feel very
tired to look after them. And you should not chase them around as you may
accidently move your arms too much in the process during the running motion.

With regards to holding them, you should be able to bend
over, grab your child, hold them close to your chest, and then stand back up. So
yes, you can hug your children lightly as long as you don’t put pressure on
your breasts. This way, you’re not using your chest muscles as much, but rather
your back muscles to lift the weight. This is the most important advice I can
give you: Try to avoid your chest
muscles for at least 2-3 weeks (do not lift more than 10 pounds for 2-3 weeks).

You can engage in greater use of your chest muscles after 6
weeks (i.e., vigorous exercising, push-ups, weight-lifting).

Since your children like hugs, you can get around that. For
example, if your child is crying and wants to be held, you can squat down and
hug them, or you can sit on the sofa or in a chair and have them climb up into
your lap so that you can hold them. Ask your children to be gentle when they
hug you. They can be quite receptive and helpful if politely asked.

You will definitely need help with regards to getting your children
into and out of the car seat, highchair, or crib.

You will feel better with each passing day. Since you are
already one week post-op, you should feel much better. You will still be sore,
but you will be feeling more like yourself.

Increasing the activity level is dependent on your own perception
of how well you feel. Any minute you feel an activity is causing pressure or
causing you to feel stretch in your breasts or incisions, then stop the
activity.

Hope this helps!

It would be best to have some family help to lessen what you need to do with the children in the first week but obviously this may not be practical - as long as you are using your support bra and not picking them up in the first week they cannot really do much harm 

It's always best to check with your surgeon's protocol. I advise my patients they may pick up their children on the third day after surgery to transfer them to high chairs, car seats,cribs, etc. My patients are told to take it easy for a week and not chase their children around the house. If they are comfortable, they can carry their children for prolonged periods of time by the end of the second week. There should be no issues dealing with children in the usual fashion from the 21st day on. Hope this information is helpful. For more information on this and similar topics, I recommend a plastic surgery Q&A book like "The Scoop On Breasts: A Plastic Surgeon Busts the Myths."

It is unlikely that the movements from the children will cause anything other than discomfort for you.  Children are surprisingly aware of when adults are injured.  If you explain that you want to hug them but only can do it by snuggling from the side I think you'll find they are happy to comply, and even help you out.  You will continue to improve daily.  Continue to follow your surgeon's advice for optimum results.

What I will tell you is that it would take a great deal of force to actually affect the surgical result.  Yes, you're still very close to surgery, but your surgeon has created a pocket for the implant which usually would require quite a hit to actually move the implant tearing along new planes.  As well, the stitches can withhold a good deal of force.  Bottom-line is, the force of a careful hug or an accidental arm flail is very unlikely to cause any significant damage.  Continue to be careful, keeping contact with your surgeon, and enjoy your result!Board-Certified Plastic SurgeonNewtown Square/Philadelphia, PA