Pregnancy Harness - Mountain Mama vs Petzl Full Body vs ?

Wife is pregnant(yay?)

She needs a harness because she is determined to climb through the pregnancy (yay!)

Being that she is already getting very top heavy (wink, yay!), I am looking for reviews and experiences with the different full body harness options. Please let me know if there are other, better, harness options not listed below.

Mountain Mama

Petzl Full Body

We will consult a doctor for all medical advice.

Thanks!

If you haven't already, make sure you check out Beth Roddens blog re climbing while pregnant. She may have some harness advice, too.

baby-bump

My buddies wife climbed with the petzle full body and still had to sew extra padding on. She said it worked fine exempt when lowering.

Except *

My wife is currently using the mountain mama. It works for her. Lowering will be uncomfortable regardless of which one she goes with. There's just no way to lean back while being lowered in one (a full body harness) and it kinda digs into the ribs. Those two harnesses are the only ones widely available. Misty mountain or another small company may be able to make one for you though.

I'm climbing through my second pregnancy right now (29 weeks on Friday, yeah!).

Both times I have used the Petzl full body. It worked my first pregnancy all the way through (I was reasonably comfortable climbing in it right up until baby). I actually don't mind being lowered in it. It's not that bad, just make sure the leg loops are scooted down a bit, and it's not really uncomfortable.

What bothered me last time and continues to do so this time are the gear loops (if you can call them that). They are only about 4 inches wide and right in front. While I don't lead in this thing, I still have to clean routes and put all the gear somewhere. The placement and tiny size leads to me running out of space fast and constantly stepping on gear on any high steps. I also get caught on almost every overhang with one or more cams snagging the lip. I haven't tried the mountain mama, so I can't speak to how well it addresses these issues.

All in all, I'm happy my Petzl harness even exists so I don't have to stop climbing. I'll happily put up with the imperfections so long as it keeps me on the rocks.

Best of luck to your wife. I hope she enjoys the same luck I did with my first and so far with my second. Providing everything proceeds as it usually does, she can climb as long as it feels good! Here is me 12 hours before our first son entered the world:

My wife climbed through her first pregnancy and now almost through her second with the Camp Magic II Harness It has worked for her and the price is less than the other harnesses. With full body harnesses it takes some adjustment belaying right under your throat and they all don't feel that great handing in.

You will get all types of opinions about your wife climbing while pregnant from professionals to random people who think they know what is best for your family. You two have to make your own decision what is best from you two/three. My wife stopped leading and I stopped taking falls on her so you may have to climb at a lower grade than you are used to or top rope.

Good luck and congratulations.

Thanks for the info. Looks like there is still some room for innovation...

Who wants to do research on how not to squish boobs?!

clint dillard wrote:My wife climbed through her first pregnancy and now almost through her second with the Camp Magic II Harness It has worked for her and the price is less than the other harnesses. With full body harnesses it takes some adjustment belaying right under your throat and they all don't feel that great handing in. You will get all types of opinions about your wife climbing while pregnant from professionals to random people who think they know what is best for your family. You two have to make your own decision what is best from you two/three. My wife stopped leading and I stopped taking falls on her so you may have to climb at a lower grade than you are used to or top rope. Good luck and congratulations.

+1 on Clint's recommendation. I found ours for ~$50 online, which is about half the cost of the Petzl 8003 or Mountain Mama. My wife used it for top-roping at the gym until 38 weeks, which I guess means it was comfortable enough for her. As Zach noted above, she did find the center of gravity to be a different while lowering, since the tie-in point is at chest rather than waist level - she was more upright and less able to lean back compared with her regular harness. I'm assuming this applies to all body harnesses with chest-level tie-in points, regardless of brand. Probably the same for Clint's note about belaying at throat level.

In addition to Beth Rodden's blog, Carrie Cooper has a blog with some posts about climbing while pregnant.
carriecooper.blogspot.com/2…
carriecooper.blogspot.com/2…
carriecooper.blogspot.com/2…

Best of luck!

Is it possible to belay with the full body harness? It looks like it would be awkward.

Misslizzy wrote:Is it possible to belay with the full body harness? It looks like it would be awkward.

I do all the time. Belaying a leader is a bit awkward, but not too terrible. Belaying someone up is way worse if you do it from the harness, so I tend to put a directional piece in above the anchor to keep the fulcrum high or (even better) just belay directly from the anchor.

On rappel, I really recommend extending it, which I do anyway. If you don't, you might hit your face on your device.

hi, does anyone have a lightly used full-body harness (either petzl or mountain mama) that they want to sell for our pregnancy term? not sure if we're going to use it much so don't want to pay full price.

semicolin1 wrote:hi, does anyone have a lightly used full-body harness (either petzl or mountain mama) that they want to sell for our pregnancy term? not sure if we're going to use it much so don't want to pay full price.

You are welcome to mine for 40 bucks plus shipping, which I would guess is about 6 bucks

My wife used the Petzl 8003 full body harness through both of my wife pregnancies.
It worked well enough, it took a bit to get the leg loops set so it was more or less comfortable.
My biggest grip was the tiny gear loops. We ended just using a metolius over the shoulder sling for cleaning gear.

Alicia Sokolowski wrote: You are welcome to mine for 40 bucks plus shipping, which I would guess is about 6 bucks

Alicia, I sent you a personal message through mtn project. Thanks!

Hi Alicia,
I just entered the mtn project forum now and since I'm 20 weeks pregnant and looking for a full body harness, I was wondering wether you ended up selling yours or not.
If you still have it and are still interested in selling it, please let me know!

Thanks!
Laura

Hey Laura,

I did sell it. I highly recommend getting one, though. I truly believe climbing made both of my deliveries super easy and dare I say it, fun.

I wish you the best for your pregnancy. You are already more than halfway!

Thanks for your reply and advice! Yes, I think I will get one even if I have to buy it new, as I think it would be great keeping climbing. Plus, I just went climbing on Sunday and felt great (top-roping, of course), so I don't see why stop now! :-)

Thanks!

Yes, we got Alicia's harness and it's great. Haven't used it much yet, but we decided last weekend was probably the last that my wife will use her standard harness. She's 5'5" (or 5'6"?) and weighed ~130lb before pregnancy and she would probably prefer the small sized Petzl body harness, but the larger one is working OK with everything adjusted as tight as it'll go. I think there are only 2 sizes.

Hi, thanks for the tip. I'm actually about the same height and weight of your wife, so that's really helpful to know!